EricaTucci, Author at Sarah's Gift

Spirit messages from Bear

In the back of each of the Sarah’s Gift books, there is a description of the spirit animal that played a role in the story. Remember, Sarah’s Gift was inspired by Dr. Steven Farmer’s Children’s Spirit Animal Cards, so each book conveys the message of the associated animal.

In Standing Up for Yourself, Bear was the spirit animal that helped Sarah learn to believe in herself and to use her gift of vision to overcome the challenges that she faced at school and with her peers.

Bear’s messages, like all spirit animals’ messages, are ones that each and every one of us should heed in different life circumstances. Below are Bear’s messages and guidance on how we might use them in appropriate ways.

Because Bear is strong and powerful, it teaches you to stand up for yourself – Think of a time when you could have used Bear’s message of strength and power. We are talking about inner strength and power, not physical strength and power. Perhaps like Sarah when she dealt with Tom, a school bully. She knew that he didn’t believe that she could see and speak to ghosts. Remember, he called her a “witch” and thought she would curse him. But that didn’t deter her from continuing to use her gift of vision. And in the end, her vision saved his life. She did this from the underlying belief in herself and the inner strength to persevere in the midst of disbelief. So, now it’s your turn to think back in your life. What circumstance did you face where you might have done things differently if you had used your inner strength and power?

Bear teaches you to be cautious how you think, act or interact with others – Do you think before you act or say something to someone? Think of a time when you may have said something to someone that was hurtful. Did you think about what you were going to say before you actually spoke, or did you just blurt it out without thinking? What were the consequences? How did you feel afterward? What could you have done differently?

Bear also teaches you how to quiet your mind in a meditative way, much like it is when it goes into hibernation – Do you find time each day when you can just take a break from all your activities? Where you can quiet your mind of all the chatter inside your head? Have you ever tried meditating for a few minutes? If not, try this simple meditation. Find a quiet space where no one will disturb you. Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Breathe slowly. Concentrate on your breathing. If thoughts come into your mind, simply let them come, but continue to focus on your breathing. Do this for a few minutes at least. Then take a minute or two afterward to come out of the meditation. Start wiggling your toes and your fingers. Move your head left to right and in a circle both ways. Shake your shoulders gently. Then slowly open your eyes. How did that feel? Did you have any sensations in your body? Or any images or thoughts? Write them down in a journal.

Bear’s fondness for honey reminds you to enjoy the sweetness of life – List as many times in your life where you felt happy with the way your life was going. Was there anyone with you? Family or friends? How is your life now? Is it sweet? If not, what would make it sweet? What do you think you could do to make it sweet? If it is something reasonable, then perhaps you can put a plan in place to bring sweetness into your life. You might like to talk to your parents or another adult about how you can do it.

Bear is very protective mother, telling you to take good care of yourself – Taking good care of yourself entails several things, some of which are eating right, getting enough sleep, exercising, hanging around good people, having good relationships with your family, enjoying the outdoors. How do you take care of yourself? What other ways could you take better care of yourself?

Bear also wants you to seek your inner wisdom and strength so that you believe in yourself – Do you rely on other people’s opinions about how you should be or act or dress or look or … or … or? Although you may want to be well liked by others, what’s really important is how you feel about yourself. When you have a good opinion about yourself, you will radiate this positive feeling outward and others will feel it and they will be attracted to you. Believe in yourself and others will believe in you. Write down in a journal all your positive attributes in the form ‘I am ___’ or ‘I have ___’ or ‘I can (do) ___’ or whatever way you can affirm the greatness you have inside. Then whenever you start questioning your worth, repeat whichever attributes are called for at that moment.”

If you are interested, please sign up for Sarah’s newsletter in the form to the right. I hope to bring you information that will be inspiring and enlightening to you. Also, I would love if you would support me in my campaign to “help kids with special gifts build confidence”. It costs nothing, is completely safe and takes five seconds. Finally, the second book of Sarah’s Gift Believing in the Magic will be available for pre-order on June 30 on Amazon with a release date of July 18. My virtual book tour to celebrate its launch will be July 18-29 at bewitchingbooktours.com. I will keep you posted.

ERICA TUCCI had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog for many years, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Visit her websites at www.ericatucci.com, www.sarahsgiftseries.com and www.radiantsurvivor.com.

Believe in yourself and watch the miracle unfold!

Recently, I was working with my personal trainer at the gym. (She actually calls herself a functional specialist because she works primarily with people who have some sort of affliction and she tries to help them return to optimum functionality. She herself has had two strokes, so she is the perfect trainer for me!)

She praised me for my strength, but told me that I don’t believe that I’m that strong and that’s what’s holding me back from recovering completely. And you know, she’s right! I’ve had a hard time believing anything positive about myself for a very long time. If you know me, you might think that’s crazy, but it’s not.

Anyway, it has taken her observation of how I am during my sessions with her (and she is unbelievably observant of everything) to show me what has really been delaying my full recovery. It’s about believing in myself!

Below is an excerpt from my book Radiant Survivor. Sometimes it takes a long time for a message to go from your head where you intellectualize about something, to your heart where it becomes part of your core essence. I feel the message from my trainer about believing in myself is finally making it to my heart, after many times trying. I hope this passage helps you in some small way, if you’re feeling puny about yourself.

“Believing in yourself doesn’t come from others or outer circumstances. It comes from within. It’s about having self-love. It’s about knowing that you have something to offer the world – your special gift, whatever it is. It’s about knowing that no matter what your situation is, you have the wherewithal to meet that challenge head on and deal with it.

To believe in yourself, you must first know yourself. Find your true essence, who you are at the center of your being. When you can transcend your self-doubts and fears that cloud your perception of who you truly are, you have reached that place of self-love. In this state of great prowess, you begin to believe in the fabulous unique person that you are and that you have a true purpose on Earth. Believe in yourself and ‘watch the miracle unfold’.

I have an exercise for you. Get out a journal or a notebook and write down all your positive attributes in the form ‘I am _________’ or ‘I have _________’ or ‘I can (do) _________’ or whatever way you can affirm the greatness you have inside. Then whenever you start questioning your worth, repeat whichever attributes are called for at that moment.”

Seeing through your divine lens

“We each come here with a great soul intention to live up to our greatest potential, line our lives up with our highest self, and do great work that helps others. We hit bumps in the road; loss, illness, financial challenges, childhood pain and relationship turmoil. When we align our ego mind with the wisdom of the soul – we step into our power. We see the hidden beauty of each painful moment; we understand the purpose of each perfectly designed challenge. We know exactly who we are and how to move forward to our great potential. This is the beauty of your Divine Lens. You can access your Divine Lens at any moment. It’s a simple shift of perception: Here’s how…”

That’s how Sue Frederick summarizes her book Your Divine Lens. I had the pleasure of reading it and all I can say is WOW! What a book! I felt like I was reading my own story. As you may know, I am a stroke survivor and my stroke was Spirit’s way of getting me back on track and seeing life through my “divine lens”. It was about complete surrender from my “egoic” way of being to following the path of Spirit. My mantra since has been “I’m on a magic carpet ride with Spirit at the helm”. Isn’t that what Your Divine Lens is saying? To follow the natural flow of life, and get out of your own way?

We are our own worst enemy. We often try to control every aspect of our lives and then we wonder why things don’t seem to go the way we want them to. At least that’s how my life was pre-stroke. In fact, that’s why I had my stroke. Funny that my right side (my masculine side) was stroked. The masculine energy (we all have it!) is not only the practical, logical and analytical side of us, but it’s also the energy within us that wants to control and dominate. But that needs to be balanced by the feminine energy that nurtures, that’s compassionate, that operates from the heart instead of the mind. Unfortunately, I was askew, I was lopsided. 🙂 So, Spirit bonked me on the head and decommissioned my right side (my masculine side) so that my feminine side could emerge. “Your health challenges are rich with soul lessons and perfectly designed to help you evolve in just the way you need to.” Exactly!! Perfectly put, Sue!

It’s funny how reading Sue’s book cracked my heart wide open. I have always been one to see through my divine lens, to the extent of finding it difficult sometimes to be grounded. I find myself out in “woo woo” land a bit too often. 🙂 This may contradict what I just said about myself, since being in woo woo land is a trait of the intuitive feminine side, and that part of me had fallen into the shadows behind my masculine side. So let me explain…

The way I used to see through my divine lens was more of an intellectual exercise where I would feel or see something at the soul level, but then it would be filtered through my mind’s eye to the detriment of what my heart was trying to express. That was my masculine side taking control, trying to disable my feminine intuitive side. Reading Sue’s book helped me reach deep in my heart without the voice of my mind interfering. I was finding the balance between my masculine and feminine energies, between my ego and my intuition. It’s this unifying of the two that makes you wholesome. It’s like Sue said…”when you align your ego with the wisdom of your soul – you step into you power”. And what great place to be! Don’t you think?

All I can say is “Sue, thank you for your wonderful gift!”

Are you pushing too hard in your life?

I get a lot of newsletters from different people, but one of them that I enjoy the most is from Sara Wiseman. If you have ever seen any of Sara’s work, you would see why. Sara is a spiritual teacher, intuitive and author of several very insightful books. Here is her most recent blog post, that is also her “Daily Divine” message of the day, which you can sign up for on her website.

“If you’re in a place where everything feels hopeless, where you wake up and want to cry first thing because it all seems too hard, consider letting go. Stop pushing. Stop being afraid. Stop trying to control it all. Connect in to the Universe, and see what plans are there for you. Chances are good, there is another way to live, that is much more enjoyable than how you are living now.”

That was me before my stroke. On the frenetic treadmill of life. Unfortunately, or should I say fortunately, it took a stroke to get me to change my way of being. My affliction has been a gift from the heavens for what it has taught me about what is important in life. I have been forced to slow down to a snail’s pace and surrender to Spirit. You know the saying “let go and let God?”

I learned that we really don’t have as much control over our lives as we think. And when we stop and relax into life instead of driving it all the time, we can find a bit of peace and serenity. Things start to flow more naturally.

If you are in that same place of being overwhelmed with life, where nothing brings you joy, surrender to the moment. Step back and evaluate your life and see how you might be able to make some changes so that you aren’t spinning out of control. Don’t get to the point where it takes some major life-altering experience such as a stroke to get you to rethink your life. Do it now!

Erica Tucci had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog for many years, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Visit her websites at www.ericatucci.com, www.sarahsgiftseries.com and www.radiantsurvivor.com.

Love Lessons We Can Learn from Our Children by Dr. Debra Reble

If you want to learn how to love and be loved, spend the day with a four year old. You will know love again.

Children love and connect in more open-hearted and unconditional ways than we do as adults. They intuitively plug into to a field of divine energy that emanates from them. Through this connection to their divine source, they are continuously in touch with their infinite nature as love.

Love comes naturally to children as it once did to us. They don’t think about expressing love, they just do it. Heart-centered and optimistic, they trust their innate ability to love and be loved. Above all, they radiate love without ego, expectations, or reservations, and show us that nothing is more important than being love.

Being a mother opened my heart to love in ways I could never have imagined. My children were my best teachers for how to love and be lighthearted because they infused their daily lives with it. As bundles of pure love energy, they moved from one moment to the next with a passion that bubbled up and overflowed into a sea of possibilities.

“Come on Mommy,” my daughter would say, “Let’s run in joy!”

Just observe a child at play, openhearted, and present and you will see them as channels of love, delighting in the beauty of life. You, too, knew lightheartedness as a child, especially when you splashed in puddles after a warm rain, chased twinkling fireflies on warm summer evenings, or built forts or fairy altars in your backyard. You paid attention to the ordinary which made life extraordinary.

Living in the flow of love, you can be fully present, and notice the beauty and wonder in the world around you. You can tune into your senses, which turns up the volume on the artistry that surrounds you. Gazing up at the stars, deeply listening to a loved one, or smelling the newly mown grass, you can be more mindful of your wonderful world and fully connected to those around you.

Children can show you how to take time to play and “just be.” Remember, when you had twenty minutes for recess? The bell would ring, and for twenty precious minutes, time stood still and the universe of possibility opened up to you. You yielded to this freedom of spirit knowing that nothing else mattered. As an adult, you may have lost the sense of spontaneity you had as a child, when rules and routines were things to be ignored. As difficult as it may be to take time to just be, you must give yourself permission to do just that.

It’s challenging to take time to celebrate “being” in a culture that values doing over being and productivity over creativity. Becoming more present can you restore the balance of energies needed to enhance your relationships, deepen intimacy, and live in the flow of love. Like children engrossed in creative play, you feel connected, distractions disappear, and you live in the moment. Stringing together such moments brings love, joy, and inspiration.

Children are transparent and aren’t afraid to be vulnerable. They show you how to lead with your heart, be true to yourself, and live uninhibited. You may fear that if you follow your heart and express your free-spirit you will be seen as immature or irresponsible. Override these thoughts and be open and vulnerable, speak your truth, and make love to life by embracing the philosophy of “let’s see what happens.”

Through immersing yourself in a child’s love, joy, and imagination, you can learn how to be uninhibited and playful once again. Let a child reintroduce you to the wonders of stargazing, the glee of chasing butterflies, and the timelessness of a summer day. By playing with them, you will spend more time communing with your heart and soul.

Children do the things that make their heart sing and fully enjoy life’s wonders. You too, can take pleasure in the simple things in life that make your heart sing, and invite others to join in as you go barefoot in the grass or float in a pool of water. You can dance spontaneously when you hear music at the grocery store, giggle when you get drenched in the rain, or sing out loud while listening to your favorite music. You can seek out new activities that make you laugh with joyful abandon and unlock your heart to love.

Children have the power to teach us the greatest lessons we’ll ever know about love. See yourself reflected in the love-light of a child’s eyes and you will know without a doubt that love is who you are.

Dr. Debra Reble is the author of Being Love: How Loving Yourself Creates Ripples of Transformation in Your Relationships and the World now available. For a limited time, you’ll receive over 50 transformational gifts when you purchase a copy of Being Love. www.BeingLoveBook.com

Consciously merging her practical tools as a psychologist with her intuitive and spiritual gifts, Dr. Debra L. Reble empowers women to connect with their hearts and live authentically through her transformational Soul-Hearted LivingTM program. Debra is the author of Soul-Hearted Partnership: The Ultimate Experience of Love, Passion, and Intimacy, which garnered four book awards including the Eric Hoffer award. A frequent guest contributor to Aspire Magazine and other high-profile blogs, her words of wisdom are embraced by readers around the world. Her popular inspirational podcast, Soul-Hearted Living, airs on iTunes and other platforms and is dedicated to reconnecting women with their hearts.

10 things highly intuitive people do differently

I came across an article on James Ricklef’s blog recently. James is a Tarot reader, lecturer, and writer, of long standing, with quite a few books under his belt.

He was giving his pithy meaning of the High Priestess of Tarot, and he used a quote to convey what the High Priestess might mean in a Tarot reading.

“Intuition [is] the subtle knowing without ever having any idea why you know it.”

The quote is from the article “10 Things Highly Intuitive People Do Differently” by Carolyn Gregoire. Here is a summary of these ten things:

They listen to that inner voice.
They take time for solitude.
They create.
They practice mindfulness.
They observe everything.
They listen to their bodies.
They connect deeply with others.
They pay attention to their dreams.
They enjoy plenty of down time.
They mindfully let go of negative emotions.

For a thorough explanation of each, and to see if what Carolyn says rings true with you, you might enjoy reading the full article. 🙂

By the way, I am a Tarot card reader myself. Not as seasoned as James Ricklef, but I have received some pretty good feedback from some of my clients. If you are interested in having a reading with me, click here.

Oh, and my second book of Sarah’s Gift series Believing In the Magic is being released on Amazon June 30. Woohoo! Go here to read an excerpt of it.

The inspiration behind Sarah’s Gift

Children’s Spirit Animal Cards by Dr. Steven Farmer

Anyone who has followed my book venture Sarah’s Gift series knows that it was inspired by the Children’s Spirit Animal Cards by Dr. Steven Farmer, an author, shamanic practitioner, soul healer and spiritual teacher. Because of my love for Tarot (I am a Tarot reader), I found these cards to be a wonderful addition to my collection of Tarot and Oracle cards. Particularly because they are for children, a subject near and dear to me as I explore my relationship with my own inner child.

Children’s Spirit Animal Cards are a deck of 24 cards, each one of a different animal and its message. The cards can help a child six and older address any question about anything going on in his or her life. The guidebook that comes with the deck offers suggestions and advice to help a child deal with some difficulty he or she may encounter growing up, just like Bear helps Sarah in Standing Up for Yourself.

Each message of each card is simply an expression of Spirit/God through the associated animal. In the natural world, everything has a message for us that can guide us through our lives, again, just like Bear tells Sarah to stand up for herself. That is why, at the end of each book in the Sarah’s Gift series, I include a description of the wisdom, meaning and power of the “spirit” animal conveyed in the story.

I really love Dr. Farmer’s cards and hope you will enjoy reading Sarah’s Gift series, inspired by these cards. For more information about Dr. Farmer, his services and products, click here. If you are interested in Standing Up for Yourself, the first book in the series, click here.

You are unique

Let’s reflect upon our human “uniqueness”

I was reading an article in the YinSights newsletter (covering Yin Yoga, the feminine form of yoga that I do) called “why ignorance of Human Variation is a big problem in yoga and medicine”. It was talking about how, even with the similarities in all humans, we are all unique. We may all be made up of identically shaped protons, neutrons and electrons, but that is as far as the true similarities go. The combination of characteristics and traits of every individual are diverse, much like snowflakes. You’ve probably heard the metaphor “no two flakes are alike”. So, in this context, let’s reflect upon our human “uniqueness” and what its purpose is – to you, to me, to the world.

Each of us has a unique gift, skill, talent, craft or mastery to share with others. It may be creative (dancing), relational (teaching), nurturing (mothering), intuitive (healing) and inwardly oriented – all feminine qualities. Or it may be logical (accounting), analytical (science), active and physical (construction or law enforcement), initiating or leading (corporate management) and outwardly directed – all masculine qualities.

It takes all kinds of abilities to make the world function properly. And when one piece isn’t operating properly or isn’t allowed to function, it throws the balance of the Universe off. This happens in both our inner world and our outer world. When there’s an overload of one energy to the detriment of the opposing energy, our world teetor totters on the brink of disaster, especially when the energy has turned negative. This is where our (outer) world is headed, because of the domination of the masculine energy that we have been under for so long, ruling our world by power, aggression and the abuse of technology.

For us to bring our world back into balance, having unity between the two primary forces – masculine and feminine – we must allow the Divine Feminine essence in every one of us to emerge, not to fight back as the masculine would, but to be nurturing to heal the wounds inflicted upon us. It’s about getting back to nature, to the inner voice that will guide you in everything you do. It’s about being loving and reaching out to others compassionately, and connecting with others.

What’s interesting to me is that Yin yoga, which was what inspired me to write this message, has become more popular lately to offset the more prevalent Yang-based (masculine) yoga that we are more familiar with. It is an indication of how our world is slowly shifting to embrace the feminine aspect, which wants to connect, not “divide and conquer”.

You can be a part of the healing process with your unique gift. Use the power of your psychic abilities to help others open their hearts up and see the world from a different perspective. Help them find the balance of both the masculine and feminine energies within themselves. Help them find their own uniqueness. If we can help others heal themselves, this will radiate outward into the world, and little by little, create the unity that is necessary for our world to survive. Be the change in the world! Shine in the light of your uniqueness!

Being psychic-what does it really mean?

What does it really mean to be psychic?

Chip Coffey in his book Growing up Psychic defines being psychic like this: “having the ability to pull in energy and receive information that cannot be accessed using the five senses”. He’s talking about the sixth sense that people with psychic abilities have. But what does that mean in terms of the kinds of things a person can do with this sixth sense. And what about paranormal phenomena, when something happens that can’t be explained rationally or scientifically, again something that can’t be understood with the five senses?

There are any number of ways a person can be psychic and experience paranormal phenomena, including the following (please note that this list is not all inclusive):

Communicating with the spirit of a person who has passed on
Communicating with angels, fairies, elves or other creatures of non-ordinary reality
Communicating with animals in either ordinary or non-ordinary reality (like Sarah does)
Picking up the feelings and thoughts of another person
Predicting the future
Seeing auras (the energy field around a person or object)
Being a medical intuitive where one senses physical or emotional illness in another person
Having telekinetic powers where one’s thoughts can move things

Having psychic abilities is a God-given gift, just like being a musical prodigy like Mozart or a child actress like Shirley Temple or a famous ballerina like Gelsey Kirkland.

This kind of “brilliance” is often a condition of living “outside the box”. Also, those with psychic abilities are generally hypersensitive to everything in the world around them. Unfortunately, in our society, this kind of thinking and feeling is often stifled instead of being allowed to develop.

So what do we do to nurture this gift in those who have it?

My goal is to seek out resources that will do just that and relate these to you. Click here to see a few items that have inspired me as I write my Sarah’s Gift book series. And if you know of something that you would like to share – a story or a resource you have come across that would be helpful to others – please let me know so I can post it.

Let’s make this world a better place for all the wonderful people with psychic abilities. Let’s help them flourish so that their souls find their purpose and highest potential.