By: Kristina Grish
Real life can be stranger than fiction. Co-writing books with mediums, who communicate with spirits, is no exception. Here are a few important life pointers I picked up along the way.
During my career as a published author and national magazine writer, I've mostly chased stories related to relationships, pop culture, and natural health--but recently, I've fallen into a curious niche. For the past five years, I've helped famous mediums and intuitive counselors write their best-selling books about the souls--including deceased loved ones, angels, guides, and other divine beings--that love and support you from the mysterious and elusive Other Side.
As these authors' co-writer, I take on their voices and turn information that's channeled from a far-off realm into a useful, accessible read. This can get a little weird and heavy at times, but it's good fun, too. Hearing from my deceased Nana during an interview and learning I was a medicine man in a past life are all in a day's work. Even off the clock, I've had an angelic assist in navigating a tough adoption process, choosing doctors during a health issue, and finding my lost wedding ring (twice)!
At this point, I could write my own book about how such a career detour has impacted my relationships and beliefs (you want to sit next to me at a dinner party), but I'm just as grateful for the subtler lessons I've gleamed en route. Here are my top six for a happier, more satisfying life.
#1: Embrace your spirituality, but don't be too open.
I've come to believe that we all have angels, spirit guides, and other souls that help us make wise choices by communicating via our intuition. And we are meant to use their prompts to direct us to meaningful people and opportunities. But we also have free will, and I've noticed there's such a thing as being too open. The universe isn't only Heaven as it's depicted in the Bible, and it's not just a black sky full of light beings from other dimensions. It is an enormous space full of all kinds of energy, and you must put boundaries around how open you are to interacting with it. I've noticed that people who invest too much time in seeing shamans and psychics, worrying about evil "clinger" spirits, and taking photos in the dark to look for orbs can make themselves vulnerable to negative energy. I actually believe that the mediums I've worked with are so divinely blessed because they have strong faiths and only interact with positive souls that respect their priorities. They are protected and guided as a result, and you want to be too.
#2: Seek balance, not perfection.
It seems that it's rarely healthy to take any mind, body, or soul practice to an extreme--whether you're meditating 10 hours a day or exercising to the point of exhaustion. I was forced to navigate an ugly Lyme diagnosis while writing one of these books, and it was very tempting to throw every modality and practice against the wall to see what might stick--allopathic specialists, energy healers, acupuncturists, osteopaths, massage therapists, saunas, homeopathy, Lyme disease yoga (yup, that's a thing). But over and over, my authors channeled that less was more. I was told to build a worldly, but limited team of super smart practitioners, and only allow one spiritual healer access to my energy field as I was mending it. I was advised to replace a weekly health visit with an activity I enjoyed that would lift my mood--and not to become the illness by giving into fear or anger. I was to listen to my body above all else. Balance is what helped me through, and it is a lesson that translates into every facet of our lives.