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Thanks for choosing the iHeartRadio and Coast to Ghost A and Paranormal Podcast Network. Your quest for podcasts of the paranormal, supernatural, and the unexplained ends here. We invite you to enjoy all our shows we have on this network, and right now, let's start with Chase of the Afterlife with Santra Champlain.
Hey everybody, it's Sandra and I'll be out this week researching show material that will help us all to better understand what waits for us in the afterlife. In the meantime, please enjoy this best of show and I'll see you next week as usual. Hi, I'm Sandra Champlain. For over twenty five years, I've been on a journey to prove the existence of life after death. On each episode, we'll discuss the reasons we now know that our loved ones have so y physical death and so will we Welcome
to Shades of the Afterlife. Today, I'd like you to meet Annette Marinaccio, who had some extraordinary experiences that led her into researching the afterlife. They always seem to stem from something happening, and for Annette it was the death of her mother in law. She's the author of the book your sole focus. You believe in the afterlife, don't you. I just love that subtitle and thought we need to hear from Annette. Annette, Welcome to Shades of the Afterlife.
Thank you, thank you, Sandra, thank you so much for having me here. I'm very excited to be here.
Well, we are just as excited to have you with us. Annette, you know your story better than anyone. If you wouldn't mind sharing with us about who you are, I know you have some thoughts about grief and tell us about the book you take the floor.
I live in New York and my scipline my profession is a CPA and a healthcare executive, and I absolutely love what I do work and career wise, it is not a career that one would think would intersect with sort of the spiritual side of things. That makes my book, I think, all the more interesting. But what happened to me is over a decade ago, after my mother in law died, she was intent on proving to me that
there is an afterlife. And when she first started sending those kinds of signs and synchronicities, I was a little bit curious, like, what is.
Going on here?
They were actually coming a little bit more through my daughter, who was thirteen at the time and very earnestly telling me about, you know, dreams and things like that, and I was just curious.
I had not really ever thought about the afterlife before.
And I was starting to tell a lot of my friends and family about some of the happenings that were curring after my mother in law died. And one of my very good friends, who I had known for ten years, but I guess we had never spoken about the afterlife.
She in a very matter of fact.
Way, she was like, well, Annette, you believe in the afterlife, don't you, which is the subtitle of my book.
And I was just like, I don't know, do you?
And she was like, of course there was an afterlife, and so that sort of opened my eyes to it a little bit. I was just like, h let me really try and understand this a little bit more.
And I just asked the quick question, did your mother in law say she wanted to get through to you before she passed or was it after that you started getting the signs absolutely after.
I had no discussion prior to her passing about the afterlife at all.
Some people they do say this is a sign I'm going to give you, or this is the code word. Can you share with us some of the signs that you guys did get. That kind of kind of opened your eyes to the something to this. Yeah.
Well, the first sign that my daughter received was a tangible sign.
It was physical. It was pomp poms. And I thought to myself, well, maybe my daughter's making.
This up and this is some type of a coping mechanism. But she in her art class had she told me pomp poms that just appeared on her desk. Nobody put them there, nobody was around, and they were within less than a week of us burying my mother in law. And they were two pomp poms, the exact same lavender and ivory colors of the balloons we let go at
the gravesite. And so when my daughter was just earnestly telling me this story, and we really had not discussed death or the afterlife in my family, but she was earnestly saying, can you believe this?
I wonder how these pompoms appeared? And I was just like looking at her like could this be real?
Like what's going on? And so so I was telling everybody the pomp Pom story. Really and that's when my girlfriend of ten years was like, you believe in the afterlife.
Don't you?
And so what happened is a series of synchronicities. But I think more importantly than that, I think my mother in law and many of my deceased relatives at that point started very methodically proving to me, showing to me that there is an afterlife.
So I had not really thought about.
It before, and I think they knew with my kind of accounting brain, you know, I needed to be walked through it. I needed to digest everything, and I wasn't all of a sudden going to.
Be like, oh, of course, you know.
So they really were very methodical about it, which I of course appreciated. What I'll tell you the thing that happened for me and I for a lot of people, they can sometimes trace how they started to understand about the afterlife to one specific event. I can certainly do that, because what happened was when I told my friends of ten years the Pompom story and she said, well, you
believe in the afterlife, don't you. She started telling me that she frequented a medium, Josephine, who was a local medium.
But as synchronicity and my deceased relatives would have it that later that week, we went out, my husband, my son, and my recently widowed father in law went out to a local restaurant on our main street in town, and while we were dining, we were placed at a table with a very large window, and in that window was a very large poster and it said dinner and medium show with Josephine, the medium, who she just my girlfriend just told me about. So I was like, well, that's
sort of coincidental. It was, you know, maybe in the upcoming months. But I went home and I said to my girlfriend do you want and another girlfriend too, do you want to go to this show? And she was like absolutely. I made the reservations Annette, party of three, no other information, not for any reason, just because, you know, and I sort of viewed it as some type of magic show.
I was like, right, go see a magic show. Entertainment, entertainment.
As that day came upon us and the three of us went there, the medium Josephine came out and I was thinking, oh, she looks so nice to be a fraud, I don't know. We all had our dinner and then she the first she related to the first you know person, and I'm thinking, how interesting. They're probably planted here and they're all crying and relating to this stri she probably
knows them. And then she came right over to me and she said to me, she came right over to our table, and she said, I have a woman here named Lucille.
Lucille is my mother's mother in law's name, so it's pretty specific. And I was like frozen, could not take the microphone.
My girlfriend's kicking me under the table and she is going on about Lucille. She's got dark hair, which my mother will basically, so she was describing my mother in law and she's like, I think it's for someone at this table.
And I froze. I could not take the microphone.
So someone at the table next door us said, well, my name's Elizabeth, and they gave Elizabeth the microphone, and then my mother in law, through this medium, started like speaking about my life. Oh, I see that you're going to Italy in a couple of months, which I had booked Italy in a couple of months. And Elizabeth was like, no, I came from Florida, you know.
So because because it was for.
Elizabeth, it was for me, but I was frozen anyway. So the medium eventually sort of retreated back and read a couple of more people, and they were all sort of crying and relating to the stories. But my mother in law was very intent. She came back again. So the medium came out back over and said this woman, Lucille is here. And so this time I had unfrozen myself and raised my hand, and then she said.
The line that was just sealed the deal for me. She said, Lucille is asking how Rita is. Rita's still here? Right? Rita is my mother's name, And my mother and my mother.
In law were both diagnosed with cancer within a week of each other. And when they were both and my mother is still here, she made it through my mother in law soccumb to it. But as they were both going through their surgeries, their chemo, their radiation, each one would always ask us how the other one was, how's Lucille, How's Rita?
How's Lucille? How's Rita?
So when this medium said how's Rita. She's still here, isn't she? I was like, Oh my goodness, there's just no way. There's just no way. And then she also had, you know, additional evidential information that nobody could have known, and that was sort of enough to let me say, all right, I'll take the reins here. I'm going to take the there's something to this that I need to understand.
And so that's what I trace it back to. Yes, there were a lot of things leading up to me being open to it at that point, including the conversation the pom poms and the conversation with my girlfriend prior, but that was the thing that I always say, like tripped the meter for me. It was like, Okay, this is real. I have to understand this. Yeah, So that was that was the thing that did it for me, and I think a lot of people can actually trace
it back to a particular thing. I want to speak a little bit about grief, because you had brought that up, and not all love stories in the book, but grief is in the book too. What I feel about grief is I have what I think is an interesting perspective on grief.
I think that grief always always pertains to us wanting something that passed, not passed like crossover, but like crossed over.
But anything in the past. And the example I like to give is. I have two children there in their late twenties, mid to late twenties, and when they were two, three, four five, I mean, they were those little cutie banuti's I just you know, could like any little child. You're just oh, they're so cute. And they don't remember those times. I remember those times. My husband remembers those times. My parents remember those times. I think those times were for me.
I don't think they were for them because I remember them. I can watch a whole movie and be like, oh, I remember that. My kids are like it's a little foreign to them, so to me. I could actually get lost in the grief of the fact that I will never have that again. I will never have that again. I would love to have those times again, they will not be there. The only thing that pulls me out of that grief is the fact that I and speak to them now in their twenties, in the mid twenties.
That pulls me through the grief. But that feeling of grief is as real as real gets. And my kids are still alive, thank goodness. When somebody loses someone, I think they feel that same intense grief, but there's nothing to pull them out. It's very difficult to come out the other side because they're not going to be able to see and speak and hug and smile at and see the smile of their deceased love one.
There's just the grief is the same, but there's nothing to pull them through.
Annette, we need to take a quick break, but when we come back, you can continue sharing about grief. It's so important, I think to all of us not only believing in the afterlife, but understanding grief. We're all going to go through it, so let's take a break. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife. iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal podcast Network.
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Hey everyone, it's the Wizard of Weird Joshua P. Warren And now here's more Shades of the Afterlife.
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and we are with Annette Marnaccio, who wrote the book with a great title Your sole focus. You believe in the afterlife, don't you, Anette. You're just talking about how grief is different if somebody's still alive versus if they're not. Could you talk more about that.
Grief is the same, but there's nothing to pull them through. And once you really are convinced, I like to say, like people say, oh, you believe, it's I think it's more than believing in my case, and people say, well, you can't know.
Of course I can't know.
I'm here on earth, but I'm convinced that our de ceased loved ones live on and they're really right around the corner. I mean, they're here very close, and that is very helpful. It doesn't allow you the same feeling you would have knowing you would be able to sort of chat with them one on one tomorrow, but they are right here and they're watching over you. I like to get this analogy, and some people have sort of latched onto this.
This is how I correlate a tangible view of the other side.
If you were to walk out of your front door one morning and it had snowed that morning, and you just, you know, open your door and you're standing on the porch, and it's absolutely beautiful. Nothing has walked in the snow yet, nobody has walked in the snow. It's just a pristine white snow. As far as you can see. Your mailbox is covered, the trees are covered, it's glistening. It's just serene, white, peaceful,
snowy day. And then if you were to just picture right outside of your view a clear acrylic sphere over your entire thing, you can see over that entire world for you. Your loved ones are right on the outside of that clear acrylic sphere.
It's like you're in a snow globe and they see everything. But because of Einstein's theory of relativity, you can only see what you can relate to. So you can only see up to that clear sphere, and you can't see the next energy level or that other dimension they can see, you can't. So I like to sort.
Of have that correlation because a lot of times people say, I don't want to disturb my mother may be my deceased mothers may be resting in peace.
I don't want to you know, I don't know.
If they're right here, And I'm like, oh, disturb them because they want to hear from you, they want to be involved in your life, and they will help in any way they can.
Yeah, I don't think any he's resting in peace. I think they're living more than they possibly can't. And I love the snow globe story. I've been at this game for twenty five years, researching the afterlife, and people say that there's music that our brains can't even get our head around. There's colors that don't exist in our spectrum, but they exist in the hereafter, So how can you explain that If we don't have it here, how can
we really get it? And also, people have had near death experiences that they experienced so much, but there's no language that they can share what it is. So snow Globe sounds perfect. And also I like how you describe grief. It is the most painful thing any of us go through. And I know when we love someone, In fact, the
more we love, the more it hurts. So everything you and I and others are doing to spread the good word that life goes on, and they're right here with us, it doesn't help, like giving them being able to call them or give them a hug, but it certainly does help. It does, so tell us about your souls focus. Let's let's get into the book and some of these things that you've learned and principles you teach.
It's interesting because, as I had mentioned, after I.
Sort of learned about everything, the universe was putting me in the path of people. And you know, in my work, in my work day, although my work is not a spiritual type of work, they're still so I'm surrounded by people and I would sort of like, you know, maybe be speaking to somebody, and you know, I would throw out, okay, why don't we meet on you know, August fifteenth. I think that's a good day for us to meet next.
And then the person's face drops and says, I can't believe you just said August fifteenth. My grandfather died last.
To August fifteenth, and I just feel like, you know, you said that for a reason, and I would be like, oh, then you're absolutely right. I mean, I just picked that date out of the air. It just means nothing to me in my head. But obviously your grandfather is saying hello, and then next thing you know, it would be they would have story after story a story.
And my son sees this and I was like, that's so cool.
You know, after being in the position of sort of I'm being in the path of people who are either grieving or curious, I realized I had to consolidate what I knew into something tangible and real that was timeless.
I mean, the information in.
My book just will be long after I'm gone, it still pertains. So I just needed to sort of get it into some kind of form that people could appreciate. I almost pictured people like getting the book and after you sort of get past the fact that I learned that there is an afterlife, because that in and of itself a lot of people may not know. I certainly didn't know, but other people may know. I also have
those kind of significant takeaways. I almost pictured people, and I have had people tell me they sort of like highlight the book with things that they feel like, oh, I want to remember this, you know this pertains to me or something like that. So and I think all of our books that come out that have these kind of pearls of wisdom or knowledge, knowledge or little tidbits after years of research, you're sort of looking for those tidbits that resonate with somebody so they can sort of
take it into their their daily life. But what happened was I was, you know, became very intent on writing a book, putting it into a form that is tangible and enjoyable. And I'm a numbers person. I'm not a writer.
I don't read a lot either, except for you know, business articles and things like that, so I'm not that like kind of verbal and reading writing person. I'm really like numbers. I love numbers. So after I wrote the whole thing, I was like, well, I think this is pretty good.
So I got up the nerve to ask three local mediums with a public presence on Long Island where I live in New York, to do me a favor and read it from their perspective, because I felt like, it's okay, it's good for an accounting from an accountant's perspective. But I wonder if a spiritual person would also appreciate it and to recommend it, if they were so inclined, And they each of one of the three of them, very different people read it and gave me a recommendation, which I have in the.
Back of the book and I have in the inside of the book. And so I was so appreciative.
But then I knew I was onto something because I was like, Jesus, this works for me from my accounting kind of brain, and it works from a spiritual perspective.
Also, I think the combination in this book is just, you know, a good message for people.
Since I put it out and of course, you know the way the universe works, I published it two days before my mother in law's birthday. The first book that was published has her birthday as the date that it was printed, which is like, that's how.
The universe works, you know. So February second was a first printed copy which I gave to my mother. So it's like, you know, but that's how the universe works. Now I sort of get it.
But at any rate, when I put it out there, I've had such heartwarming messages from people who really appreciated it. I had this woman from Oregon. Obviously I'd never know anybody from Oregon, but she but you know, the wonders of social media, she contacted me and she said, you know, she had lost her adult son about a year prior, and she stumbled across my book and she wanted to thank me for taking the time to write it because it really helped comfort her and it shared a perspective
that she had not thought about prior. And I was like, oh, that's that is great, and that's exactly what I wanted. I just wanted it to, you know, help people maybe see things from a perspective that they may not otherwise have thought, you know, thought.
So that's your sole focus. You know. It has a lot of, like.
I said, personal stories and antidotes, but only enough to get my points across.
And of course the number one point is yes, there's an afterlife.
But I also speak about the grief and the snow globe, you know, just a variety of other things because I just want to share what I've learned as exactly as you're doing, share what I've learned with others, because you know, if you can help somebody, that's that connection.
That we have is invaluable and it's so rewarding. So it's like, you know, why wouldn't I want to do that?
That's right, and you're the perfect person to write the book and speak on it, because like with my book, my subtitles a Skeptics Discovery of Life after Death. I didn't believe in me this. So you're going to have a lot of those people who love numbers just like you, who might not have believed in the afterlife, but then something happens and they're going to look for answers. So is it better to listen to some of these spiritual wu wu kind of people or you and they're gonna
take you? What are some of these other nuggets that you have in your book? Is it about living life?
Yes, it's really about how the other side relates to us. And I think I'm going to give you what I feel is the one thing that I've learned that people who do believe in the afterlife and are grieving the loss of a loved one, I hear this question over and over again, and that question is why don't I see signs?
The whole sign thing is so important to people.
I will say that in addition to writing my book, I serve on the board of a nonprofit foundation called the Forever Family Foundation, and their mission is to scientifically prove as an afterlife. So I've been blessed to be surrounded by like minded people for the last a little over a decade. So that was one of one of the groups that I found when my mother in law, after my mother proved me there was an afterlife, I sort of stumbled across upon Forever Family Foundation, and I
can just see that people grieving and people curious. Signs is the number one kind of question that people ask about, and the struggle that a lot of people have is why don't I get signs? Why am I not able to see my deceased father in my dreams? Why does my neighbor get the cardinal but I don't. So there's a lot of struggle with why people may not receive signs.
Yeah, I agree, people really want to see signs. They worry when they don't, and for a lot of people that's what they need to let them know that their loved one is okay and not dead. So when we come back from the break, Annette, talk about your two reasons and we'll talk about signs, are they important, what do we need to look for and more. Let's go to the break and we'll be back with Annette Marnaccio.
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Now here's more.
Sandra on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Ghost AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sanders Champlain and we're here with author Annette Marinaccio. Annette, you're just saying that there are two important things you have to say about why people don't see signs from their loved ones.
One of them is, ask for the sign. Ask for the sign. Don't wait if you're really struggling, don't sit and wait for a sign, a nonscript sign that you're not even sure what you're waiting for. Be very specific and ask for a sign and you'll see. I have it in my book, a couple of stories with people asked for signs. I'll give you an example of one.
My sister, who was very skeptical when I was starting to learn about all this. She said, oh, really, you can ask for anything. Oh fine, I'm going to ask grandma grandmother to show me a seahorse.
I'll never see that. You know, a seahorse is so rare. Forget it, I'll never see it. Let's see how real this is.
And usually your loved ones if you ask for something very specific that you can't discount, if you do see it. I mean, if you just ask for like I'd like to see, you know, a red circle, Well you may see a red circle and then you say yeah, but of course I'm going to see a red circle. But a seahorse is not something to see in the old ara course, so you have to ask for something unique, and typically they will if they can, they will show you within.
Two weeks, about two weeks. There's a science to it. Almost a couple of weeks you will see it. So sure enough she's asking for a sea horse, and you meditate on the seahorse, and you right, and her coworker comes back from vacation about a week after she's asked my grandmother for the sea horse, with all pictures of her vacation, and of course her family visited an aquarium, and of course she had pictures of the seahorse display and my sister was like, oh, my goodness, I actually
saw because that's a horse. And I'm like yeah. So the first thing on signs is ask them if they can show you something, they will, and then you will. It'll be easier for you to say I can't discount that it really happened.
But I also have the out to this, you know, because not everyone will see the sign they ask for in that two weeks, and then people say, well, then why didn't I see it?
Is it that my deceased father, isn't there.
My son doesn't love me like I thought he did. I don't understand this, is it not really true? And the interesting thing is, I like to say, and this is a very significant takeaway, the souls are right there on the other side of that snow globe. But they are very polite, very respectful, the ultimate and respectful and polite. They will not interfere with your soul's journey or the
journey or purpose of another soul. And if you are meant to live this life without seeing constant signs from your deceased love one, because you need not to see the signs to grow, You need to not see them in order for your soul to grow, then you will not see the sign because your deceased loved one is more intent on you joining him or horror in the hereafter and having your soul have grown. They're more intent
on that. Then they're more intent on you coming back to the other side with your soul's purpose having occurred. Then they are worrying about you seeing a sign here. They want your soul to grow. And if your soul is going to grow by not seeing constant signs, then they are going to hold back because they will not interfere with your soul's growth or the growth of someone else, and they're going to not show you the sign.
So it's not really about the signs. It's not. It really isn't. It's about your soul's purpose and your soul's growth, and they're waiting on the other side for you to get there and for them to say, congratulations, you live through the life here. I also like to say this is another significant thing.
If you were able to sort of tap into the other side all the time, it would be such a distraction. I mean, you know, mediums and psychics they have to actually learn to turn off that constant barrage. But if you really were able to sort of tap into the other side and really understand all the mysteries of life, it would be such a distraction to your soul's purpose here.
If you knew that you were going to be you know, I'm making this up, but you know, hit by a car or in a car accident at fifty years old, maybe not crossover, but being a debilitating car accident fifty. Could you imagine in your thirties and forties how distracted you would be you wouldn't be.
Leaving the house at fifty years old. You'd be like, was it fifty one or fifty two? I have to say, I mean you, you'd be so distracted you wouldn't be able to develop your soul's purpose here.
So we're not really supposed to see all these signs and have the knowing that the other side has. We're really supposed to be here to enjoy what we have here and to grow. So that's some significant a series of significant things that I've learned and that I included in your soul's focus.
Yeah, for our friends on the other side, there is no time, So outside of the snow globe, there's no time. So for us, what seems like a lifetime for them is just a blink of an eye. So we might have that panic to get a sign. And I also believe that just because we cross over, it doesn't mean we have all the information in the universe. We don't know how to manipulate lights and you know, all these other kinds of things make pomp poms appear. You know,
we don't have that. I believe there's a school of learning.
To do that.
But also anat I was just thinking that we retain our same personalities. For instance, my grandmother, wonderful lady. When we were alone together, she would speak her mind, but when we were with a group of people, she'd stay reserved and let the young people talk, you know. So it was a good ten years after she passed before she finally came through in a medium reading. The people
continue to have their personalities. So if somebody wasn't boisterous or let me get to the front of the line in life, they're not going to be that in death. But I do say, playful out, ask for the signs, but slow down and pay attention. Do you find that too, that people are so busy in their own minds that you need to be present to actually see a sign.
You're absolutely right. Everything you said is absolutely right. And the interesting thing too, is you may not get the sign in the exact way that you think you're going to get a sign. So you may be saying, okay, I want to see, you know, a yellow bird.
You may not actually see a yellow bird flying past your window, but you may actually, you know, drive by a restaurant holld the yellow right.
So sometimes signs can be a little bit like elusive, and you have to be in tune to the fact that it may not be exactly what you're you're asking for, you know, or you mean. It may be what you're asking for, but not the way you think you're going to receive it exactly.
And there's got to be some mystery too, like you said about knowing all the answers in the universe or what's coming in the afterlife. It might be great, but there is stuff here to learn. I think we're born into this light forgetting what home is all about, because we'd want to get back there. But there's a richness
to life, you know. I often say, and that if you have to eat your same favorite food over and over and over and that's the only food you get in the rest of your life, it'd be kind of boring, wouldn't it bing. But and comparing that to the afterlife, when it's all good all the time, it's fantastic that there's something more. So I think the soul's crave being here on earth because we have the ups and downs, we have all kinds of emotions, and while it might
be great, there's things that we can get here. Do you have any thoughts as to the purpose of life? You know, the big question about why we're here or how to make the most of it.
So the why we're here is very straightforward, right, it's too love and to grow. That's really why we're here. So it's all about right, I mean, that's just it.
So it's all about our connection to each other, sharing things, and our soul's growth. You know.
It's interesting as I've gotten older and as I've learned more, I start to be able to tell, you know, or to know when I'm working with the universe as opposed.
To grinding against it.
You know.
So when you feel that kind of friction, you know, and you're not aligned, that's a sure sign you're probably not working towards your soul's purpose. But if you're really, if things are rolling easily for you, then you can feel comfortable that you're working to your soul's purpose. Chances are if you're looking at things positively and sharing that positivity and sharing anything you can with any one you can, chances.
Are you working toward your soul's goal. I mean.
And it could be one big goal, one small goal, it could be a lot of little goals. And you also may have decided to come here not for your own growth, but to help somebody else grow. So you may have decided, Okay, I'm coming here and I'll do a bunch of these little things. But the real purpose I'm here is to help this group of people grow, or to help one other person grow. It's not always about your own soul. It's about other souls too, souls
within your group. So yeah, but that's I mean, that's the simple purpose, right, love and grow.
Yeah, you know, I think about other souls. And somebody once said that I interviewed, because not all souls are friendly to you. Some are, you know, you get these relationships that clash. But what she had said is other people can be like a bit of sand in an oyster, right, and so we learn that to deal with it, and we grow and what ultimately comes on is a pearl. Yeah, and it all starts from that friction.
That's interesting too, You're right, because soulmates. Everybody thinks like, oh, I'd love to just meet and full in love.
With my soulmate, you know, and things will be so happy and blissful and easy.
But you know, sometimes your soulmate is somebody that's going to force your soul to grow, and it may not be so blissful and happy and easy. And and you find that even in your family, you know, your siblings, or your parents or your children, it may not be so you know, it typically isn't so swimmingly easy.
And it's because they're pushing your soul to grow.
And now let me just jump in. You just said some things that are a goal. When you're talking about forcing your soul to grow. I think we all come from families that there's been friction, or maybe there is right now. And learning how to see life from another person's perspective, learning how to communicate, learning how to rise above and maybe bite your tongue and wait before responding. And then also you had mentioned that we may be
here for someone else. Imagine being so wise in the before life and then coming to earth with certainly some soul growth to be done, but being so generous to say, let me help you to another soul and give of yourself so that these circumstances happen to help other people. Anyways, we need to go to a break and then we'll be right back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Stay right there, there's more Sandra coming right out. Hey, it's the Wizard of Weird Joshua P.
Warren. Don't forget to check out my show Strange Things each week as I bring you the world of the truly amazing and bizarre right here on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
And now back to Sandra Champlain and Shades.
Of the Afterlife.
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and we're here with Annette Marnaccio, author of Your Sole Focus. Annette, we were just talking about tough times and tough people and the ability for soul growth. Can you talk more about that?
I was blessed she would want Oprah Winfrey's a large stadium events.
Wow.
And she was beautiful, beautiful person, unbelievable stories. And at the end she was telling a story about her mother and her very very difficult upbringing. But she said at the end, at the end, after her mother passed, she realized that she didn't get the mother she wanted, but
she definitely got the mother she needed. That happens, you know, and maybe not always with parents, but a lot of times you do cross paths with people that you need, even though they may not be people that you feel happiest with, but they if they're helping your soul to grow, you'll sort of know it as opposed to toxic people that you really should just walk away and you know, get out of their way.
Yeah, sometimes that's hard, but we do the best we can. I heard somebody speak on this yesterday, and it's similar to what you're saying. So often people blame their parents for the life that they have, right you hear that, Or they blame a spouse or a relationship gone wrong for how it now is. But when we really look to see where we've grown. So there's been some say a child that's been neglected, it turns out to be
the best parent ever, right, best parent, best grandparent. Well it all stems back from that relationship with their parent. So instead of using the energy to make them wrong, maybe they were here for our soul to grow. And whether it's true or it's not, if we can look from an empowering lens, then you can move on with your life and you can thank them. You know, I've had some difficulties in my family. Things around the time
of my dad's death. But had everyone not played the roles that they did, I would have never gone searching for answers. I would have never written the book, I would have never had these shows. I would have never met you today. So while it's easy for our human brains to have these flashbacks and make people wrong, you know, make them right because without them we wouldn't be right here today.
Well that's a great story, because you're absolutely right. I mean, all those things that occurred to you when your dad died, and all those family and friend relationships that may have, you know, felt like they were grinding at the time, like a friction. Look at what it's done. It's put you in a place to help so many people. That's a huge blessing.
Yeah. So yeah, the hardest times in our life can be the biggest growth for our soul. So, Annatt, what else would you like to talk about?
Well, again, I think I would just say I would like everybody to appreciate the work that you put into the show, you put into your book, I put in my book.
I think there are a lot of like guiding light kinds of personalities out there, and I really hope that people who are attracted to you know, this kind of an environment.
Do what you're doing.
Which is really give back, give back to the community, and give back to family and friends, because that is only going to It helps your own soul, it helps you feel good, and it just it helps the world. We're all connected. We're connected to people we don't know, let alone people we do know. We are all connected.
So the more we can raise the elevation and the spiritual level and the level of spiritual awareness of anyone else and everyone else, and the better of if we are so, I think, you know, that's what I would like. The message I would like to give is I think sharing is very important.
When you say in purpose of life, his love and grow, you know, I also want to throw in their service because it helps everything. I mean, if you're at rock bottom grieving, which is an awful place to be, if you can set your sights on someone else, maybe making a difference for someone else, then all of a sudden, you start feeling better, whatever that may be in each
one of us. I feel, whether it's afterlife or not, there's a journey we've been on, there's growth that we've had, and if we can share our knowledge with others and be that moral support. I think it just makes a huge difference.
You know.
It's interesting you say that because one of the motivations for me sticking with writing the book was a very unlikely source, Justin Bieber. So Justin Bieber, that is unlikely, very unlikely because he's there are young fellow in his twenties, and I'm obviously I'll be kind to myself middlely woman, you know, than an older woman. So you wouldn't think that he would be able to be in a position
to influence me. But he did come across my feed in Google or whatever at some point around the time of January twenty twenty, when I had committed to myself that I was going to try and get this book together. It was an interview of his and who knows from when it was, I don't remember, but he basically said that one of the things that helped turn him around was his ability to focus on others. He said, when
I was younger. Of course he's still young, but when he was younger, he said, he was very you know, self absorbed or focused on himself, and when.
He realized that it was more important to.
Focus on others, that's when he sort of turns was able to turn his life around, and that just resonated with me, and I was like, that's the answer. The answer is not to focus on us. The answers to focus on others.
Exactly what you said, Sada a service, because if you can continue to focus on others, a lot falls into place. And throughout the process of that year writing my book, I had to keep my eye on that and my ear on that. I had to keep going back to that focus on others, because it really is. There are many times in the process of writing a book, and I'm sure in your process of putting on the shows and whatnot, where it's just sometimes it's easy to say,
you know, I'm not going to do that today. You know I'm going to put that off, and it's easier just not to sort of put the energy into it sometimes. But I kept thinking, justin Bieber's you know, I have to focus on the on others.
I can't focus on the hassle it is for me right now, I have to focus on.
Putting this book out and having it help somebody. That's what I have to focus on.
And that's what I did, and it makes it that service to others really makes things just easy. You know, if you can keep your eye on that, it does make life a lot easier.
So many people think they're not smart enough or their story is not important enough. But if it's happened to you, somebody else is going through it. And I really think, while a lot of people may never have a book, if you can get your story out there, whatever hardship that you went through and how you overcame it, you don't have to do anything with it. You don't need to sell a book, you don't need to have a show.
And sometimes it's literally just sharing a post on social media or if you're brave enough to have a camera to you, you know, do Facebook live or something and just say, you know, there's something I want to get off my chest and share your story. You never know who's at their wits end going through the same exact thing, and these synchronicities, these signs are real and somebody might just see it and it's the difference they need. Here's
an example for you. I got a really interesting email from a guy whose three year old child had died and he was driving in his car. He just asked Siri on the phone to play some news nothing about the afterlife, and what started playing was an episode of my show.
Oh wow, that's so great.
But he had to open his mouth, and the universe or God, whoever you want to say, loved ones put it in his path, and so it's made a difference. So everybody who's listening right now, your story is important. Whatever it is, all that stuff that you've been through in your life, it's growth for your soul, and if you can share it with others, it's the magic formula of having a good life. There really is.
My purpose is just to sort of get the word out there. I really would love the same as you for people to live very fulfilled lives, and it is so possible. So I think, you know, fifteen years ago, before my mother in law died, I was just very busily living my crazy life. Once she opened my eyes, it was like, ah, this is what it's about.
It's a little bit more you know, intense that I thought in a good way. So so anyway, yeah.
If you had to leave people with just one last piece of advice, you might have already covered it.
But what would you say to people again? I think the advice is that love and grow situation. Our theme of sharing, you know that and service, as you've.
Brought up is really it's really you know, people say, oh, it's better to give some to receive it really is it?
Really is? It feels better.
So I think, yeah, the more people speak about the afterlife, if they've had experiences, the more it's open and discussed openly, especially by people who aren't exactly mediums, you know, and maybe people assume that psychic and mediums are always speaking about.
That kind of thing.
People that aren't psychics and mediums get out there and if you've had these experiences, these real life experiences, speak about them, speak about them openly, because they just may help somebody, and that's what it's about.
Thanks. And if you are somebody that is having a tough time, and you might have somebody that wants to give and wants to share, and sometimes the hardest thing is to allow someone to give. And so just remember the person gets a whole bunch of growth for their soul if they're able to give. So don't shut them off if they want to share with you. I mean, it's two way street. And certainly when we have the means, we do share, but let other people share and love
you as well well. Annatt, thank you so much for being our guest today.
Oh, thank you so much for having me Sandra. It was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.
I agree. I love spending time with you too. And for our listener, we love hearing stories. Every guest I talk to, I want to hear more stories, more stories. And you may be someone who has had some signs or something special happen with your loved one who may be in the afterlife. If you don't have the courage to share openly, that's okay. Why don't you send them to me? Because I don't even have to mention your real name. But there's something that you've experienced that will
make a difference for another, So go ahead. Remember my email Sandra Champlain at gmail dot com. Please don't forget our home bases We Don't Die dot com. Join our Facebook group. We have almost seven thousand like minded members. You never know who you're going to meet. In closing, I'm Sandra Champlain. Thank you for listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coastcoast am Paranormal podcast network.
And if you liked this episode of shades of the afterlife. Wait until you hear the next one. Thank you for listening to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast am Paranormal Podcast Network.