Love – through the eyes of a child.

What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . .

 

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it. Touching words from the mouth of babes.
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, ‘What does love mean?’

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think.

 

‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’

Rebecca- age 8

 

‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’

Billy – age 4

‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’

Karl – age 5

 

‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’

Chrissy – age 6

‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’

Terri – age 4

 

‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’

Danny – age 7

 

‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss’

Emily – age 8

 

‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.’

Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

 

‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,’

Nikka – age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)

 

‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.’

Noelle – age 7

 

‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’

Tommy – age 6

 

‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’

Cindy – age 8

‘My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’

Clare – age 6

 

‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’

Elaine-age 5

 

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’

Chris – age 7

 

‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.’

Mary Ann – age 4

 

‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’

Lauren – age 4

 

‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’ (what an image)

Karen – age 7

 

(I love this one) 
‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.’

Mark – age 6

 

‘You really shouldn’t say “I love you” unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’ (As a medium, I’ve been telling people this for years. She said it so much better though!)

Jessica – age 8

 

And the final one –

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Seeing the man weeping, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

‘Nothing, I just helped him cry.’

http://www.anthonyquinata.com

Why do those on the Other Side ask for our prayers?

What I do is an extension of my religious beliefs, and I make no apologies for that. So when people find out that I recommend that they pray for their loved ones who have passed away, some pass it off as a “Catholic thing.” Actually, I’m often asked in readings by spirits to relay to their loved ones that their prayers are needed. 

When I’m doing a reading I receive messages in a number of different ways (I’ll explain this in a future post). One of those ways is that I’ll be shown what I call “symbols.” Each symbol typically has at least four different meanings, and I’ve got to try to figure out which meaning I’m supposed to talk about. When it comes to prayer, the symbol I’ll typically see (psychically) is a lit candle, or “praying hands.”

I’ve learned over the course of hundreds of readings that when I see this it means that someone is praying for the person who’s coming through, or the person who is coming through is asking for prayers. If the person is being prayed for, usually the symbol I’m seeing is accompanied by a feeling of gratitude, so I’ll say, “You’re praying for this person, yes? He (or she) wants you to know that they’re grateful.”

Why would they be grateful? Why would they even need prayers? It all goes back to what happens after we leave this life for the next. When we pass, we go through a process the souls call a “Life Review.” It’s kind of like the answer sheet to all the questions we have about our life, the experiences we went through, and why. All the time this is going on, God (or whatever you want to call the Source of all that exists) is with us, not in a judging way, but lovingly supporting us. When the review is over, the soul places itself on a level that reflects it’s degree of insight. The greater their enlightenment, the closer they are to God, the more light they experience. The lesser their degree of understanding, the greater the “darkness” they find themselves in. They can still journey deeper into the light that is God however. 

Souls often tell me that the reason they come through during readings is that part of their spiritual journey is to help their loved ones that they left behind with their spiritual journey here on earth. That’s why they’re so eager to communicate with us.

Our prayers show our intent to communicate with them. Our prayers also bring so much joy to souls that the joy they feel raises their vibration, and in doing so helps them on their own journey. 

One of the ways I explain this is to use the example of a glass and a 55 gallon drum. Fill them both with water to the top, which is more full? Now substitute happiness for “water.” Our prayers help those we love who have gone before us develop and grow on the Other Side, enabling them to have an even greater capacity to experience more love, more happiness, more peace, more joy. 

I feel your peace. 

Anthony

http://www.anthonyquinata.com

September 11th

Today, America, and I believe most of the world is grieving what happened 7 years ago today. Every once in a while someone asks me if people who died in a tragedy such as 9/11 come through to me. No, because as I’ve said before, there really isn’t a reason for them to do so. No one who has lost someone in 9/11 has ever come to me for a reading. 

I have reconnected parents with their children who were soldiers and died serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other wars. 

Still, I was wondering what I would say to someone who lost a loved one on that ugly day, as a psychic medium. I would tell them what happened was a tragedy in every sense of the word. I would also say that God was not responsible for the events of that day. God is not the angel of death. God did not take their loved ones away, God welcomed them home. 

Even though I have not personally talked to any of them, I can say that, based on the countless number of readings I’ve done, their loved ones are okay. They are at peace with what happened. The horror, and fear they may have experience that day vanished the moment that they crossed over. I would tell them, that their loved ones are waiting for them, and that one day they will be reunited again. 

I would tell them to pray for not only their loved ones, but all who perished that day. I’m often asked why someone would need our prayers if they’re already dead. I’ll just say this for now; prayer is a way for us to stay connected with those we loved who have passed away. They hear our prayers. They welcome our prayers. They often ask for our prayers. 

Tomorrow, I’ll explain why. Today, I’ll remember all of those who passed away in that event in my prayers. 

I feel your peace. 

http://www.anthonyquinata.com

Grieving heroes

I received an phone call today from a woman who received a reading from me yesterday. I don’t normally take phone calls, but I was the only one available, and able to do so. “I just wanted to thank you and tell you that you may very well have saved my life!”

She told me that after her husband’s death she began smoking and drinking. Both were her way of dealing with the incredible pain that the death of a loved one brings. One of the things she wanted to know was how she could hear her husband now that’s he’s gone. “Open your heart,” he told her. Then he proceeded to let her know all of the ways he was trying to let her know that his love for her hasn’t died. 

“I was really spiraling,” she told me. “Yesterday, I felt as though a HUGE weight had been lifted off of my chest.”

I was really moved by the call to be honest with you. Sometimes I forget about the importance of the work I do. I’m not the one who is the expert on grief, I reminded her, she is. As are all those who have lost a loved one(s). 

I also told her that she, and all the people who bravely get out of bed every day and go through each day in their grief until they go to bed, only to do it again the next day, are inspirations to me. It takes a lot of work to get through the day when you lose someone you love. 

She wanted to know why I was able to hear her husband and she can’t. I told her we all have the ability, I’m nothing special. But just as everyone can learn how to play the piano, some people can play piano better than others. 

Your loved ones are constantly trying to communicate with you, to give you hope as you journey through grief. If you’re unable to hear them, then they guide you to me, or another medium. We’re their last resort. 

Speak to your loved ones the same way you always did. Open your heart, and you’ll have the ears to hear their messages. If you’re still having trouble, God chose people like me to let you know that death doesn’t end life, love or relationships. 

I feel your peace. 

http://www.anthonyquinata.com

Being a psychic vs. being a medium

There’s a saying that “all mediums are psychic, but not all psychics are mediums.” Because my focus is primarily on reconnecting people with their loved ones who passed away, most people don’t know that I also do psychic readings as well.

Today, I filled in for another psychic at Cornerstone Bookstore, in Englewood, CO. Cornerstone has a psychic type doing readings from noon to 5 pm Monday through Friday. I’m there whenever someone can’t be there. People drop in for readings, though some make appointments in advance, especially with the regular readers. 

When I’m at Cornerstone either filling in, or working it’s metaphysical fair, I usually do psychometry or “photo readings.” What I do is tune into the person’s energy contained within a personal object or photo. Once I do this, it’s like a movie starts running through my head and I tell the person what I’m seeing. Often the “movie” shows me the person’s past, present, and even their future. I tend to see these sessions as a form of “spiritual direction” as opposed to fortune telling. 

I not only do these readings at fairs, but as part of my private practice. I just don’t emphasize it. The reason is that even though I refer to myself as a “psychic medium,” as I pointed out in the beginning of this post, “psychics” and “mediums” are not one and the same. I’d like to explain the difference. 

Psychics rely on intuition to gain information. In order for a medium reading to happen, two elements must be in place. The first is a soul who wants to communicate messages to a loved one. Secondly, there must be someone to receive the messages being passed along. Otherwise, it’s similar to you picking up a phone, making a call, and no one answers the phone. There isn’t any communication taking place.  

The souls use mediums such as myself to disclose their thoughts, feelings and messages to their loved ones who otherwise can’t see, feel or hear them. By passing the information on, I essentially become their “voice,” or “mouthpiece,” for the length of time that my energy, and theirs, holds out. 

I refer to myself as a “psychic medium” in order to describe the way that the communications take place. I don’t “channel” spirits, nor do I go into a trance. I’m fully with the person who is in front of me, while at the same time a part of my brain is receiving messages from those who have passed away. The information coming into my brain is perfect. It’s once it hits my fragile psyche that things get mixed up. But I’ll save that for another post.

http://www.anthonyquinata.com

Rita’s Butterfly

Rita’s Butterfly

 

I received an e-mail from Diane, a friend of mine the first day of Spring. The coworker of a friend of Diane’s died that morning, from breast cancer.

The following is part of an announcement her family sent out to let everyone know about the passing –

Spring signifies a renewal of life. But in Rita’s case her renewal is different.

We physically can’t see her renewal but her body has been made whole. She is no longer bound by her physical limitations. She is free to flutter gently as a beautiful butterfly that has just been released, no longer wrapped in a cocoon of pain that the world tries so desperately to escape.

One of the saddest lessons we have to learn when someone we love dies is that life goes on. It doesn’t stop. It doesn’t even slow down for us to catch our breath.

According to grief counselors there are seven stages people go through when they grieve. They are shock or disbelief, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression, acceptance and hope. 

 

Sometimes when someone comes to see me as a Psychic Medium they’re hoping to do what I call “The Tarzan Swing” through the stages. They’re hoping that by hearing from their loved one who passed, they can go from shock to acceptance and hope in one fell swoop! I always try to get people to see that this just isn’t the case. I also try to help them understand that going through these stages are what’s needed for a “renewal” of their own lives. 

 

Last year, a woman came to me telling me that when her children died she received a lot of comfort from the “signs” she was getting from them. They appeared to her in her dreams, she would smell them, and every once in a while she even heard them. 

 

As time went on, the signs stopped coming and for her it was the grief started all over again. She started “bargaining” with God so she could hear from her kids again. Then she wondered what she was doing wrong when the signs didn’t come, and became angry with God for not letting them “communicate” with her. In her depression she thought, “What the hell?” and decided to book an appointment with me in the hopes of hearing from her children that way. 

 

Her grief didn’t “start all over again,” I told her. It simply picked up where it left off when she started getting the signs from her children. During her session with me her kids told her that they hadn’t forgotten her, nor did they stop loving her. They simply had work to do, and had to move on with their lives on the Other Side. They also told her that she needed to move on with hers. This was the last thing she wanted to hear, so I had to remind her that I’m only a “telephone.” I pass on what I receive. When she got off of the phone with me, she wasn’t very happy with me, or the messages she received. 

 

I recently received an e-mail she wrote to tell me that after her session she realized that she really did have to allow the grief to just come.  Eventually, she was able to move through her journey from depression to acceptance and hope. She is now helping other parents who have lost children, and that she feels renewed by her new purpose in life. 

 

I’d like finish this by saying that when we lose someone we love, we have to take to time to build a protective layer around ourselves while we go through the changes that death forces upon us. Don’t just take care of everyone else, take care of yourself. Just a caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon, we can wrap ourselves in the love of our surviving family and friends, as well as our tears. Don’t keep your emotions inside. The healing comes when you let them out. 

 

Remember, other people can only be there for you for so long. They have their own lives to live, so please try not to be angry at them for this. If you need someone to talk to and they don’t seem to be willing to listen, that’s what grief counselors are for. Join a bereavement group, talk about your loss. Be there for others in theirs. 

 

Most of all, remember that a caterpillar builds it’s shelter and comes out of it a new creature. Grief is the price we pay for love. You can come out of the isolating journey of grief a much more beautiful creature than you were when you started. 

http://www.anthonyquinata.com

Grief

I met Donna when she came to see me after renowned medium Lisa Williams was in Denver. “I went to Lisa’s event hoping to be able to get a reading from her. I didn’t know there were any mediums here in Denver.”

I guess I need to do a better job of marketing, huh?

During her session with me she said as little as possible. She told me later that she didn’t trust me, and didn’t want to “feed” me anything. “I knew Lisa was real from watching her on television. I wasn’t sure about you though.” Still, when all was said and done, Donna and her daughter both knew that they had heard from her ex-husband through me. Since that time, Donna and I have become friends.

I spoke with Donna again today. She wanted to make another appointment with me. “I’m still not doing well with all of this. I just can’t seem to move on,” she told me.

“Honestly Donna,” I said, “it sounds to me as though you’ve got a lot of unfinished business with your ex-husband, and issues with forgiveness. Not with your husband, but with yourself.”

I can’t tell you how many times people have come to see me after someone passes away wishing they would have treated that person better, or had one last time to say, “I love you,” or “I’m sorry.” When someone says to me, “Please tell him I love him,” my response always is, “You just did.” I know what they’re trying to say though, “Please tell her I love her, because I didn’t let her know when she was alive.”

The odyssey through grief is a journey of healing. We are called to a place of healing. We are asked to let go, not of the memories, but of the pain that comes from the realization of where we fell short in our relationships with those we loved, and who loved us back.

Grief is the price we pay for love. It’s a pain that may lessen with time, but will never go away. I can’t make it stop hurting. There isn’t a medium in the world who can. It’s not our job.

What I can do is suggest that while your loved ones are alive, let them know how much you love them, in your words, and in your actions.