And The World Cries

I woke up Monday morning with a heavy heart. It’s raining here in Virginia. It’s dark, gloomy and it simply feels like the whole world is crying.

As an experienced empath (someone who can feel the energy of other living things), I learned decades ago to keep myself shielded from the outside world. When I was younger I would be having a great carefree day, walk past someone who was probably having the worst day in their lives and suddenly I felt like crying. Many untrained empaths have this problem every day and struggle to keep the ‘mood’ of someone else at bay.

You don’t have to be a “gifted” empath for this to happen. We are all psychic to some degree. Some are merely more in tune with those 6th Senses than others. We all have gut feelings, intuition, call it what you want. But humans are part of the animal kingdom, and like those animals, we have natural instincts that keep us safe and help us avoid danger.

Everyone can pick up on energy of those close to then and wonder if everything is alright or not.  The closer the connection, the stronger the gut feelings. If you’re a parent, you probably have these types of “I have a feeling” moments with your own kids. Especially if you’re a Mom. Not because we’re better or more powerful than Dads. But because we have a stronger connection simply because of the physical process of creation we share with our kids.

It takes practice and effort to learn how to shield those energies and keep the general feelings of emotions and physical conditions of others, from interfering with your day and your life. But anyone can learn a technique that works for them to do exactly that. You can even learn how to keep a little window open for the connection to your partner, best friend, family members and your kids. On Spring’s Haven I share my method for  Balancing, Clearing, Cleansing and Protection of your 6th sense, gut feeling, whatever you feel comfortable in calling it.

I’ve refined my method for my specific abilities, strengths and weaknesses, that allows energy of those I care about to get through my shield of protection. My immediate family in particular, but a few very very important people to me that I care about as well. Every now and then something will happen and I’ll feel an energy that brings concern for one of those people in my exclusive list. I’ll reach out to ascertain if they’re ok or if something has happened that they may need help with.

Sometimes that’s not always possible, as is the case with people I don’t know personally, but feel a connection to. Even if that connection is only one way. If it’s strong enough, those people can “feel” like family to you and you may build the same type of concerned connection to them as you would to your immediate family. For me there’s two people on that list,  Shirley Maclaine, who  has long been my spiritual hero and Tony Stewart, who is my utmost favorite person in the world outside my immediate family.

It may sound odd to some, but we all have someone in the world we don’t know, but who has influence in our lives in a good way. Someone we admire for their accomplishments or strength in overcoming challenges in their life. Someone we see as our inspiration to strive for what we desire in our own life. Or maybe who we see as a kindred spirit, a person that we feel is very much like we are, with similar interests and humor or whatever draws you to them.

Energy doesn’t require everyone to know each other to have an effect. If that were true, you wouldn’t feel the anxiety or anger from the person standing in front of you at the checkout counter. Whither we know it or not, how we feel and the energy we put out affects others around us, whither or not they are empathic. For those of us who are intuitive and work with these sixth senses every day; it can be easier to narrow down the energy connections we are open to. Much like going to dinner with your best friend at a noisy bar. You’re able to tune out everyone else talking and hone in on the one your with over the loud voices talking around you.

One bad thing about being an adept psychic; you don’t need others to know you, in order to have a connection to them. I provide long distance healings and readings on a daily basis. It’s actually better if I don’t know you or anything about you when I’m giving a reading. It’s harder with someone you do know, because you have to wonder and make sure you knowledge of their life events can cloud your insight.

But there’s a third category of energy connections. There’s the people we know, who don’t know who we are. The people who we feel connected to as a fan.

The Connections To Famous People
Since this past Saturday night, August 9th, I’ve had a couple of heart sinking moments that seem out of the blue. Then Tony Stewart pops in my head and I’m suddenly very sad. It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me. Typically I can call the person I’m thinking of and find out if they’re ok. That’s hard to do in this case.

I was relaxing and watching TV with my son on that Saturday. Around 8pm I got a bad feeling about my ‘friend’ Tony Stewart. The only way to check up on him is to login to Twitter and attempt to find out what he’s up to. Was ok, is he racing at a dirt track somewhere in the U.S.?

It didn’t take long to find out what he was up to on this Saturday night. Sure enough he was driving his Sprint Car at a dirt track, Canandaigua Motorsports Park in New York. At the time I “tuned in” to the twitter reports, it seemed like everything was ok. He ran his heat races and would be in that night’s main event. Which would be a 25lap race on this 1/2 mile dirt track. A track he’s raced at many times before.

Ok, everything was fine, that bad feeling was probably my imagination. Twitter banter about the race, the next days NASCAR race fill up my time line. Chatting with friends I’ve made who share my passion for racing makes the wait between the heat races and the “A-Main” as we call it, help the time pass.

Various race teams, fans at the races and race series themselves all share reports from tracks around the country. And it wasn’t long before the tweets lit up that the green had dropped and the A-Main had begun. Little comments are made about who passed who and is leading over who is in second. Some where after lap 10 the tweets simply stopped. 15 or 20minutes went by before we heard that there was a serious incident on Lap14. An accident everyone has heard about since. Kevin Ward Jr and Tony Stewart had collided on the track and Ward’s car spun out and hit the outside wall. But then conflicting information hit twitter. There was an accident, but few details about what exactly occurred. Twitterverse fell silent. (You can read more about this if you’d like: When Tragedy Strikes Racing, Everyone feels sorrow.

So we waited for information. The the tweets from fans at the track started saying “Tony Stewart hit that guy”. Then someone said the “guy” wasn’t in his car. The tragedy spread through Twitter and the racing community like wildfire. Our NASCAR personalities began tweeting comments like “Let’s wait for officials to release information. Don’t make assumptions”. While non-race fans and dirt track fans who weren’t even at the race, began to make accusations about the intent and the cause; and it simply got evil and negative before anyone even knew what had transpired. Was this what that 8:00 bad feeling I had been about? Like a lot of people I was hoping and praying this was all blown up exaggeration and we’ll find out things are ok.

About 11:30pm I had another sinking feeling and on top of that sorrow and sadness, I was scared and filled with anxiety. Still on Twitter and twisted up in the news, I was hoping to hear some type of official announcement. But nothing was offered. It wasn’t until the following day that some details about the investigation came out. From that later news, we learned that the police were questioning Tony directly, about the time I had the feeling of fear and sorrow. Was that the event to explain the feeling I had? Was I picking up on Tony’s feelings during the Police questioning him? Thankfully Tony was questioned and released. He was allowed to leave and head back to Watkins Glen, NY. We also found out that he drove to the track since it was only one hour away. So he was driving back to Watkins Glen.

I tried to visualize sending healing energy to ease the stress and to provide the strength and compassion to get through this immediate aftermath and whatever was transpiring behind the scenes.

Finally at 3am we received confirmation that Ward Jr had died, though his name wasn’t released in that press conference. We also learned the investigation into the incident, was on going and there are no signs of criminal intent on the part of Tony Stewart. That didn’t stop the nasty comments and accusations on social media. Nothing else was to be learned until later the next morning, Sunday August 10th. The day of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Watkins Glen. he last bit of news we had that night/early morning that Tony would be racing his Sprint Cup car.

Now before you get angry, try to keep in mind that this statement was released when everyone was in shock. Emotions are flying high, stress and anxiety are the dominate influence and no one has fully or rationally thought through what has happened and how it’s going to impact anyone in the coming hours or days ahead. All people, regardless of who they are, will fall back on what they know out of instinct. Business as usual is simply another way of saying, we’re not rational at the moment and you’re pushing us for a plan. We fall back on the plan we had, as if nothing had happened because we don’t know what else to do. Shock! Plain and simple.

I couldn’t sleep at all that night. I kept waking up from 3am to 6am off and on. At 6:30am on Sunday morning I woke up with a start and a heavy heart. I lay there for a moment and I knew I must be picking up on the energy surrounding Tony. All I could think was that he had gone through a sleepless night, maybe allowing total emotional exhaustion to bring on a little sleep. But the feeling of shock, devastation and deep sorrow were so strong, I knew they weren’t my emotions, or at least not my emotions alone.

Around 8am my heart dropped and felt so heavy. I simply felt overwhelmed with emotion. I wanted to cry, and eventually choked up and the tears began to fall. It hung over me for 30minutes or so and at 8:30am, I gave up trying to sleep and got up. I tried visualize myself giving Tony a hug in an effort to send healing and compassion in hopes it might help. Even if it was only a little bit.

The only place I thought I’d find news was Twitter. I logged on and started looking at the feeds of my favorite NASCAR reporters, Holly Cain, Jenna Fryer, Jeff Gluck, Dustin Long, Bob Pockrass, and a few others. Those I could trust for official information since the 3am press conference provided by the Sheriff. Around 10:30 to 11am, I can’t remember when Tony’s team held their news conference, but they announce Tony wouldn’t be driving in the race that day. And I was a bit shocked when they said, they called Regan Smith, the guy who would drive his car at 8:30am.

Which means they had to be making that decision for at least 30 min to an hour before that call. Right about the time I had once again felt overwhelmed. Was that the energy I was picking up? The discussion and emotions surrounding that decision? It was certainly heartbreaking watching Greg Zipadelli’s press conference. He choked up himself while making his statement and it brought tears to my eyes too. (SHR Announcement on Nascar.com).

Each of these overwhelming feelings seemed to correspond with actual events and they provided some confirmation for me that there was a connection I had been picking up on. But I’m a practical person and I do hold a bit of skepticism in my views and perspectives when they relate to me and my emotions. So even though I have some confidence that I did have an energy/psychic connection to Tony; I’m so arrogant or crazy to think it’s absolute.

It’s been a very tragic weekend, that has evolved into a terrible week. The news from Monday that Robin Williams died from an apparent suicide was another horrible shocking event. And his death has become the next big story for the news.

The only good thing about that is that it limits the hyped up, sensationalized reports from mainstream media about the racing world and the tragic Ward/Stewart accident. The story has dropped to the 2nd page. Or in some cases the back page.

Since none of these reporters or anchors have any clue about racing; I’m glad they’re no longer talking about it. At least most of them aren’t. And putting the sport, the character of one of our best drivers and the fans who love racing on trial.

Now they’re interviewing people in the street, friends of friends and colleagues of Robin Williams. It’s the people of the street, the common everyday fan who took my greatest interest. The ones who couldn’t get through an answer without choking up and crying. The ones who talked about the impact and influence Williams had on their life. Their admiration, respect and what he meant to them. The connection they felt to and for the man. That’s what spoke most to me.

On one of the Network News reports, I saw a muscle bound young man talk about his favorite Williams movie and why it meant so much to him. He could barely get through his answer. And even though he was obviously embarrassed by the expression of his emotion, it meant a lot to me personally. I’m not the only person in the world who feels a connection to someone in the public eye.

This evening we got the news about the death of another great legend, Lauren Bacall. Once again there are expressions of outpouring sorrow on social media. And I’m sure there are many people, old, middle aged and young who identify with her, from her movie roles to her extraordinary confident and classy character in real life.

No matter who they are or where they are in the world, we all have an unexplainable connections to people who we may never meet in person. We may never talk to the or may only see them on the movie or tv screen. A movie or tv star, a singer, a politician (really?..ok even them), an advocate for a cause we’re interested in, an author or artist, a sports figure, a race car driver.

It’s not unusual to have a connection to someone you’ve never met. And tonight I don’t feel so crazy about my gut feelings and the connection to my favorite person. So if you feel yourself getting choked up, feeling sorrowful, or feel as if you’re overcome with emotion and then think about that famous person you feel connected to; don’t worry. You’re not the only one who has those feelings. You’re not crazy either.

I want to send out my sympathies to everyone involved or affected in all three of the events. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families, friends, and fans who feel sorrow and sadness. There has been so much loss and hardship these past few days.  It’s no wonder there are so many tears falling from the clouded skies.

© 2014 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.