Time to Awaken – Part 5

Fatal Plane Crash and Loss of Beloved Friends

The first event was a terrible and totally avoidable plane crash that killed all of the 176 passengers and crew on board.

Flight PS752, a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight, crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital of Tehran on January 8, 2020. There had been escalating tensions between the United States and Iran before the crash. At first, Iran denied any role in the plane’s crash. Then after days of denial, Iran admitted that it had shot the Boeing plane down “unintentionally.”

When you hear news like this, it is surely deeply disturbing. You may briefly begin to consider what all those aboard went through and the untold grief felt by so many family and friends. It is one thing to hear about this on the television news, in a newspaper article or on the internet. But what hits home hard in quite a different way is when someone steps forward and personalizes it.

That is what happened for me with this news. I soon learned that two of the passengers and their two young daughters, who were all on board, were the beloved friends of some very dear friends of ours. That made it very personal.

The spouses were brilliant engineers and teachers who created a wonderful life together, filled with accomplishments, travel, advanced education, family and friends. Both lived and loved well and were beloved by many. Originally from Iran, they lived and worked in Canada. That is where my friend Kamran Akbardazeh, founder of The Dream Achievers Academy, met them. He and his wife, Shohreh Ghorbani, founder and director of Project Control Academy, and their children all became very close friends of theirs. Kamran created a beautiful tribute to the family in a video he posted on Facebook.

Here is what he wrote to introduce the video on YouTube:

“It was too early for them to leave this world! It is hard to believe this tragedy. Professor Pedram Mousavi and Professor Mojgan Daneshmand were two of our best friends who lost their lives, along with their two daughters, in the Ukraine plane crash. We are going to miss them, but we will never forget them.

“I made this video as a tribute to their beautiful life, their accomplishments, and our friendship: https://www.facebook.com/kamranakbarzadeh/videos/10159531654999578/.”

Facebook Video Tribute to the Lost Precious Lives of Mojgan, Pedram, Daria & Dorina

After seeing this video and feeling so deeply the tragic loss of these precious lives, I once again heard the echoes of the messages I had been receiving from Spirit about taking the time to be present. I heard again:

“This is your gift that you yearned for. Do not waste it. It is a gift with an unknown expiration date. Be present and stay present. Honor who you are. Honor all your gifts and talents. And honor others. Be grateful. For one day, maybe much sooner than you might ever have imagined, your physical form will be gone as your soul is set free once again. Don’t miss out on a moment of all you have been given to savor and explore here. Be mindful of your time here and use it very well.”

Sudden Serious Illness of Niece – Another Wake-Up Call

In an email to his subscribers, Kamran also shared that his 16-year-old niece had suddenly fallen ill. She was in a coma and her life was hanging in the balance as all who loved her prayed for her recovery. He could only imagine what his brother and sister-in-law and his family in Iran were going through.

Here is what he wrote about it:

“On the first day of the new year, my mom called me and said that my niece, who recently turned 16, was in a coma! She had the symptoms of mild flu for a couple of weeks, but suddenly the virus attacked her brain and caused a seizure, which put her into the state of coma. To prevent her brain from further damage, the doctors put her into sleep for seven days in the ICU.

“Lots of samples were taken from her spinal cord and blood to monitor the change in her brain’s water chemistry and the health of her internal organs. CT scans and an MRI did not show damage to the brain.

“Being far from them was hard. We didn’t know what to do or how to help.

“The virus that infected her brain is a rare one that may cause damage and result in a slow recovery. Our emotions were tested. I experienced the roller coaster effect. My brother and his wife were desperate. The best doctors in the city were doing their best to help her survive. The hospital did not allow anyone to visit her except her parents.

“After seven days, they brought her back from sleep to check her state of consciousness. It was still low, but slowly improving. On January 7^th we heard the good news that she had opened her eyes, but her road to recovery will be long.

“Although my niece has not recovered yet and the doctors had to put her back to sleep for a few more days, I know that she is going to be all right. I know that she is strong enough because she has passed the worst part. The road to recovery is long for her, but I know that with her parents and the rest of the family beside her, she’ll get back to normal in the near future.”

In a call in early March, Kamran told me that his niece continues to do well.

Kamran, his wife Shohreh and their beautiful children, Delisha and Daniel, enjoyed visiting our home in 2018. Back then they never could have imagined that early in 2020 their beloved friends and their friends’ children would perish in a fateful plane crash. And none of us that day could have ever predicted how the COVID-19 virus would affect our lives and those around the world and the terrible toll it would take on so many. All can always change in an instant.

So what did he learn from these very difficult life lessons, one with a tragic ending and the other a hopeful one? Here is what he shared:

“They taught me that we should be ever ready. They taught me that challenges could appear out of nowhere. They taught me that life is too short to waste.”

Indeed, life is not to be taken for granted and not to be wasted. It is this precious gift to be appreciated, nurtured and savored. It is a present for which we must stay present.

Fatal CA Helicopter Crash Takes Lives of All Nine On Board

How could Vanessa Bryant and her family have ever imagined that her husband Kobe’s passion for life, his great success both on and off the basketball court, his athleticism, vibrant vitality and love for his family and friends would be gone in an instant? And how could she ever fathom the simultaneous loss of her beloved husband and her youngest daughter Gianna, a radiant light bound for fame and glory who was so close with her father?

Following in his very famous basketball footsteps, Gianna was on her way to play in a game when the helicopter she, her father, and seven others were in crashed during some very foggy weather on January 26, 2020. Gone in an instant, all that success and promise, all that love and light. Just gone.

One can hardly even imagine the great grief of a wife who loses both her husband and her youngest daughter so suddenly. How can anyone’s heart find the courage to deal with all of that? With bravery, Vanessa has posted on Instagram and shared a beautiful tribute at her husband’s memorial service. With such precious cargo on that helicopter, including Kobe Bryant, Gianna, two of her teammates, their parents, basketball coaches and the pilot, the tragic loss is incalculable.

I saw the husband of assistant coach Christina Mauser, one of the crash victims, talking to Anderson Cooper on CNN. Matt Mauser’s great grief was palpable and heart-wrenching. To see the interview, click here. How could he have known he was saying a final goodbye to his amazing wife who was such a light in his life and in the lives of all who knew her?

Watch Anderson Cooper’s Interview with Matt Mauser, Husband of Crash Victim Christina Mauser

Global COVID-19 Crisis – Big Wake-Up Call!

Then the COVID-19 global crisis infiltrated our world insidiously, causing illness and deaths in China, Italy, Spain, the United States and so many other countries around the world. None of us could have envisioned how dramatically life for everyone globally would be affected. Nor could all those relatives of patients lost to COVID-19 illness have had any inkling that their beloved family members and cherished friends would be gone so suddenly.

Nor would they have foreseen how drastically and dramatically all our lives would be altered forever in some way. This is a very big topic and I will be writing a separate blog post about this worldwide crisis that has deeply affected all our lives.

We are being asked to wake up to honor these precious gifts of life we have been given. We are being asked to stop taking them for granted. Our souls may be eternal, but our physical forms and individual personalities here in this present moment will one day be called back home to Spirit. We don’t know when and we really don’t have “all the time in the world” to accomplish our goals even though it may feel as though we do.

Spirit wants us to enjoy these gifts of life fully and freely. If you are playing it small in your life, if you are hiding your true talents, Spirit is summoning you to unleash your potential in the world. You will not always be here. Don’t wait until the fire of your passions turns into dying embers. Your time will always be NOW in this present moment. Spirit is asking us not to waste it.

Marianne Williamson writes about the importance of shining our light in the world:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

More than ever, through recent world events, we see how completely we are all connected. In recognizing our global connection, we are also being asked to become more loving and compassionate, less judgmental and cynical. We are being asked to become more spiritual and less material, more selfless and less selfish. Although in this current crisis, it is a time for solitude, distancing and self-isolation, it is also a time for cultivating a deeper connection to the whole of humanity and a time for honoring our planet and its environment.

We are all being asked to be more kind and loving to ourselves and to one another. Again, this life is a precious gift with a certain expiration date. Knowing how fragile our lives can be, what can you do to honor and appreciate your gift? As Pastor Joel Osteen often shares, “You are a child of the most high God.” As such, you deserve nothing less than a joyful, abundant and spectacular life filled with love, grace and whatever makes your heart sing most.

It’s your “Time to Awaken!” You deserve nothing less than a joyful, abundant and spectacular life filled with love, grace and whatever makes your heart sing most.

If you think I can help you awaken to this precious gift you have been given and to your potential for joy and abundance, please email me at info@lovehealingandmiracles.com.

Sometimes a counselor and healer can help. You can also schedule a free 30-minute get-acquainted session to see if I can help you move forward. I have a single “Time to Awaken to Joy and Abundance” counseling session for those who need a reminder to shift into a higher vibration and affirm all the good in their lives. For those who need additional support to awaken to more joy and abundance in their lives, I also offer three “Time to Awaken to Joy and Abundance” packages. You can check out the single session here and the packages here.

It’s your time to awaken to all the joy and abundance that awaits you. Your thoughts, beliefs and habits create your reality. It’s up to you to be that amazing creator. If you are experiencing any blocks to your joy and abundance, let’s have a chat to see if I can help you “break through” to “break free” and awaken to the amazing soul that you are. It’s your time! Now is your time!

Here’s to your joy, abundance and freedom and to your awakening to the great gift of your life.

With lots of love, healing and so many miracles,

Rev. Donna