My Unexpected Awakening

By admin

This year, The Edge has invited you, the reader, to share your personal experience with us, and this month, we asked you to write on, “My Unexpected Awakening.” We received submissions that we are proud to share with you.

Experiential writing is a style that simply shares an experience you had. It’s ripe with detail and emotion. It describes how something felt, to you. It inspires people not by suggesting what is, or what might be, but by sharing what was, for you, and the magic or inspiration or illumination that resulted from it.

Experiential writing is a surprisingly powerful way for readers to open and illuminate their own, personal inner wisdom. There’s something magical that happens when we read about the experiences of others like us, and then find tremendous resonance with the story. Not only do we feel authentic inspiration, but more importantly, the fact that we perceive the author to be more like ourselves removes the self-defeating barrier we tend to keep that says, “I’ll never be like her,” or “I’ll never be as wise as he is.”

In February, we invite you to share on the topic, “Love, Revealed.” Submit your article online here or email to editor@edgemagazine.net.

Featured submissions on “My Unexpected Awakening”:

• Fulfillment of Evolving Perfection, by Jerry Buchmeier
• When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears, by Kimberly Wencl
• The Flower Child (A True Story), by Burt Berlowe
• I Thought I was Dying, by Kathy Parkin
• Near-Death Experiences…, by Doug Crandall
• My Unexpected Awakening, by Cathy Combs
• Witnessing, by Dr. Robert K.C. Forman

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Read this article, and others at: http://edgemagazine.net/2012/01/my-unexpected-awakening-2/

Near-death experiences…

By Doug Crandall 

I’ve had five near-death experiences now. Five times I have been in the same room near the side of loved ones as they have passed from this world. Each of these deaths, in their own way, was perfect for the person whose life we were honoring as they passed into the next world. Perfect in the sense that each mirrored the person involved, seemingly made for them as if their life had molded their death just for them.

It was the first two of these near-death experiences that were to play a role in my personal awakening process. Not that I realized it at the time, of course, but by looking back on it now, I see how pivotal these experiences were in my life. I’d had my share of troubles by then, and I was just beginning to make a life for myself and figure out who I was.

When I got word that grandpa was dying early in 1993, I drove up to Minnesota from Texas to be with the family as he died.

My grandfather had lived a full life and had been the one person I knew I could count on if needed. He dedicated his life to his family, and all that he did revolved around doing things for others. I’d always thought of him as a dinosaur, in a way, a relic to by-gone days when people were more community oriented. His entire family, including my grandmother, his children and grandchildren, were gathered around his bed telling him how much we loved him as he passed. I left Minnesota feeling quite at peace with Grandpa’s death, knowing that he certainly had earned such a loving send off.

In 1994, I received word that my father was in the hospital with small chance of recovery. Once again I made the trek up to Minnesota for my last chance to see him.

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Read the full article, and others like it at: http://edgemagazine.net/2012/01/near-death-experiences-2/

When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears

By Kim Wencl 

I have always been interested, fascinated and intrigued by things of the spirit — near-death experiences, out-of-body adventures, ESP, psychics, spirit communication — for I found them all totally fascinating. But I had no personal experience with any of them. Little did I know what an integral role some would play in my life and how they would make my life so meaningful and help me to feel so valued.

The fact that my daughter had to die before I would have the knowingness to tap into these spiritual gifts makes me more than a little angry. But yet, I know that if she had not left this world for the next, I would not be in the place that I find myself today. I owe her so much.

Now, I suspect that there are many people who find these subjects to be fascinating…but it ends there – with just a fascination. It was that way with me for the first 49 years of my life. However, everything changed on September 20, 2003.

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Read the full article, and others like it at: http://edgemagazine.net/2012/01/when-the-student-is-ready/