By Terez Hartmann
Opening the Door to More
It all began at approximately 7a.m. on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2014. For some unknown reason, even after going to bed around 3 a.m., I was very much awake. This is the second time this had happened in the past three days, and I had the sense that I was preparing for something…
I saw my sweetheart off to work that day (a VERY rare occurrence for this night owl, indeed!), and felt a strong inspiration to take a walk—in my pajamas and slippers, no less! As I savored the oak trees, plants and flowers of our community, I noticed that it looked like rain. In that moment, I had the thought, “Rain, grey or not, if this was my last morning of being in this life, I would take in every second and ounce of beauty I could right now.” With this thought, as I looked out at everything in my field of vision, all that I observed took on a level of indescribable radiance, which moved me to tears. If THIS was the reason I was called out of bed so early today, I was already thrilled beyond words.
Contrast AND Inspiration: Answering the Call
After my walk, I returned home enlivened and clear, and got right to work on my adventure of the moment. While in this flow, I kept getting the sense that something was coming, yet I could not put my finger on anything specific. In any case, I was sooo enjoying this groove, so I continued to focus on the task at hand until it felt like the time to take a break.
At this point, I went to my phone and noticed that a call had come in from my cousin, Kathleen, in Virginia! How fabulous, I thought, because just a few days before, I was thinking that it would be great to plan a trip to the Virginia/D.C. area to see her in 3D, and I also really liked the idea of talking with her on a more regular basis if it was something she would also enjoy. A day or so after that thought crossed my mind, I discovered some magnificent orange blossoms in full bloom at Philippe Park, in Safety Harbor, FL, and felt inspired to post a question about fragrances on her Facebook page, as she is indeed a “Perfumista.” She responded right away with some great recommendations for the best orange-blossom-based scents, and said that a care package of some fragrance samples would soon be on its way. The seed was planted, and already I was hearing from her, how cool!
I happily dialed into my voicemail and, when I heard her message, I knew I needed to call her immediately. In the short conversation we had, I was just able to make out that her husband of over 30 years had very suddenly and unexpectedly made his transition. Since this was NOT at all the type of conversation I was expecting, I was in a state of shock, but I knew that I had to get my head on straight if I was to offer any support to her. In my own mind, I took a moment to get back on stable ground, and during the course of our conversation, asked if it would be helpful for me to be with her. She said yes, and I told her I would call her back as soon as I had an idea of when that could happen.
After getting off the phone with Kathy and talking with my husband, my first inclination was to start packing immediately. It was crazy and impractical, since I had a week full of appointments and a workshop booked for that Saturday, but it REALLY felt right to go. Shortly after John and I discussed the matter, I put a thought out to Don, Kathy’s now non-physical husband, and said something to the effect of, “Okay dude, if heading to Virginia immediately would be best for Kathy, hit John with a smell*!”
Only a few seconds later, John started to smell what he described as something reminiscent of a Brandy Alexander, some kind of alcohol, mixed with vanilla, with a hint of smoke. During our last visit with Don and Kathleen, I thought I had remembered that he liked to sip brandy and smoke cigars, but could not figure out where the vanilla part fit in. In any case, my eyes welled up with tears as I started asking questions and getting affirmative answers via an intensification of the smell John was receiving; John was covered in chills the entire time. Crazy or not, this was all the confirmation I needed, so I got to work cancelling and rescheduling everything I had planned for the coming week, packed my bags, and the next morning was on the road driving straight through to Leesburg, VA.
I knew I was, by no means, on my way to a picnic, but for no logical reason, I was still very much looking forward to being with my cousin. I knew that if I really focused and did my best to keep things light, I may actually be able to enjoy the journey, even in the midst of this very intense situation. I even felt inclined to pack my guitar for no good reason.
It was now around 2 a.m. on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning, March 18th), and although I was starting to fade, it felt important to stay awake and continue to drive if at all possible, so I started “talking” to my favorite non-physical “peeps” (other loved ones who made their transitions years ago) in an effort to keep my mind engaged and stay alert. As I started asking certain questions, I was now getting direct confirmation through feeling extremely strong emotions, getting powerful waves in my gut, AND the tingle of happy chills. These sensations were stronger, clearer and more frequent than anything I had ever experienced before! As if this was not already off-the-charts-amazing, a song idea even began to flow into my mind. I started to sing it to myself out loud, and with each word, once again, I felt intense emotion and I knew for sure that this was the work of another song-writer – Donald Fergus! I did my best to try to record the ideas into my phone and when I arrived at Kathy’s home around 5a.m. I still had the melody swimming in my head, even as I succumbed to sleep.
After sleeping only three or four hours, I awoke around 9 a.m., and was astonished by my level of alertness! As soon as it felt appropriate, I told my cousin about the tag-team experience John and I had with the smell and the song that started to flow. Because I had packed my guitar, I actually had a way to play a piece of the song for her and Denise, another beautiful, extremely helpful, like-minded cousin, who also knew Don well. They both had tears in their eyes and concurred that this felt like it was indeed coming from him!
Later that day, Kathy brought me upstairs to show me a bottle of “Tobacco Vanille” by Tom Ford, a cologne that Don would wear, and asked if it fit the description of the smell John had experienced. Right off the bat, it felt spot-on to me, but I knew that it was up to John to see if this was what he had perceived. When I called him to ask about this, even the very mention of this filled him with chills. We would then later discover, during a visit to Neiman Marcus, that this was EXACTLY the scent that John received: Upon smelling “Tobacco Vanille” my husband was again covered in chills!
The week had barely begun and this was already one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life to date, but the Universe was far from done delivering even more of this expanded awareness, along with all manner of bonuses, upgrades and happy surprises:
I instinctively offered to facilitate Don’s memorial service, which was quite a tall order, considering this incredible man was an I.T. giant, a Mason—a well-known, loved and highly respected leader—and an all-around exceptional human being. After this all sank in, I decided to ask the man himself for help, and sure enough, Don came through. He guided me to the right quotes, ideas, general structure, and even the order and flow of photos to use for a tribute slideshow: In essence, Don planned his OWN memorial service through me!
My oldest brother, who I had not seen in close to 30 years, along with his lovely wife, also immediately came to Kathy’s aid and literally showed up on the doorstep. My mom and I had spoken about them for the first time in ages just the week before. We had a fantastic conversation AND I discovered that they were also spiritually open-minded. As a matter of fact, they had even JUST listened to a recording by my favorite author/speaker, Abraham-Hicks. Considering my vague memory of our last encounter when I was a child, this was the LAST thing I had expected!
With a little help from my lyric sheet, I was able to physically play and publically perform the brand new song that I had only completed the day before the service! Normally, I would allow at least two weeks to a month to learn a song on guitar, but when I asked Don for help, he, once again came through and guided my hands to do what needed to be done.
The Bottom Line on “Don & Beyond”
Although all of this may seem unrelated to the topic of Allowing Success in the grand scheme of the physical, day-to-day world, opening yourself up to the big picture and The Power of CONNECTION can give you more tangible results than you could possibly imagine! Since my “Don & Beyond” experience, the frequency of setting/holding an intention, followed by something or someone coming to me or getting an inspiration to act and then running right into EXACTLY what I want has been happening at a faster rate than ever before, along with all manner of bonuses, upgrades and happy surprises!
What does this mean to you? When you remember that the ones you love truly ARE still with you, and open yourself up to the guidance, love, and inspiration that IS everywhere:
- You continue to find yourself in the right places at the right times
- The experiences you have with others becomes far more fun AND meaningful
- The love and connection you feel, even when you are only keeping company with yourself, lets you know that you are never alone and always supported
- You truly lack for nothing, and many of the things and experiences that you have asked for now CAN manifest into your experience!
- The sting and illusion of death fades faster than you could possibly imagine—and for me, this, in and of itself, is a blessing beyond description
Here’s to remembering that love NEVER leaves and Allowing Success in EVERYTHING that matters to YOU!
“You’ll find me shining with the stars
You’ll find me in great stories at the bar
You’ll find me everywhere you are
Everywhere, everywhere YOU are, you’ll find me.”
—From “Love Never Leaves –Don’s Song” ©2014 TTRH
Terez Hartmann is the President/CEO of ALLOWING Your Success & BEYOND!, LLC, author of the book ALLOWING Your Success!, a professional Keynote Speaker, Retreat and Workshop Facilitator, Coach, Recording Artist, Show Host and Singer-Songwriter. For more about Terez, access to FREE Allowing resources and “Words, Music, Adventures & BEYOND for LETTING Good Happen and ENJOYING the Journey!” visit www.AllowingYourSuccess.com. To order her book, ALLOWING Your Success! visit www.Transformation-Publishing.com
