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Today on the Grave Talks, the afterlife Chronicles Part 2 of our conversation with Nicole Strickland.

We all want to know what happens when we die. In the forward of her new book,

Nicole Strickland says the magical wonder of the afterlife envelops you from the moment you leave

your physical body behind. We explore the connection between life, death and beyond with Nicole Strickland,

author of the afterlife Chronicles, exploring the connection between life, death and beyond.

One of the chapters in the book is the role of intuition in mind, body spirit and connecting

with the afterlife. Can you talk just a little bit about that? Yeah, sure. It's one of those

sections that some people might think, well, does this really belong in a book like this?

I think in my opinion, it's paramount because our own intuitive senses, our own intuition,

really helps guide us in life, both in the ordinary and extraordinary world. I talk a little

bit about the balancing of that mind, body and spirit. When you go on an investigation,

you want to make sure that you're centered, you want to make sure that your whole entire physical

self, your emotional self and your spiritual self are centered just not only for your protection,

but to help you connect with the other side a little bit more. I talk a little bit about

some of the differences and similarities between intuition and psychic senses,

but how both of those, they work and they play off each other, so you really can't have one

without the other. Just to say it in one sentence, I think having a balance between all those states,

our mind, our body and our spirit, not only will enable us to have more of a divine connection

with the other side, it'll foster that connection a little bit more. That's what that chapter is

about. I get into examples between intuition and psychic senses, and then also there's I think

a couple of exercises in there for people that want to hone their intuitive skills. In another

point I make too is that everyone of us has intuition. Every one of us has the ability to channel

and the ability to have psychic aptitude. It's just some people are more open to it than others.

Some people may be more practiced at it than others. It's a lot like a sport, I think,

and that the more you practice it, the better your skills will get. This is just another opinion

of mine. I don't expect people to agree with me, but I feel that when you're channeling

an energy, if you're channeling someone from the afterlife, even another being, I think it needs

to be done so without ego. It needs to be done so with pure heart and soul, with humility, with

respect. I think if you're one of those and you're going to approach it from that standpoint,

you'll get the rewards of really connecting with someone.

And don't you think that with intuition, a lot of people have that. They might not realize it,

but that inner voice that you really should pay attention to, that if you feel you get this

weird feeling, I always say go with the weird feeling because if it doesn't feel right, don't force

yourself. But I think that a lot of people have the ability. They just don't realize that's what

it is. Oh, absolutely. I totally agree. And we all have situations where maybe we're stressed and

we're contemplating making a decision, oh, should I do this or should I do that? I always try and

I've learned this from my mom and my grandparents, not making a decision is making a decision,

so just sit with it. Allow yourself to get in touch with your intuitive sense and your inner

voice and it will tell you it will guide you as well as just I think there's universal guidance

as well. We have guidance from our guides, our own intuitive senses, the universe. So yeah,

it's I've learned a lot with that. I think we all just get so busy in there's so many things coming

in your brain at all times. I know. We never just sit with ourselves very often or sit with your

pet. So with a loved one, you know, maybe you have an elderly relative, just be in that moment

with them and be quiet. And it's really hard to be quiet these days. It really is these days. I

know it with technology and social media and everything it really is. And I know for myself,

I do need to meditate more and I will admit to that. But yeah, just be and try to live in the

moment. I find for myself when I when I am living in the moment, that's when I'm at my greater

piece. So, you know, so I just think of people kind of, oh, it goes back to opening yourself up to

it a little bit. Right. And maybe you'll have maybe you'll have some kind of experience. I know

that there's been some people I've lost in my life that I so desperately wanted that connection

with them, like just just an okay, even like some kind of sign that I knew that they weren't 100

percent gone because once they're gone, they're such a desperate feeling that comes with grief.

It's so dark. And in the book, you talk about moving through grief, how moving through grief

and loss can help you further your connection with the spirit realm. And it makes sense to me

because I know that when I lost my dad, well, I lost my boyfriend and almost a year to the day

later, I lost my dad. And it was a lot and understatement. But I so wanted number one to live in the

grief and the grief is your connection to them. So once I quit grieving, great way of putting it.

Absolutely. Once you quit grieving, it's like, oh my god, I'm laughing. How could I be laughing?

You don't want to let go of that. And so I understand that. But there's also a way you can,

you know, moving through the grief because it's a process. It is a process. And it's so different for

each person. You know, there's those stages of grief, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, as well, well-known,

perhaps the most well-known on, you know, grief and loss on all the different stages. And there's

no really order of those stages. Some people can start out in the anger stage. You know, some people

can start out in the bargaining stage. It's different for everyone. But just I think allowing the grief

to happen and being open to it as a process is going to help. It's so easy to want to just

turn it off and not pay attention to it, push it under the rug. But when we do that, it gets worse.

So, you know, allow that grief to flow. And I will say, though, that my experience in the paranormal

in studying both the afterlife and paranormal research, it has helped me understand death a little

bit more to the extent that I don't fear it anymore. And I know, you know, there's going to be a day

when my mom and dad passed and it's going to be horrible. But there's just a different understanding

of it and knowing that our loved ones, while we don't have them physically with us,

their soul, their energy, their essence, that bond that we have with them remains eternally. And

that's something you have to hold on to when you're right in the midst of grief.

And it's difficult. It really is. It's, it's horribly difficult.

And I've been reading the book and I'm not finished with the book yet. But in that chapter,

I want you to talk about this because it really intrigues me just the, it's within that chapter.

But it's a profound experience at Poma, Poma Rado Hospital.

Yes. What is that? Oh my gosh. This was, see, this was something that, again, I never

expected it just happened. So I was actually volunteering there. And there was, this is over

the course of two days. So I was volunteering there and there was an elderly female patient that I

would go in and see and talk to and she even I was painting her toenails one day and I went in

and I was talking to her just a lovely lady. And then just about five or six hours later,

her, whatever she was, I forget what she was in for. I think something lung connected. And she

started to worsen over the course of my shift there. And it was in the evening. And I remember

being outside her room and hearing her almost plead for the nurses and she was just in pain

and all of this. And I, here I was as a volunteer like, oh my goodness, if I were a nurse, I'd be

in there right. And I know they're busy and all of that. But I just felt so bad for this woman,

this woman. And then I had to leave shortly after. So when I left, I was driving home and I was just

thinking about her. And so the next morning, when I went back to the hospital, I was doing the

morning for another shift. And so the second I arrived, kind of, I innately knew that she was

probably going to pass. So they allowed me in. And sure enough, she did pass. I was in the room

when she did pass. And they did, you know, they checked her vitals and all of that. And so when they

declared her actually deceased, I was in the room with her. And the most beautiful thing happened.

And it wasn't something that I planned or expected. All of a sudden, it was a sense, but a

visual sense as well. The room's colors became more vivid, more bright. And all of a sudden,

I, in my mind's eye, I didn't see her with my regular vision, but in my mind's eye, I saw her

spirit. And she was dressed in these vibrant clothes. And she looked a little bit younger,

just like my grandmother Helen. And her message basically was, thank you, thank you for helping me.

And I'm okay now. And I'm at peace. And of course, I couldn't share that with the staff, right?

So I had to keep it to myself, but it was a very beautiful moment. And so, you know, it goes to show

that, you know, we see some of our departed loved ones or during their, their dying phases,

it may look like they're in pain and all of that. But once, once they transition onward,

they're whole again. And so it's, it's very, very comforting to experience that.

Because that kind of experience that, that gave me all the feels. Oh, it did. That was really,

yeah, because oh, that's awesome. Me too. Actually, well, I mean, I was like holding back tears,

you know, I'm like, okay, I gotta be professional. But boy, did I go home feeling my drive home

after that? I was like, wow, to have experienced something so beautiful like that. And I think so

many people have had similar experiences. And that's what I think is so interesting because

it's not just like you die and that's that. There's so many people like you and me and a lot of

people listening to this have had an experience in some way that they can't explain with a loved one

after they passed. It could be a visitation dream. It could have been the way the rainbow

was right there at the gravesite that happened to one of my friends. The rainbow appeared

in like a full rainbow. And I'm like, that's not a coincidence. It's not. I don't believe in

coincidences. I'm just one of these, you know, there's a reason for everything. But

and you know, it's the more people, the more of us that share, it becomes a collective,

almost experience, even though individually we're sharing different experiences, but yet it's

collective in the sense that all of us, those who are sharing and those who are open to this,

have even though it's an individual experience, it's something we we know what that feels like

collectively. And I do think it's interesting too because, for example, I had a very good friend

who passed and I, to this day, don't know why I never got any kind of sign from him. I wanted it.

I was open to it, but it never happened. So I don't think it's going to happen every time.

And I don't know why it happens with this person and not that person.

And I thought if anybody was going to give me a sign, it would have been him. But I didn't get it.

But at the same time, the last thing I said to him was, I told him just how much I loved him.

And so everything had been said. I don't think he had the need to come back and comfort me in any way.

Right. So maybe that was what he knows. Yeah, it could just be where maybe he knows and it's good

and maybe in time when it's right, they will because I, similar, I've had departed loved ones,

friends who have passed on and I have maybe had one experience with them. But there's others where

I've had a lot. So it is weird. And I've pondered that too. Like, why does that happen? But you know what,

it's one of those divine explanations that maybe we don't, we're not permitted to know.

You know, I think I think as mortals, we might be given glimpses of what awaits us when we

transition. But perhaps, perhaps I don't know. Maybe we're not meant to know everything.

I don't know. I agree. I think I think if we were meant to know what we would have

somebody would have figured it out. There's some really smart people in this world.

I know. I remember them. I mean, too.

One of the topics that you do address in the book is common misconceptions of the afterlife.

What would a common misconception be? Oh my God. This is controversial because I'm speaking

from my heart here. But I feel that a lot of times there might be misrepresentations and

misclassifications of certain energies, you know, perhaps based on an experience.

For example, someone may have an experience where maybe they felt scared or they felt threatened.

So they therefore deduced, okay, that must be an energy that's mean, wants to harm me.

It's malevolent. But in fact, that's not that entity's intent to want to do any of that.

It's just we're assigning that onto that energy based on how we feel.

So I think we need to be careful on how we classify certain energies, you know,

not putting them basically in a four corners of a box. To me, I think that that can be detrimental.

And just I don't know. I've had experiences with the afterlife and with human spirit energies,

all my life, those of animals, and I've never had anything negative happen to me.

So I don't for people that have, I don't want to criticize because I wasn't there, of course,

but I do feel that there's this tendency, especially with pop culture and media and Hollywood and

that sort of thing, to make it seem that the afterlife or even other beings are meant to be feared.

They're meant to want to harm us. They're scary. They're this, they're that. They're demonic.

When in fact, a lot of them, probably most of them aren't. So I don't know. That's just, you know,

I think we need to be careful as humans, not to maybe project some of our maybe our own baggage.

We all have it or even religious predisposition, cultural predisposition on certain paranormal

energies, just because it can really have a negative effect. So that's basically what I talk about.

And you know, a lot of the TV shows, there are some great things about them in the sense that we

get to see locations, we get to see equipment and how research is done in many ways, but we do

have to remember at the end of the day it is entertainment. Right. And it's not necessarily reflective

of real life. And I will say I've been on a, you know, a couple national shows where I just

interview, but I've declined a lot too, just because a lot, a lot of these shows focus on evil

and the level and types of energy. And I just, we need to be careful not to associate and make it

seem that all the energies out there fall into that category because I know that that's not correct.

I think, you know, I've been asked before, you know, if you had to summarize the book in one or two

sentences, and that's hard, I think I would say, or what I have said before is that I want people,

first of all, and I have a note to the reader at the beginning of the book. And I say that,

you know, this book isn't in any way trying to persuade people to have beliefs in the afterlife

or share the similar convictions that I do. Of course not. I would never force someone to believe

in those, but I do say that it's, it's purpose is to open someone's heart to the, you know,

wondrous possibilities that exist when our loved ones pass on in the connections we can have with

them. So at that said, I want people to understand that our loved ones, when, when they're no longer

here on the physical realm, they are still very much alive, just not in the physical. They're alive,

you know, if we want to call it afterlife, wherever it is, they're alive, they're still able to connect

with us. The bonds and love that we have with them, that will never go away. Death can't touch

that. And so oftentimes, I think some of our bonds and love that we have with our departed loved ones

will even get stronger when one of us is in the realm. You know, there's just that connection that

is just so profound, nothing can destroy it. And just to know that, you know, it's, I think the afterlife

is a very beautiful place. And I think it's, it's one in which, you know, when, when we go to it, our

soul is going to evolve into the next state of where it's supposed to be. And it's just it's a very

beautiful thing. So I loved writing it. It was, it was an honor. And I, I'm so appreciative of the

people that shared their stories in it as well. So yeah, I love it. By writing it, did you feel more

connected to like your grandmother? Yes. Did it kind of open that back up a little bit?

It did open it up and just connected just in general with the other side, you know, in writing

that I, I, I wrote it as a way to honor the other side, you know, for what it is. And, you know,

in respecting it and revering it. So yeah, it was, it was cathartic actually in a way to write it.

You have been hosting a podcast, but you said you're kind of redoing it and it's going to,

you're going to keep doing it, correct? Oh, yes. I'll keep doing it. I'm just revamping it right now.

And is that caught? Will it be the afterlife chronicles? So far, the name, I'm hoping to keep the name

the same. Yes, it'll be the similar premise. So I'll read, I'll read debut it. I guess probably,

I don't know, August, maybe I'm thinking August, maybe September could be before I don't know,

but yeah. And then I co-host Haunted Voices Radio with Todd Bates as well. We were doing it Friday

nights, but actually this week we're starting Thursday nights at 6 p.m. Pacific, eight central,

nine Eastern. So that's fun. And how can people listen to that? So the main website for it is

www.tkdbzendog.com. And then also on various our Facebook pages, he uses StreamYard. So it airs

live to the different social networks. So Facebook, pretty much the handle is at www.tkdb. And then

you know, the podcast version is through Podbean. So it syndicates pretty much to all the audio

listening platforms. And so there's a lot of shows on there. Paranormal Peats is on there as well.

He was on this show while back about Port Gamble, Washington, really interesting.

Have you been there yet? No, I don't want to go. Yes, it is like an idyllic little town.

Like it's just, it's gorgeous. It's gorgeous. I went there in 2017 for his conference and it's

just, it's beautiful. So he was so interesting. It was a really fun episode. Yeah, yeah. He's a great guy.

He really is a great guy. There are a lot of great researchers up in the Pacific Northwest. A lot

of my friends are up in that area. So it's pretty, yeah, many, many great people up there.

Now you can also find the new book that after life chronicles exploring the connection between

life, death and beyond. You can find that on Amazon, along with your other books. You've got

several books you wrote on the Queen Mary, Haunted San Diego, and then the book about your cats,

Max and Kaylee. You can find them out there. Absolutely. Now with the afterlife Chronicles book,

right now it's on Amazon, of course, ebook, paperback, hardback, but I'm also going to be publishing

it through the Ingram Sparks, so that way it'll be distributed to other online retailers. So I

still have to do that. I'll probably do that this week or next week. But yeah, the other books,

books you can get pretty much anywhere on, you know, with various online retailers. Queen Mary

books, you can get them on board on board the Queen Mary that just reopened in June, which is cool.

So I say we do an episode on pets in the afterlife because I would love to dive into that and I

would love to hear people's stories who have had that happen with them because there's so many

people I've had it happen, but there's so many people who have. And so I think that'll be a really

fun episode. So let's plan on that. Let's do that. That would be awesome. I'm totally down for that.

So Nicole, thank you so much for your time today. This has been just great.

Thank you so much for having me. It's been a lovely discussion.

And that wraps up our conversation with Nicole Strickland. You can get a new book that after

life chronicles exploring the connection between life, death and beyond on Amazon.

And get more information about Nicole at our website, author Nicole Strickland dot com.

If you'd like access to all of our episodes, including the archive and advanced episodes,

everything commercial free become a grave keeper. Sign up on Apple Podcasts, you can try it three

days free or go to patreon.com slash the grave talks and find everything there. Also, I'll add free.

I'm Carol Hughes and for all of us at the grave talks, thanks so much for listening.

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