Happy New Year and welcome to 2010!

To begin this newsletter - and New Year - I'd like to take a moment to let you know that, after much thought, I will be closing down my online message board. I'm so thankful to have provided such a wonderful place for people to connect, feel safe and share their stories and meet one another. However, with Facebook, Myspace and so many other social networking sites now available online, I feel this is the right time to send everyone off in my own loving way. Thanks to everyone on the board for so many wonderful years of sharing, connecting and being the light for all your loved ones in spirit! Also, remember that I do have the Suzane Northrop Facebook Group which you can become a member of, to continue asking questions and sharing your experiences with like-minded friends.

I always like to start off the New Year with sharing a little about the numerical cycle we're in, or have been in. Entering 2010 is unique because we are leaving 2009 which marks the end of the first nine-year period, or cycle, of the twenty-first century.

With the beginning of any New Year, we can look back and view a bit about our lives during the previous twelve months. But this process can be especially illuminating when a cycle is ending. So this year, I would suggest, look back and see what losses and transitions - both of course can be personal and/or professional - occurred during 2000—2009. Also note what other endings - spiritual, economic, and/or physical - have closed out during this past nine-year period. And see how you feel about that.

I, like many, believe we left with a bang. A bang of enlightenment, if you will. But for others . . . well let's just say the inward viewing was a bit more revealing. Some folks in fact had their socks blown off. But overall a lot of learning and many blessings came into each of our lives!

We now begin another decade and 2010 is a "3-year." The number Three is all about creativity in every form of self-expression: art, music, speaking, writing, dancing and listening - creating in every way. For anyone who is an artist, teacher or communicator, 2010 should be right up your alley. You might ask yourself, "What new ways can I find in my creative heart? What creation can I birth this coming year that perhaps I have never done before?"

I'm a big one for sowing seeds and just watching to see what grows. This year in my garden I didn't - let me stress did NOT - plant sunflower seeds. Nevertheless, sunflowers came up! So I guess some of those other seeds I planted must have had sunflower seeds mixed in with them, and what a wonderful surprise it was! Metaphorically, the message is a reminder that we can be touched by some unexpected blessings. So don't be too surprised if some unexpected blessings come your way in 2010.

My friend Dennis recently wrote a story on his blog about receiving a unexpected blessing from the Other Side, which he received this past Christmas Eve. Below is a copy of the story, one which I think is very appropriate at this time of year - as a reminder of how our DPs may tend to visit us during the holidays.

A Christmas Gift from the Other Side

As is generally known by those familiar with DP (dead person) communication, the holidays are among those times (along with weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions) when our deceased loved ones are more likely to drop in and communicate with us. My most recent journey into this reality occurred on my way home from work this past Christmas Eve, and began with a "spirit nudge." A DP was prompting me to tend to a couple of minor car issues - get gas and put air in the tires, neither of which I really needed to do at that moment - before going home to freshen up for the dinner party scheduled at my brother's apartment later in the evening.

Although I am aware that heeding DP suggestions and other trustworthy promptings from Spirit can be beneficial, my tiredness, laziness, and stubbornness conspired to have me telepathically reply with a "No thanks, not right now." However, this DP was insistent and persuasive, promising that something good would result if I chose to heed the call to immediate action. Trusting the source and his representations, I drove directly to the gas station.

Given the DP's promise that benefaction would follow if I took care of the car before going home, I immediately put myself on alert for indications that the promise was being fulfilled.

I didn't have to wait very long for the first bit of evidence to emerge. After leaving the gas station and driving to my busy neighborhood, I got a parking space near the apartment building where I and my mother both live (separate apartments) - on a block usually devoid of parking spaces at that time of evening. Discovering that spot was a BIG deal because it meant that I wouldn't have to lug a heavy, bulky box full of presents very far, nor drive around looking for another spot, and then later have to double park (always dangerous) to get the presents and my 89 year old mother safely into the car. Finding that space also meant that we would not have to deal with all the ice and snow left over from the most recent snow storm, because the path to and around the spot itself was clear.

Then on the drive to my brother's apartment I "lucked out" again by finding a tight parking spot not too far away, after dropping off my mother (so she wouldn't have to deal with frozen snow and ice). That space was the only spot in the area and it took me a few minutes to locate it. So this was another break, allowing me to quickly escape from being among the desperate wild-eyed holiday drivers aggressively competing for parking spots.

Later, after the dinner party - itself a total success with family, friends, good wine, great food and fantastic vibes all present - on the way home, I discovered a third "lucky" space waiting for me right in front of the building. This find was an especially HUGE deal given how late it was. For not only did finding this spot save me from having to double park and deal with snow and ice hurdles, but I also didn't have to go searching for a place to park at that late hour when there are usually no good parking spaces to be had.

Now of course, the logically inclined (or the spiritually inclined during logical moments) might dismiss all of this as coincidence. However, I take to heart what my medium friend Suzane Northrop always says, that "There are no coincidences." I've yet to venture that far in my thinking but have come to thoroughly distrust "coincidences" of this nature (almost as much as I distrust political "coincidences"). And when confronted with this kind of synchronicity (otherwise known as a "meaningful coincidence"), I like to ask, "Well if it wasn't a coincidence, what was it?" Thus, the question here became, "If finding these parking spaces wasn't a coincidence, then what on earth was really going on?"

As I see it, my being able to find those three excellent parking spaces at crucial times was set up as a result of me first being open and receptive to DP messages, and then accepting the DP's prompt to drive directly to the gas station before going home. Otherwise, the timing for the night would have been totally different, and guaranteed that those three spots would not have been there waiting for me.

During the initial DP communication download, and throughout the evening, I felt my deceased father's energy, and saw him from time to time popping up enthusiastically in my mind's-eye visions. Thus, my take was (and is) that Dad was there with us, helping to arrange me scoring not one . . . not two . . . but three "incredibly fortuitous" parking spaces on Christmas Eve - as his very thoughtful Christmas present to my mother and me.

"Thanks, Dad. Merry Christmas!"

And thank you for reading.

I hope you all enjoyed the visit from Dennis' dad as much as I did! I equally had a wonderful visit from my nephew. No question that our DPs love to visit around the holidays. You can read more blogs by Dennis here: http://journeyintothemystic-dennis.blogspot.com.

It is my fervent wish that those wonderful love connections continue throughout 2010 for all of us. Going into the New Year always remember, our loved ones are always there - we just need to open our hearts and minds and listen.

Warmly,
Suzane