Jacob Cooper- Life After Breath

Jake Cooper is a fascinating young man. He's certainly wise beyond his years. After reading his book, Jake and I sat down for this interview to discuss his amazing experience at the age of 3 when he died and experienced Jesus (as an Orthodox Jew) and more!

Jacob Cooper is a Clinical Social Worker, Certified Reiki Master, and Certified Hypnotherapist who specializes in Past Life Regression Therapy, works privately with clients through online services. Inspired by his near-death experience and transformative encounters, he facilitates spiritual awareness and empowerment through life-changing seminars. Currently, he resides and practices in Long Island, NY. He is the author of "Life After Breath" published by Waterside Productions.

You can reach Jake at:   https://www.jacoblcooper.com

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Transcript

Brian Smith: 0:55

Close your eyes and imagine what are the things in life that causes the greatest pain, the things that bring us grief, or challenges, challenges designed to help us grow to ultimately become what we were always meant to be. We feel like we've been buried, but what if, like a seed we've been planted and having been planted, to grow to become a mighty tree. Now, open your eyes. Open your eyes to this way of viewing life. Come with me as we explore your true, infinite, eternal nature. This is grief to growth. And I am your host, Brian Smith. here Hey everybody, this is Brian back with another episode of grief to growth. I've got with me today a very special young man. His name is Jacob Cooper. Jacob Cooper is a clinical social worker. He's a certified Reiki Master and a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in past life regression therapy. He works privately with clients or online services. Inspired by his near death experience and transformative encounters you fill up facilitate spiritual awareness and empowerment through life changing seminars. Currently, Jacob resides and practices in Long Island, New York. He's the author of life after breath, which is published by waterside productions. And just to let you know up front, if you do want to reach Jacob, his website is Jacob L. Cooper calm is Jacob j AC ob l as in Lee Cooper calm. And with that I want to welcome Jay Cooper to Greek to growth.

Unknown: 2:28

Thank you so much for having me on as an honor guest, Brian, I'm a big fan of your work. Thank you.

Brian Smith: 2:34

No, thanks. I appreciate that. I'm Jake. I've read several narratives and the stories I've had several people on the podcast who have had near death experiences. One of the ways that you're unique, I usually ask people, when you tell your story, start, you know, wherever you like, whether you want to start the experience or before the experience. But in your case, you were three years old when you had this experience, probably not a whole lot of life experience before that. But Tara listeners about this experience you had when you were three years old, or wherever you'd like to start?

Unknown: 3:02

Absolutely. So I was three years old at the time, they didn't know it. But I had an highly contagious upper respiratory virus called pertussis otherwise known as whooping cough, which left untreated for infants, children or even adults, in rare cases, for the adults, but mostly infancy and children could be fatal if left untreated, due to suffocation. And so I went to a park that September morning with family friends of mine, and at the time was my babysitter, I'm a sibling. And I was just going there to the park quick and the other day and just having a good time dude. As I was in the car, I began, you know, kind of noticing a bit of just kind of dizziness or noticing, you know, kind of like a different energy around me, which are described in the book as a vortex of energy around myself that just felt almost kind of like a vacuum for my inner being that I just pushed aside and ignored because, you know, my mind was telling me one thing, but you know, a part of me just wanted to go out there and have a good time. So I bury conventional wisdom that something profound that I couldn't quite touch was on the horizon. And I just wanted to play in the playground. And so I got the card, you know, despite the nausea and, you know, some just dizziness that I was having. And I just ran as fast as I could up to the ladder onto a slide. And as I was climbing up each rung of the ladder of the slide, my breathing became more belaboured and more debilitated. through every step that I was climbing and became the nausea continued to grow. Then I got to the top of the slide, all of a sudden, I was really starting to slowly suffocate and I was getting very little air, you know, at the top of the ladder, and then slowly, that continual feeling of that vortex that I was seeing in the car, and that familiarity with it, began to race to to my inner being at some insane speed. And I followed it. And then slowly, I began noticing that my body was no longer, you know, working to the deprivation of oxygen, and every part of my body just began shutting down, like you take a power breaker and a home and just shut down each switch. And that was happening to my body, no one switch at the time, do the deprivation of oxygen. The last part that I recalled being aware of was being kind of outside my body and looking in at my brain and being able to notice different components of my brain and different functionings. And it's as if the statement is true that we use a very small percentage of our brain in our lifetimes and certainly it's very hard to understand the brain with the brain from my being three years old. You know, adults fully educated and stuff like That's still are still finding new findings within the brain, you know, no matter what program of neuroscience or neurosurgery you are in. But, you know, I noticed that due to deprivation of oxygen, I felt the large cracking noise within my brain is if you take a plug out of a wall and just yank it out. And so I was unplugged from my body and my brain, and I just heard this large snap. But then after that, that vortex just began just to quickly suck my body and not my body, but my inner being down this insane tunnel, and I was going in an infinite rate in infinite speed, no going upwards and upwards and upwards, and there was no limitation with how high and how far I was soaring. And solely I just entered this, the best way I could describe it, as cliche as sound was this mystical light, this quite familiar light, you know, and I entered this place. And as I was entering this, I began to notice the right side of, you know, the part of my brain that I was looking at from a third person, out of body experience, and I began noticing this incredible mystical palace, I just almost had to shield myself away from because this palace is light was just so bright, and I could hear vibrations sounds, you know, choirs by it and angelic beings within it. And the most way I could describe it was just just an intimate connection, you know, what the all that ever is, and ever was. So it was, to me, just a connection with with the Creator, in a sense, and people have different experiences with the Creator, I think it's, it's all limiting. But I think, you know, when you when I was crossing over, it was just a very intimate connection to a high octave of the Creator, you know, presented to me in a way that I could comprehend and understand. And so, as I was connecting to this, there was an adjustment phase where I just it was just too profound and too powerful to look at where I just almost had to shield myself from this familiarity. Slowly, I began to notice awareness of not necessarily Jesus Christ, the man depicted in pictures or in the Bible that people practice or the the worldview of Christ, but more of the interconnectivity to the consciousness of Jesus or consciousness of Christ. And in a way, that's very diametrically different than you know what other people say, because it's an interconnectivity. And hopefully, we'll get into more QA on that, your differentiating components, but, you know, when connecting to this, I was feeling as scared as I possibly could, you know, in just terms of leaving my body behind my life behind, and I just connected to this eternal wave of love, protection, guidance, support that was so beyond anything that I experienced, which isn't enough to my culture or family, you know, just as high octave of unconditional love mysticism, and high understanding of, of the other side, and this high awareness. And after connecting to that, I began to notice my two spiritual guides, who are with me on the slide on the top of the slide, and literally, I felt a male and female guy at the time, I clearly knew who they were, what their names were. And I felt quite ashamed and embarrassed that I forgot their identity. It's just, you know, Ziff, you just forgot to tie your shoes or you forgot your first name, it's just, it was so close to your heart that I just forgot that they were with me this entire time, it just, I was just kind of had a blind spot on, you know, during those three years, and when I looked at them, they're the most magnificent beings wasn't, like clear, audient or clear, this was as if you're a beautiful man, but looking at you, right, right here today, you know, it's just right in front of me. But they're right to the side of me and I was able to see them through my peripherals, and then slowly, they began to push my body through the wrong force down the slide. And my body was irresponsive my guides pushed me and slowly began to notice all the people that I went to the park with that day, no calling my name and I was just very responsive to them. And I was able to be aware of my what I like to call my spiritual body or my soul body and I was able to feel a form on the side of my body and I was able to see all the people who were calling my name but I felt almost kind of like a caged animal like I was trying to communicate to them in a know they could see me but they weren't seeing the true me. I could hear them but they couldn't hear me it was quite torturous at the time. I wanted to grab them and saying, I'm okay are you because I'm I'm you know, on the other side, I'm you know, and this is terrific. I never met more. I never felt more connected in this lifetime to my true essence then this moment, but they were calling my name and they weren't responsive. And then in that moment, I was able to look at through my soul size or mind size, and their energetic bodies, or what we would call electromagnetic Auric fields, I was able to see a lot of components about the people that I went to the park that day that maybe I wasn't privy to, or aware of, at the moment, such as some of their purposes and even past lives. And, you know, I was able to see them, not just from a face value human component from from a spiritual component, and I got a little bit more into that in life after breath with some of the specific use of it, then instantaneously, upon the looking, you know, at that, I was able to be privy to just hundreds and 1000s of angels that were hovering around my body and around the park. And these were not these big archangels, necessarily, these were more of the cherubim type of angels within the background, I was aware of those larger angels, but in front of me, floating, were these childlike angels, and they were kind of like brown and gold. And there were a lot less human in their characteristic in their effect than my spiritual guides, they were just, you know, just looking in the direction and it's almost like I could see them, but they weren't so connected to me personally, they were more connected to the macro kind of energy, not just not so much focused on the micro, you know, me. And so I was able to see them, and I was just so blown away. And, you know, even my human part is still carrying over us just like, geez, am I, you know, making this up is this real, and it was literally a filter of an endless sea of angels that was right in front of me, you know, and then a distance, I had awareness of the best term, I could describe it for listeners. And at the time, I didn't have these terms, you know, this is kind of the terms that people have, you know, have to them, but to me terms are our ultimate superpower, and just in terms of understanding, but they don't do justice or justification. And it's full description, but I would say so family members came to me to distance, they slowly started coming to me and instantaneously, I knew who they were what they were about. And it's it's almost as if you feel an investment of your close core of people that know you transparently inside outside frontwards and backwards, and vice versa. And, you know, when they saw me and interacted with me, I felt quite embarrassed and wise, why use the word embarrassed is, you know, it's almost as if you have a party, you're going to the military, and you have this big bash for like a week or two, and you make all these promises, and everyone's giving all these well wishes, and then within a week or two, you just come back and say now, you know, now for me or something like that. So, you know, that wasn't their judgment of me that that was my own judgment. They love me for not what I did, but who I was. And that's so much more diametrically different than, than this life as we know it for the most of us saying that, yeah, after seeing them, and my spiritual guides and connecting with the higher divine energy I was posed a question with, which is what I was going to do, within this particular path was I going to stay, you know, cross over on the other side, or, you know, as I continue to live, knows, you know, this lifetime, you know, his three year old Jake, obviously, you know, different from this experience. And then I got kind of Mike, my lawyer business hat on this at, well, if I do that, let's make a deal. What is this lifetime going to be? What am I going to experience? Why am I here? what's what's the point of it, for me to turn you guys down, I better have a better counter that will outweigh it and have more capital than, than heaven if that's possible. And so I was being shown a life review, as I would best describe it, not only this lifetime, but what stuck to me was mostly, you know, other past lifetimes. And it was if I was going on an overlay of the planet, and I was able to just go from culture, culture, country to country and have different, you know, glimpses and different filters of other lifetimes. And I was just spanning the globe, just traveling all different areas and timeframes, and an overlay of the earth. And the most recent lifetime that I had was when I had all these students that came to me and all these children that I just knew instantaneously, and they were given to me in flashing imagery. And I became quite emotional, just in terms of the memories that I had and just the relationship and the recollection of that last lifetime in which my committed suicide after feeling like my back was against the wall and there was no hope. And there was some type some type of teacher for children, a lot of kids depended on me, and I took my own life and that last carnation, from my back against the wall, I just felt very hopeless, very trapped, and there's nothing There's no forward, there's no path, there was nothing to get past the pylons, it was just very kind of trapped. And then slowly, I was able to see flashing imagery of this lifetime that I would live in, then I was able to see a crowd of people that I was speaking to. And when I saw that lifetime, it wasn't as if I was some guru, or some superior to the people or some teacher that was better than the people. But rather, I was just a part of the symphony of the message I was, there's a part of everyone who's there's an interconnectedness, of uplifting, of energy of truth, that was from that particular imagery. And I said, at that time, you know, as as beautiful, as you know, Heaven is, you know, bring it into this lifetime, and living this path is bringing the hereafter into the year now, and I just turned it down, you know, solely I recognize no feature glimpses of the earth, and just in terms of a lot of the chaos and darkness and divisiveness. But But through that darkness, through the deprivation of it, I saw people coming into new form and changing, which hopefully, we'll get into, because that's, there's a lot of universality behind that from an individual to collective, it's all interconnected. And then slowly, that's when everything power down. Once I made that decision to stay, then I got a degree of, you know, cold feet or doubt, as if like, what the heck did I just do? Like, I just turned down that to come back to, you know, this, this earth? I'm just like, Jesus, I was just like, kicking myself, I just, again, ask the question I, I was, I've always a question kind of guy. And I guess that kind of put me into the job as a therapist and stuff like that. I love figuring out why the things are the way that they are, and figuring out solutions to problems. And I just said, How do I know that this is going to happen, and they gave me one of the biggest superpowers, which is the power of thought, the power of perception, and the power of paths in the sense that the higher the vibratory your thoughts are, the more in symmetry they are within flow within the path, the more that your thoughts kind of earn parallels with fear kind of lower energy, the more in a sense that will kind of take you off that path and put you on a lower vibratory path and a more difficult path, not necessarily relating to the series of events, but more in terms of your ability to be able to manage your circumstances. And then that's when everything shut down. And I was left in a hospital bed, you know, with my mother, who is quite distraught. And at the time, my mother told me that I was so angry, that I kicked the doctor and ran around the room that I was, I was absolutely furious. In the sense that here, I was turning down heaven. And I was put in such a different vantage point from the other side, in the light of it, you know, on a on a cold hospital bed, you know, being operated on, you know, just just dependent on, you know, like a medical personnel. And, you know, we'll get into that a little bit more, because I think my book really talks about the size, psychosocial, logical developmental angle, from this profound experience at the age of three or so.

Brian Smith: 19:20

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Wow. There's so much I want to go into with with that. You know, first of all, I want to remind the viewers, the listeners, the viewers, because it's going on YouTube, and my podcast, you were three years old, and you had this experience, which is very unusual. It's interesting, you talk about the experience itself, and even the time before your memories of it are so detailed. And most of us don't remember anything for the age of like, five. So one of the questions I know people that have these experiences early, early in life, how could you possibly remember what happened?

Unknown: 19:57

What I would say is certainly, as a psychotherapist, I definitely have professional capital and legs to stand on when it comes to understanding of trauma and how that works. At least from my experience, there's, I can't think of anything more traumatic than suffocating, you know, and dying, right. And so, you know, that's an experience no matter how old or how young has a capacity to stick with you. And when it comes to trauma, not only do you remember the actual event, but you have memories of the surrounding event, you know, the events that kind of came a little bit after and a little bit before, and that has to deal with trauma, you know, and also, there's the euphoric element of this experience where this defies all conventional wisdom. You're right, you know, in a sense, how do I remember things that, you know, at such a young age, and I'm no different than anyone else, I remember very little other than these incredible transformative experiences when you're connecting to the other side that goes against all logic within because not produced from this body, you know, it's filtered through the body and you're connected to a much higher realm that's eternal. It's not from the finite mind. That's limited. And it's, you know, recollection stuff, the conscious mind are connected to the subconscious, eternal mind. And so that's in many ways how it stuck with me. And so if you watch the Netflix documentary, surviving death, you'll see I think, at the last episode, they have an episode of like a child who remembers his past lifetime as a pilot, and, you know, all the details and stuff like that. And so, in the I know, the University of Virginia has a whole case study of children's past lives. And I know, that's one of the prerequisites to become, you know, I guess like a Buddhist monk or stuff like that, you have to remember your your last life, and so infants have a very high capacity to remember the previous lifetimes that are not produced by the spotty, right, so that's possible, then certainly would lay itself into possibility of remembering, you know, parts from infancy and even, you know, you know, NATO kind of periods and stuff like that. So, hope that makes sense. Absolutely.

Brian Smith: 22:55

That's an excellent answer, maybe the best I've heard from to describe this, I also want to say that it's not unusual for children, as young as two or three, or even younger, who have had these experiences, even infants, even, you know, children, before they even have language can remember them. Ingrid honkala, who I've had on my show, and Ingrid had experience with she was like two years old. And she remembers in great detail, and I love what you said that. But the thing is, that trauma can bring back memories. And some people do have memories of not even near death experiences, but just anything something traumatic that happened when they were at that age. So transformation. Yeah, it makes it makes sense. And I loved I'm glad that you gave that answer. And for anybody that's doubting that I want to know. And I wanted to put that out there. The other thing I noticed, though, that like, even when you went to the other side, you know, the way you describe it, you seem to have a different level of consciousness and a three year old would have no, like the negotiations you made about coming back? And do you feel like your consciousness shifted, when you, when you cross back over? Did you become like your, your higher self, for lack of a better word,

Unknown: 24:00

I would say that no infant or no child is how we perceive them, most of us, in a sense that we're not our bodies, we're not our ages, we're not numbers, we're not even our names. And so to help people saw me, or how probably the external portrayal of myself, you know, that probably wasn't in parallel. But when we look in an infant, we look at a child, there's the external portrayal, and then there's internal processing that happens that, you know, isn't communicated isn't expressed. And so that was connected to not my necessarily two or three year old self as normally, I don't think any of us are at our core that, you know, it was the deeper waters of my soul that I was connected to, which is not bound by time, place culture or anything like that. And so it was a lot more of an expanded awareness and connectivity to that. But I think in a way to wait that I could describe the soul is not the mind, not our worries, not our limitations, but rather, the deep secret observer beyond the surface. And that's always kind of there underneath the surface that can never leave us. And, you know, that's the part that I got in connected to. And that was always with me, within this lifetime, the soul doesn't dissolve automatically changed when become 2122. In fact, a lot of people become a lot less a lot more. So less than soulful at that age. And so infants, children, probably, you know, have a lot more connectivity to that deeper part of them and are, in a way, almost kind of like Benjamin buttons. There's an age reversal that happens when we physically grow up, integrate into this world look more mature and can play the game better. But our true essence at times, you know, fades away. And so I look at children and infants says some of the higher souls and more aware souls are older than some 90 or 100 years old. Yeah, in a way.

Brian Smith: 26:05

That's beautifully said. Yeah, that was beautifully said. And I completely agree. It reminds me There's a song I love that talks about how we come into this world, innocent and pure. And then this called the way of the world by Earth, Wind and Fire. And you know, I love that song. Because I think it's just so true. We come in and we're pure and We're innocent, and there'll be learned to play the game the way you said and we forget who we were. It's interesting. You got this, this reminder, this reset at the age of three. I think that's another really thing that's unusual, about about your experience, but thank you for the answer. That's the thing about your experience and a lot of times again, people They'll say, well, when people have never experienced none of experience, they're just seeing it was wish fulfillment. They're seeing what they expect is what they're culturally expected to see. So when I read in your book, I want to read a short passage from one of the chapters. He said that you that you perceive Jesus, you said, You didn't see Jesus, but you proceed Jesus, if I if I remember correctly,

Unknown: 27:05

more like a hearing an inner knowing. And yeah, it's funny because I grew up, you know, in a religious traditional community, went to Hebrew school, all that stuff out all the rules, and you know, modern Orthodox Jewish kid, Jesus was born a Jew, Jew and guided you, he's probably more Jewish than, than I myself am, you know, he was in Israel, right? and stuff like that. So, but in my lifetime, that wasn't something that was I was exposed to, right. And I certainly understand within Jewish tradition, there's a lot of pushback, not necessarily from Jesus himself, but what came after him through the crusades, and, you know, attacks on Jews. And so I could understand how a lot of people, you know, misinterpreted the message and used it as violence. And that couldn't be more diametrically opposite to the life that Jesus stood for, you know, so I can understand that. So from seeing that it was just a whirlwind of difference from the culture environment that I was exposed to at that young age, you know, and so it would make sense for me to see more So Moses in a, you know, in a staff or Joseph or someone else from Genesis, right.

Brian Smith: 28:21

As much cultural conditioning as you could have at the age of three, you'd expect that and so I do want to read this passage, I think it's beautiful. You said, I understood that Jesus was a closest depiction of man and God higher consciousness form that we can comprehend that we can comprehend. In that moment, I was conscious of its desire to spread loving messages, and not to focus on the ending of his life. But rather than his love of service, forgiving his neighbors and bringing heaven down to earth through his own sacrifice, and trials and tribulations, I was aware that his life was an all of us. And then we have the capacity to embody elements of him within each and every one of our journeys, for he is an undeniable part of ourselves, one that is always with us, even if we had time for the sight of it. I thought that that was beautiful. And it actually a project I've been thinking about doing or when to ask people, what does Jesus mean to you. And if you don't mind, I would love to conclude that, you know, when I do this project, I think that's a beautiful synopsis of Jesus, who Christ is,

Unknown: 29:19

please do and I don't mean to have a monopolization of heaven, or God, I was just some kid who had this experience at a young age and I had a small taste of it. But I look at my everyday experiences a way to come closer to understanding I think if truth becomes stagnant in terms of religion, but the truth becomes open ended. And exploratory. It's more goes the lines of spirituality, and that's more of the beginner's mind, Buddhist kind of mentality where the Masters mind is the mind, who knows who's open, you know, and not defined by what they know and experience. But certainly, you know, a lot of people say is Jesus, God is God, God, what's this? What's that? I say, No, we're all expressions of that. But but different figures throughout history, have a higher octave, a higher vibration of that, that we're not meant to put on a pedestal, but rather learning to integrate, and to learn that that is possible within our lifetimes. And, you know, to be reminded of the possibility to reach in deeper gears that are a lot more than how we perceive ourselves, but more reflective of what's in ourselves.

Brian Smith: 30:28

Yeah, absolutely. And another thing I want to touch on in terms of your experience, again, we talked before we get started, because the experience itself is fantastic. It's interesting, but what are the lessons and in one of the other lessons I saw, and you point this out, when you talk about the experiences that said, You felt a little bit embarrassed, you'd already forgotten your guides, but they were always with us. And so I think a lot of times, as adults, you know, we forget our guides are with us. So what would you say to people that say, you know, I do I have guides?

Unknown: 30:59

Yeah, you know, if anyone's interested, too, I have monthly events on Facebook Live and one of the topics that's going to be coming, it's less Monday of each month, you know, and it's open for the community and down the road, one specific topics and my professional pages, spiritual guides. What I would say is a lot of people if they don't get every single Mark checked off, right, in terms of their guides, they listen to a lot of people talk and they'll be able to talk about knowing their guides, but the guides past life, their guides, mothers to their guides, spiritual out, you know, and then they'll feel like, Oh, that's what these people are experiencing, and I'm just, you know, having what I'm having, so it's just validated. What I would say is, you know, each experience is unique And each experience is a part of your own dosage of reawakening because I think we're truly all awakened just about the integration of that. And so, ultimately, I don't connect to my guides daily, sometimes even question their names, which is why I don't put in the book. But that doesn't mean that you can't connect to them in your own special way that you can have a dialogue and look at meditation as a great intimacy with with your guides and the other side, you know, you're able to get into the sacred silence and feel, you know, those beings around you, and you're enhancing your energy, your vibration, so that their vibration could match yours. When you're feeling very stuck, closed, closed, head, closed heart, it's very hard for flow of energy to come in to you. But I think certainly everyone has spiritual guides were born with them. They know us before this lifetime in the charting phase, and so they never leave us, we just at times leave them. I think a lot of that has to do with a, the fact that we feel unworthy to have these beings who investment us so much you care about us so much. It's not self aggrandizement, to think that. But I think also the illusion that isolation that people have, where we feel pain, we feel that we're just, you know, pain could lead us on an illusionary path that we're isolated. And, you know, we're, we're internal suffering, just alone. And one thing that I truly learned and I talk a little bit more about this, my second book, which is more of direct implicative lessons of the here now, the hereafter that the here now is just that illusionary sensation of being alone and how we could have that state of mind. But the state of reality presents itself a little bit differently, that we're always surrounded and guided and protected. We just not always are aware of that.

Announcer: 33:34

We'll get back to grief to growth in just a few seconds. Did you know that Brian is an author and a life coach. If you're grieving or know someone who is grieving his book, grief to growth is a best selling easy to read book that might help you or someone you know, people work with Brian as a life coach to break through barriers and live their best lives. You can find out more about Brian and what he offers at WWW dot grief to growth.com www dot g ri e f the number two gr o w th comm or text growth gr o w t h 231996. If you'd like to support this podcast, visit www.patreon.com slash grief to growth www.patren.com slash g ri e f the number two gr o w th to make a financial contribution. And now back to grief to growth.

Brian Smith: 34:35

Yeah, you know, it's interesting that you talked about that being alone I was a young man, his name is Roland changing. He wrote a book, who we are and why we are and one of the things he said in his book is like, one of the things we agree when we come into this life is we agreed to this feeling of abandonment, which seems to be universal, that we all feel alone on some level at some point. So it's an interesting thing that you talked about even even at three years old, you know, you had already forgotten that you were that you were never alone.

Unknown: 35:03

Even at then sec could understand how adults forget years old, you know starting to fall asleep at the wheel a little bit. Right and just having a little bit of amnesia. And so I'm sure I can understand how adults are doing that. But there's so much symmetry with what's happening on a macro and micro basis to my experience this sense that, you know, from a young age at three years old, I had an upper respiratory highly contagious virus called pertussis, or whooping cough, and that caused me to suffocate. And hence the title life after breath, I suffocated and there was an eternal life past the limited breath within the body, there's eternal Breath of the Spirit, there's eternal life of the spirit that I was able to remember. I think impermanence is bolted to our face a lot more these days with the macro, upper respiratory virus that's happening today. And a lot of people are feeling you know, just just very uncertain about their lives. And a lot of people in many ways feel breathless, and they've got nothing to hold on to they're grasping for straws in the outer world, because it's that rug has been pulled. So for people to not only just survive or thrive, people now need to find different gears, they may not have turned from, you know, prior comfort. And so I think this time has posed people to kind of expedite some of their store houses of inner truth in your own backyard to come out more you know, as the outer stimuli is more enhanced, and And throwing away a little bit more these days?

Brian Smith: 37:29

Yeah, absolutely. So um, nothing would ask you, you know, you have this experience three years old. And a lot of times people have near death experiences, almost always they take some integration to get to kind of readjust once they come back. For adults, that can be seven to 14 years for children, it could be 20 to 30 years. Yeah, you're only 30 years old now. So how do you feel that you How did this experience impact your your growing up? And how are you integrating it now?

Unknown: 38:00

You know, can you everything as a blessing but looking back on it, it was certainly how to, you know, just just perfect, it was a double edged sword. You know, it was very allegorical the near death experience in the sense that there, in order to see the the light, I had to see some of the dark and the suffocation to really remind myself with the light, it's hard to see the light at times without the dark, sir, it's hard to remind yourselves of the infinite, without its opposite of the finite and I had the most direct connection with finite suffering and suffocation. The most no connectivity with with infinite, through eternal breath through we, you know, understanding eternity, but I would say, matter of fact, I grew up in a home, you know, for children, my parents were more so in the here now than the hereafter. There were hard working people, my father was a sacral therapist, but out of all the four children, we all had the same food, the same environment, the same classes, can ask anyone who knew the family, I was by far the most difficult child, I was a PA, you know, to them from ever since that experience. And I think that has a lot of layers to it. I think, obviously, the trauma that happened, you know, as well as the inner rebel that was born in me, you know, that in a sense that I wasn't programmed on this kind of mechanism, you know, that kids were kind of put on, but we're just kind of taught that we're blank slates, and the parents had authoritative figures, you know, where authoritative figures and teachers were. And we just put, you know, our lives in other people's hands. And I was very defiant and oppositional in a sense that it wasn't able to be expressed at the time, but a part of me could no longer be able to play the game, as other people saw me, I saw myself as a lot older and a lot, kind of wiser than some of the mature adults who are just trying to reel me in. So I was very defiant, and combine that with the strict traditional, you know, religion that had a monopolization of God that tried to program that into my head that was very much God and men to image of god of 30, much of this world those kind of portrayed, it was very hard for me. And so I had years of therapy, I had a very difficult time, from purely, you know, physiological standpoints, you know, suffocating having my brain deprived of oxygen in my brain was much different. And I was a lot more comfortable in that realm than this in this room. But ultimately, to survive at the time, I had to push away heaven. But later in life to thrive, I had to learn how to integrate it. Wow. Make sense?

Brian Smith: 40:46

Yeah, absolutely. And that was, again, beautifully stated, I think, you know, it's interesting, because you we talked about earlier about, we come in, and we have to learn the plates and play the game. But when you get that, that reset that you got to like page three, and I know Ingrid did the same thing. Ingrid, hi climb I mentioned earlier, she would look at adults. And it's like, I'm the same as you are. She was two years old. And they're like, you know, she even she rejected her name. She said, That's not my name. And people would look at her and like, Yeah, what's what's going on with this little girl? So I love that you include that in your story in the book, but you know, it's not all sunshine and roses. And sometimes people from the outside will look or near death experience, say, Oh, I wish I could have a near death experience. Because it's such it's such a great thing. But it does come with with the price.

Unknown: 41:33

Sure. I mean, I was a very in my book, I talk about this for many years, very struggled within school systems that would fight or near if I tried, it couldn't really focus because my head was my brain chemistry was changed from that. And so I had a very hard time. And so, you know, through therapy and through taking medication, all this kind of stuff to help me out. But it wasn't till I would say my early 20s when I like you said the 2030 year period was able to kind of crack in and being able to understand it, you know, on a deeper level on internal perspective, I knew what was going on. But to be able to ground the here after into the here now. That's something that takes a whole lifetime but to crack the surface on that I started I read began that process, probably my early 20s when I had kind of like a holistic spiritual awakening. That many different kind of experiences. And I know my book, no part of that was an out of body experience and training and different kind of energy principles. And I think ultimately it was, it was one of the gifts of suffering, you know, with with the life that I was living in just the uncertainty of where I was going. And so to remember, where I wanted to go at to truly remember who I was, because ultimately, if I didn't know who I was, I could be anybody if I don't know where it came from, I could be going anywhere. So ultimately, it's the uncertainty that tried to get me to come to grips with more allies of certainty. within that timeframe.

Brian Smith: 43:06

I want to ask you about how you feel about like soul planning. You mentioned earlier, when you were when you had this experience, when you were three, you saw kind of like your soul group, I think you said around you. And as I was reading your book, there are a couple people that came in your life, or that were playing key roles around like your aunt seal. And I wonder how you feel about her. And then there was Armando the woman that that you'd seen, I don't remember what time frame was when you saw my psychic. But as I was reading it, I'm sorry.

Unknown: 43:37

Around that timeframe, you know, we still keep in touch her and I.

Brian Smith: 43:40

Yeah. And I'm like, so I think there are people in our lives. And I'm going to ask you this is a quite informal question. Do you feel like there are people in our lives that are just like they come along at the right moment and give us what we need?

Unknown: 43:52

Absolutely. I think Brian Weiss says that angels just aren't these beings on the other side, they come in human form to an animal in disguise. I think, you know, Dr. Brian Weiss is very accurate in that. And I think part of the gain of living this lifetime is through these experiences with other people, not only do they help us to see much more of how we think we are who we truly are, but in a sense that they're almost, you know, some some times I think, in a way, this lifetime is very much a school, not to be punished, you know, stuff like that, but to have an opportunity. And I think in many ways that opportunities to be there of service to learn what it's like to be a guide here, so that we could be a guide when we cross over a little bit easier. So it's hard to run a marathon without running a couple of laps beforehand. I think this is a practice to get to that point. So

Brian Smith: 44:46

yeah, so talk about like, for example, you're at CEO her influence on on on your, on your life, or how she influenced you. Yeah,

Unknown: 44:55

she was actually it's funny. Her life had a lot of allegory to it. She was a singer Felice NaVi Tao, is it like Jose Feliciano, something like that? Yeah, Nick had like vision impairments. My answer was actually his teacher. And she taught those visual impairments, you know, in the Queen school system. And that was allegorical for life that she lived, she was, he grew up in this church tradition, but she was very much into cabbalistic teachings and Jewish mysticisms and Sylvia Browne, who is other people. And so she, she believed in people to be able to see what they couldn't see to trust in this kind of unseen world. And so she allowed those who are blind to be able to see other parts of them. And at a funeral, there was all these people who had vision impairments, and were blinded, they were just hysterically crying. And I think, you know, when a part of us isn't necessarily connected to as much, a lot more times people are more in tune to their emotional parts, and in other parts of their sensitivities are a little bit stronger. So just so profound, to see the impact that she had. That's just the person that she was in. So she was very much a guide to not only myself, but to hundreds of students to be able, on a practical basis, you know, to learn how to integrate into this world with not being able to see but to trust in, you know, this, these other components to ourselves. And to me, at least, she was very much a mentor, you know, in terms of give me all these reading assignments to kind of get me to be able to see, when at times I might have suppressed vision, you know, of these own realities, and just kind of bog that down kind of like a beach ball in a pool. Right? So she was a profound and still is a profound guiding teacher. Yeah,

Brian Smith: 46:38

yeah. And like I said, I, I was impressed by her impact on life and also our mind on the psyche that you saw, which I thought was also interesting, because you said being raised a traditional Orthodox Jew, we don't I just had someone on the other day this is and she was she's Jewish, like we don't see psychics. So the fact that you will

Unknown: 47:00

start to change a little bit, you know, especially as science is catching up, and you might know wonderful organizations such as let's just say forever family foundation is coming up with all these, you know, tested mediums and scientific tested medium. So I think science and know the afterlife are really working more in harmony. But I think really, truly with the amount of pain that people are going through. I think all religions are being a little bit more In some degree a little bit more flexible, you know, where if it's resourceful if it's helpful, I think, in this in this timeframe, you know, then in a sense, you know, kind of like, removing some stuff that we've believed in the past, you know, if it's resourceful but there's a little bit more bend that I'm starting to notice within people practice religion to kind of tap into a little bit more of the spirituality, you know, I say, the hereafter exists not because of religion, but despite of it, right? So it on spirituality exists because of not despite have to, but um, Armando was was interesting, because she, I went to her, you know, and most people say, Okay, if you see a neon light sign on, and you see this, the storefront don't go there. But I think 85% of these people are just kind of storefronts and just kind of charlatans in a way. But she was so much different. I've gotten readings from some of the best, and she was by far one of the very best, you know, intuitive that I've ever had. And since she, you know, tapped into, she just saw through me, everything that I had, including that past lifetime that I connected to, that was like the first time that someone had that because I had this recollection of my near death experience, but I was haunted. And my childhood of that suicide that I had an experience and she, without me getting public This is before I started lecturing, which is in 2015 2016, this must have been a couple years before that, that she tapped into them. It's just like, so it's very validating, you know, from understanding the soul's purpose and to understanding that, you know, wow, that other people are able to tap into this stuff, not just alone in this kind of thing.

Brian Smith: 49:06

Yeah, absolutely. And the thing is, you said and I kind of smile when you said it, you know, we do we see these storefront psychics, and we're like, they're all fake, and maybe most of them are, but they're definitely, you know, real people out there as well. And when we come across them, they blow our minds, you know, they completely change your worlds.

Unknown: 49:26

Yeah, you know, and I think any way anyone could come in saying that I'm a life coach, I'm a psychic, there's no kind of overlying governing body to write them in that. I think now there's added a lot more credibility when we're having evidential mediums evidential intuitives going through ringer, you know, I've tested, I know Gary Schwartz runs different programs. And Dr. Gary Schwartz runs different programs. And I know Harvard has different programs to kind of test, you know, these evidential mediums and intuitive I think that's very important, because I'm sure you could agree to this one of the most vulnerable we have to be the most privy to with who we give our vulnerability to, we have to be careful to replace our grief in the hands of many people could say, and we read New York Times stories of people getting kind of conned with all these kind of psychics, when we're most vulnerable, we're looking for answers. We're thirsty for any given answers. And people will say, okay, you do this, I'll pay me $100,000 I'll clear energy field and I'll light these candles, and I'll bring forward your loved ones. And, you know, so, you know, when we're desperate, you never go to the grocery store when we're hungry. Never go on a date when lonely. And certainly, we never go to someone who's not credible when we're feeling, you know, intensified grief. or medium perspective. So yeah,

Brian Smith: 50:40

great. That was that was again, so well said because one of the criticisms that I've worked with a lot of mediums that I've interviewed on these and I know a lot of me's and most of them are great people, the ones I know, I've been very fortunate. They're very spiritual people, they want to help people. But one of the criticisms is, they're all spiritual vampires, and they just suck on your grief. And they're those people are certainly out there. But we do have to be discerning as you were saying, we need to we need to, you know, to get recommendations validations as much as we can. I personally never just go to, you know, someone that just out of the Yellow Yellow Pages. That's Yeah, they asked me but

Unknown: 51:18

but at the Chester gotcha. And I know, a bob Olson, who's got a book, too, out there a book or two out there, but he's got a second directory that goes through his own testing, too. And I know, on my website I have, and again, I'm not a paranormal researcher, but I have no couple of evidential mediums and psychics up there, you know, for people as resources to if people are interested, you know, getting readings that I refer it, let's say I'm working with a client as a therapist, and they're just kind of hitting a wall with the grief, there's nothing that could do or say to them, you know, in a way that would expedite the amount of healing that someone with evidential information has. And I think it's important to see a therapist to work on know the ground up perspective, but at times getting that evidential understanding doesn't change the line of events, but it causes, you know, grief to formulate its way onto belief, you know, which is a great transition for people, you know, to start, you know, in the way the healing which has no timetable in a way Yeah.

Brian Smith: 52:21

Yeah, you know, what you said there are so I think was really interesting about like, you know, seeing affair peers and seeing a medium for example, there's a place for for both, and they each serve different roles, getting a great meeting really can be extremely healing, you know, and that's one thing that people because even as therapists you know as grief counselors in the past, the model was your loved one is gone get over it let's let's adjust to life without them. But you mentioned forever family foundation I work with an organization called helping parents heal.

Unknown: 52:54

And it's another year

Brian Smith: 52:56

and more now it's an even in grief therapy. Now they're saying well, maybe we should look at continuing buys, let's let's really look at the fact that that person is still here that we can still have relationship with them, let's understand who we are as human beings that we're not just, you know, these biological, accidental robots that we lead, you said we come from someplace and we have someplace to go back to, and that seems to be a lot more healing for people than this idea of just now just get over it move on.

Unknown: 53:24

I think AIA was was very groundbreaking, a brain spirit spiritual psychotherapy, into the game, just in terms of, you know, the steps and Serenity Prayer. And so that kind of infiltrated itself into psychotherapy, you know, and then, you know, mindfulness came in CBD came in. And so I think, you know, in a way, you know, holistic spiritual psychotherapy is now, you know, seen as a lot more interdisciplinary and, and so I'm I work in private practice, and we're for, let's say, a clinic, we don't just see a client, we work on the medical we work, you know, with recovery oriented coaches, we work, you know, and I facilitate around, you know, three mindfulness groups per week. So I think the more resources that we're able to give people and checking our egos out at the door, I think we're able to understand the person as a holistic being, as, you know, much more than just one dimensional, not the multi dimensional and being able to not limit them with with resources, you know, at hand, I think that Yeah, the place to go from.

Brian Smith: 54:26

So you, you work as your Reiki, you're a certified hypnotherapist, you're certified Reiki Master, you're a clinical social worker, and you specialize and past life regression. So how do you integrate this into your, into your practice, when you're seeing clients?

Unknown: 54:45

You know, a key tenant within psychotherapy and social work one on one is learning how to meet the client, where their feet are at entering their world. And for a lot of people, that's a very, very vulnerable position, to take yourself out of the equation into someone's world, but but in the way, you know, that's how people are very much helped, you know, because they're feeling very alone. And so, in the way it's a lot of bed about it is understanding. And so the person's here, and you're looking up at them, not always down on them, you know, or just kind of seeing them as a pathologized diagnosis and stuff like that, but rather as a comprehensive, resilient, you know, strong person that you're trying to develop self efficacy and enhanced superpowers of resilience in the face of adversity, and learning ways to integrate them. And so do private practice, you know, there's assessment phases that I'll do, where I don't accept every client, not every client is appropriate. You know, for services, some would be better suited with other clinicians or other modalities of treatment. But at least within private practice is a lot more autonomy that I have, or someone comes into me. In our collaboratively, we kind of discussed, okay, maybe starting with, you know, CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, or dialectical behavioral therapy or some other services is Mindfulness Based Services or consciousness consulting, and other people, they've tried all those modalities, and they're just hitting the wall. But that's when maybe working with subconscious mind might be helpful with hypnosis, or, you know, something that I do within groups and individuals as past life. Regression Therapy is quite resourceful, you know, in a sense that I ultimately think that we're here to evolve. You know, our souls, as Darwin talked about evolution of the body, I think it's no different within the souls and so it's very hard for people because the number one question that people has is, why am I here? What's my purpose, so much of who we are, is based on kind of the clouded layers of built up perception that other people have put on us, which is looked at us as a blank slate. And so we've internalized that viewpoint, you know, in our perception, how we see ourselves and ultimately, I think we act on based on how we're informed of the world, how we are informed of God will impact how we handle this lifetime. And it's a mirror reciprocal dynamic. And as we expand that viewpoint, so to our life's perfect purpose, experience, and I view past life regression as a great way to really expand consciousness to expand awareness to be able to understand a lot more Not what we are, but who we truly are. So that we are able to go through life with more grace and ease and in guidance within our lives.

Brian Smith: 57:36

This may not be a fair question, but you know, people people ask, Well, I sometimes we ask people where they haven't experienced, like, they know everything, but I'm gonna ask you anyway. So, you know, we obviously believe in reincarnation, you believe that we come here more than once. So what's Why don't we remember our past lives? I mean, you talk about past life regression. And I know people that do it, I know, people that have done it, and it's extremely helpful. So what's, what's the deal with the forgetfulness?

Unknown: 58:06

There's great beauty in the journey, you know, the journey is never ending, you know, sometimes within the journey, you know, we have a knowing that comes to us directly, you know, and sometimes you just have to trudge along with faith, you know, in interest in it. Ultimately, you know, if everything was so clear, then why would we be here on earth? I think we've come here, you know, in in many ways, it's, its polarity to just to clear knowing, you know, in the sense that this earth is, you know, there's darkness, there's a lot of times where we don't have all those higher sensory awakenings of awareness, full, full, full force, and I think so much of that is, you know, well, you know, how can we possibly evolve without challenges presented our way, you know, it's very hard for us to have a bicep curl and not feel that bit of pain or that hurt, but a 10 day, you know, that is a direct correlation ship, and I view pain and gain as a great, great and late Bay, right would say, right, you know, no pain, no gain, it's very much correlated, you know, and I don't view that as a punishment or a prison sentence. So I don't necessarily here think we're here to, to acquire, but rather to re remember or reintegrate what's truly inside of ourselves. And I think ultimately, that's a lot of the souls purpose isn't in becoming something or someone else that we're not, but learning ways to remember that we experienced that reintegrate that. And so that's a very versatile concept. And so in the face of my experience, let's just say, when you have finite challenges, such as suffocation presented your way, you know, when you have nothing to hold on to, when you looked at darkness, and you lose a loved one. And, you know, everything tells you that this is the end. And for people, we understand the correlation ship with that degree of suffering and the degree of change and evolution, it's very hard to meet someone who hasn't gone through, you know, transformation without, you know, being that Phoenix out of the ashes, so to speak. So, I think that's very much something that no one's immune from, just in terms of the challenges, but I think if it was all clearly in front of us, you know, then where would the freewill come into play? When the decision come into play? And when would this journey come into play, that we're all here, to continue to stay a part of which a times that that journey is very clear. And other times we're like, what the hell is going on, but to continue to stay on course, you know, is a part of our evolution, a part of our strength and a part of this human experience. And there's no one who's got full clarity at all times, sometimes, you know, a times there's clouds, and sometimes we see the sun coming in through but I think reminding yourself, the sun is always there. The truth is always there, despite some of those blockages where we might trust in that I think a lot of this is being able to interest in faith knowingness, you know, and, and the higher forces of spiritual guidance over our own limited viewpoint. I think that's why we're able to be a lot more resilient and evolve quicker. Yeah. Yeah,

Brian Smith: 1:01:19

great answer. Very, very well said, You know, I think it's, you know, I think it's the the pain and the forgetfulness. Now, it's all part of the, the thing we set up for ourselves. And as you said, earlier, I use I use the gym analogy, I use the awesome Of course analogy. I'm like this, this, our life is kind of like an obstacle course, which wouldn't be much of an obstacle course, if there were no obstacles. I know, if you just if you just ran from point A to point B, and there was nothing in between that would that would kind of suck as an obstacle course. So I think we set these challenges out for ourselves.

Unknown: 1:01:49

Right, and you know, and ultimately, I think a lot of things are charted for us. Because, you know, when we crossover, you know, part of it is, each lifetime, I think makes us more is more of an opportunity to be able to integrate the inner part of ourselves within each lifetime. And so, I think from losing ourselves, we're able to refine ourselves and from loss from pain, we lose a part of ourselves, we regain a different part of ourselves. And so I think in a way there's there's always lessons that are there for each and every one have us and it's ultimately, lessons are no longer needed to be repeated from those greater messages being embraced. And I think once those messages are being embraced and herb we're able to really ascend, travel into upper stratosphere is of evolutions of our souls growth within each and every lifetime. But again, again, perception is reality, we could see this as, you know, you know, a victimization, we could see this as no punishment or purgatory, you know, this this earth plane, or it's very easy to see that or, you know, I try to take the high road on a personal professional basis where I see this as, you know, an opportunity of finite challenges with infinite consequences and measures,

Brian Smith: 1:03:05

huh, wow, beautiful.

Unknown: 1:03:06

I think all these things are the power that we give themselves power to, but this body, this lifetime is all impermanent. Now, what we take from that what we extract that has infinite potentiality. And so I think when we give more power to the infinite, there's more power to the finite, we're starting to get on track towards, you know, really kind of evolving within our lifetimes. And know that happened to myself and other near death, experiencers and other people who with with intense love and intense transformation, ultimately, we don't really go through those moments without understanding where we give our energy to. And I think it's ultimately giving our energy to resilient and infinite, over the finite challenges presented ourselves, front of ourselves. Yeah.

Brian Smith: 1:03:53

Other kinds of don't ask you about is that kinds of a contract, because that comes up a lot as we karma as we talk about these, you know, experiences. And so when I hear about your, your past life, where you were a teacher, which and you're a teacher now, and you, you felt like you let your students down, I believe that caused you some trauma in this life. So do you think karma plays into that? And what's your what's your view of karma?

Unknown: 1:04:19

Yeah, you know, I don't think it's a punishment, I think, in a way, it's an opportunity. I think, then away from completion, we begin we enter different bodies with with different structures, but those similar moves on the chessboard are kind of similar. And the more skillful, we get, right? Within each lifetime, the better your chest moves will make much like that movie, The Queen's gambit. And you can see it's many ways, but I kind of viewed this as the more skillful we get, the better moves we'll make and the more you know, we'll be able to really ascend, you know, the board, I kind of see, at least from my lifetime, I look at the near death experience, and that the past life recollection, as all kind of intertwined in one in a sense that, ultimately, we're here to trust, what's inside of us a lot more than the challenge in front of us might certainly committed suicide, and others who have had suicidal ideations or attempts, and those who have committed suicide from my understanding, are not condemned, we're not judged it's, we go to the other side, it's, it's totally diametrically opposite than love as we know it, or as a treatment that we get here. It's, you know, in the Spirit of St. Valentine's day, a day ago, it's, it's never ending love, it's a love that has no limits or bounds, and love that doesn't love you from what you do, but who you truly are, because to not love yourself, if we are indeed, part of God would be to condemn or not love the source from which it came from? Right? How was that possible? I think, you know, at our core, we're here to remember that part of ourselves. But, you know, I think the suicide in the sense that I was able to remove myself from was just that allegorical reference of the light at the end of the tunnel, where, no matter what we're going through, we have to be privy to and careful with where we give our power to, we give our power to our own limited perception of reality, our own anxieties and fears that feel very much real. That could take us on a world course of its own universes to a clear understanding that we can ever be hurt or damaged by almost anything, even if it seems that way, that there's an eternal vessel within ourselves. If we're able to have that as a hallmark part of our true Foundation, then surely, we're able to have a lot more resilience in the face of challenges through grace and ease to that understanding. And I think ultimately, it's when people once people see themselves as more than their emotions more than their body. But as an infinite soul, you know, that's when they're a lot more capable of handling challenges doesn't mean that we're not challenged doesn't mean that we're not off kilter. You know, no one's immune from that. But it means that we're able to pivot a little bit easier. And I think that's when, you know, mindfulness comes into play. Not so much. You know, in judging ourselves. We're not perfect, but when we observe ourselves, getting off base and be able to recenter and just reset, you know, a little bit more in our lifetimes. Yeah,

Brian Smith: 1:07:24

I think there's um, I I've talked to people who have, you know, practice these two religions, I think there's a big misunderstanding about karma that we need to reframe. And when I heard you saying, it's kind of like, it's almost like a chance to do it again, it's like, it's not a punishment. It's like, yeah, go back and have to do this again. It's more like, oh, okay, I think I maybe I could do this a little bit better. So I'll do similar circumstances, and, you know, hopefully do better. And so it's interesting that you were, you know, were teachers in this most recent life. And then this is what you're doing now. From, seems like to me and more skillful position.

Unknown: 1:07:59

That Yeah, you know, and I talk about very vulnerable, you know, in a lot of intuitive experiences, go through this, you know, in the book, I had some degrees of suicidal ideations, stuff like that. And thankfully, you know, my father as a therapist was able to help me. So again, still, some of that came to the forefront, and still working with clients, you know, who are high, you know, clients who came from the hospitals as suicidal ideations as suicide attempts. So, from personal professional, that's just something that, you know, I agreed to contract with. And, you know, I think, ultimately, you know, I think it's getting people a little bit more tools and a little bit more resilience and a little bit more support in all around them. But I think I look at spirituality as a great superpower in the face of challenges, you know, in a sense that you're able to feel sense and know a lot more around you, you know, then then you might be limited within your own emotional mind or your own, you know, analytical mind that might drive you down a deep hole. And so I think you're able to surrender yourself to a lot more of a greater belief system and energy, even if it feels like it's fantasy. It does help you out. So, yeah, well, we're

Brian Smith: 1:09:15

recording this on February 15 2021. We are hopefully coming to the end of the coronavirus pandemic. But people around the world, you know, we're in all kinds of fear, we're in grief. What what are some lessons that people can take from your experience that we can apply what we're going through right now?

Unknown: 1:09:35

Absolutely. Once we think it's the end, it's not the end is the greatest illusion. And that is produced by the linear mind, which is function from beginning to end. That's how it works. That's how it operates. It's linear. There's a start, there's an ending. And that's true. This body that's true this lifetime, there's an impermanence. But I think what people have to bear in mind is how illusionary that is and how, at our true nature, past, the mind is an eternal soul that can never be truly hurting or damaged. And I think truly, ultimately, you know, everyone who's here alive, obviously deserves a medal in a way for still being here, because these are very challenging times. Ultimately, there's not much challenging times we've ever had. But I think for most of us within this lifetime, this this has been, but I think perception is a great reality. And seeing this as a reminder of how strong we truly are. Otherwise, we truly wouldn't be here. There's nothing that we would be provided to, that we couldn't truly handle. And knowing that in this age, we don't have to do it all alone. I think it's in many cultures did Mr. Mrs. Atlas is very much highlighted. But I think that's very illusionary for who and what we truly are sense that we have support systems on this earth planes and those in the satellites in the heavens. And I think it's being able to at turn, we're feeling that we can't do it to be able to surrender ourselves to carry ourselves, you know, to propel ourselves through these times. I think ultimately, there's great growth in that, because once we think we could do it all, there's no need for for change or transformation. And so we could get a little bit stagnant with that, you know, Mr. Atlas, kind of identity thing, I think the second part is no, the ability to, like we said before, to understand the griefs, the, the hallmarks of challenges in its relationship with evolution, it's very hard to see someone who's that strong person that we see on the surface, who hasn't gone through a lot of you know, what? No, and so that doesn't come without cause, you know, everything. There's a ripple effect with every thing that we see, you know, there's so much more than the surface. And I think ultimately, the more objective that we're able to see yourself past this moment, and the more understanding that we are able to understand from these particular moments that led to, from infinite struggle led to finite games and measures, I think is important to know. And also it's important to understand the value of it's okay to not be okay. You know, there's plenty of resources out there's plenty of people who join you in that sentiment and I think, ultimately from individual to collective I think once people We're able to join each other in a common ground of struggle, I think we're able to be a lot more unified. I think, you know, once people see themselves as if this doesn't directly affect me no longer affects me that no longer really is applied, because I think everyone is in a similar storm, and everyone's got their own set of circumstances. But the more we're able to see outside of ourselves, the more that we're able to clearly see inside of ourselves, we are infinitely connected. We're not isolated agents just know here to pay the bills and pay our mortgages and retire to certain age rather, much like my experience in the playground. We are brothers and children's gatekeepers here playing in this playground of God, and we're here to look after one another. And, you know, through different steps of the ladder through different challenges, we're able to see the light a little bit clearer with different rungs and different lifetimes of for life ladders. travels. Wow, wow,

Brian Smith: 1:13:23

I think that's a great way to wrap up the interview, Jacob, I gotta tell you, it's been, it's been an honor having you here. It's obvious that you book more than one life, you can not have guys dismissed with wisdom in 30 years. So I really appreciate you sharing this with us. The book is excellent. It's called life after breath. How can people reach you? They want to know more about you.

Unknown: 1:13:48

Yes, so you could go on my website at www dot Jacob L. Cooper calm. And there you could find, let's just say if you want to email me, there's an email icon, or my face, there's a Facebook icon for my professional page. And they're also Instagram too. So my whole goal is to give back what I was given in moments of deprivation of oxygen, which was inspiration in eternity, in the face of facing finite head arm, I was able to see the illusion of finite the most I can. And so my job is to give back what I was given. That's my goal. And I think if that inspires you, my hope is that you could do the same. And you could give your hand to help someone stand. And I think we're all here to help out each other. And we're here very much here in this earth school, to be our brothers and sisters, gatekeepers and guides. Because that's ultimately, you know, what we're a part of here in this divine unique Symphony that we're all a part of. And the more our sound is in higher harmony with the higher octaves of the other side, the better it's going to sound and the more harmonized our collective Symphony will be. So that heaven doesn't have to be certain that we wait for hold our breath to. Rather it's something that it's right here that we could excellent to. And so our website, you could look up my book resources, if you're interested in individual services, or any other questions. So it was a pleasure to hear, and to create community and to take away the illusion of isolation.

Brian Smith: 1:15:19

Awesome. Thanks, Jake. Have a great rest of your day.

Unknown: 1:15:22

Brian, thank you so much for having me on your wonderful program. Keep up the excellent work. And thank you very much for listening. I hope that you were able to take something with you that you're able to integrate spiritual measures to practical measures and everyday lives.

Brian Smith: 1:15:37

That's it for another episode of grief to growth. I sure hope you got something out of it. Please stay in contact with me by reaching out at www dot grief to growth calm. That's grief, the number two growth com or you can text the word growth to 31996. That's simply text growth gr o wt h 231996. So if you're watching this on YouTube, please make sure you subscribe. So hit the subscribe button and then hit the little bell here and it'll notify you when I have new content. Always please share the information if you enjoy it. That helps me to get more views and to get the message out to more people. Thanks a lot and have a wonderful day.