You Can’t Make This Stuff Up Introduction One to Grow On
This is a book about life-changing lessons that will enrich your years and speak to your soul. And while you may not want some crazy medium telling you how to go about your business, you need to at least hear me out. Fair enough?

But before we go there, I want to tell you a little about myself, in case you don’t watch my reality show, Long Island Medium, haven’t been to one of my live experiences, or didn’t read my first book, There’s More to Life Than This. Who knows? Maybe you bought this on a lark because you liked the cover. Maybe you thought, I like this woman’s style. All that lilac and bling speak to me. . . . If so, me too! We already have that in common! See, this is going to be fun.

So, I’ve been sensing and feeling Spirit since a young age, which at the time included my guides and the souls of dead people like my great-grandmother, who I’d never met. As a child, I actually thought it was normal to see figures at the foot of my bed or hear voices when I was the only person in the room. Even so, it bugged me out. I had night terrors that caused me to scream like mad when I sensed Spirit’s energy, and as I grew up, I often felt stressed and strange in my body. To cope, I taught myself to mostly suppress what I was experiencing. A boatload of phobias kicked in after that, and my nervousness escalated, so by the time I met my husband, Larry, I was a real mess. I had debilitating anxiety that crept into every part of my life—my marriage, friendships, and downtime that was supposed to be relaxing, like when I went on vacation or tried watching a movie. I couldn’t do a lot of everyday activities without panicking, like drive in the rain or go to a birthday party. I constantly feared something bad would happen. It was a frightening and sometimes embarrassing way to live.

After many, many years of trying to manage my feelings on my own and with a therapist—and not making much progress—my mom’s friend Pat Longo, who’s a spiritual healer and teacher, put me on the road to resolving my issues. After just one session, she explained, as if it were the most typical thing in the world, that the anxiety I felt was related to the fact that I’m a medium and was suppressing Spirit’s energy. Can you imagine? The least reassuring news you can give an anxious person is that dead people are drawn to them! But lo and behold, Pat was right.

I soon learned that I channel Spirit through my chakras, and when it enters my crown, or head, chakra, I need to release it through my words. So when Spirit tried for all those years to deliver their messages, their energy would channel through my crown, but I’d get scared and block it in my chest, causing my heart to race or my torso to feel heavy. I also learned that I am empathic, which means that the way I primarily communicate with Spirit is through sensing and feeling. So if, for instance, there was a soul that wanted to tell me they passed in a death connected to the throat or had trouble communicating toward the end of their life, I’d feel my throat close, which triggered very real panic attacks. You can see why this was hard to understand and get under control without the right kind of help.

Because I felt calmer after Pat’s healing, I trusted her “diagnosis” and gradually learned how to control the energy around me. My anxieties became less dramatic, and I began to heal. After some hemming and hawing, I fully accepted my gift from God and devoted myself to helping others with my abilities. Soon I was channeling Spirit that included God, angels, guides, souls of faith like saints, and departed loved ones. I still sense and feel this Spirit today, but I’ve also created a “library” of signs and symbols based on my own personal experiences; these images help relay messages in a way you can connect with and interpret.

Pretty wild, right? Keep going. It gets better.
The Gist on Learning Lessons
Now, I know you’re an adult who can love, hate, forgive, blame, appreciate, trust, and reject any person or opportunity you wish. But I also want you to realize there’s a more purposeful and fulfilling way to navigate life’s ups and downs. Spirit tells me that you’re meant to lead a meaningful existence, here in the physical world, that’s joyful and satisfies your soul. And they’ve guided me to the lessons that will show you how.

If you read my book There’s More to Life Than This, you’ll remember that Spirit says your soul exists on the Other Side before you’re born and after you die, and the reason you’re here at all is to learn lessons that enrich your journey and help your soul mature in the afterlife. Well, as my abilities have grown, I’ve noticed that many of the topics addressed during your readings can overlap, and Spirit has shown me that these are among the major lessons we’re all meant to learn in this world. (When I channel your loved ones’ souls, they tell me about their lessons too.) The good news is, you don’t need a PhD in theology to realize that these lessons reflect Spirit’s, especially God’s, priorities. They’re easy to understand and offer simple, decisive, and direct guidance. Most truths do.

Spirit’s messages are life-changing, and their lessons are no exception. I think this is because both target the central issues that hold you back from healing and thriving at that moment. If you are new to a challenge, this immediately starts you on a journey to gaining perspective and feeling better; and if you can’t get past hurdles or sticking points, Spirit tells you what to do to carry on. Bottom line, they know what works for you. They help you recognize what’s in your heart and soul, and also what’s missing, so you can embrace the life you desire. But since you can’t always ask a medium for direction, Spirit wants you to be able to heed their advice on your own. You can do this by learning lessons that grow your soul and increase your awareness of what makes you feel whole.

As you read, you’ll begin to appreciate that you’re in the physical world to be taught lessons in various ways. You’ll see that your life has a purpose, that things happen for a reason, and why, why, why. You’ll find the lessons in your own incredible and difficult situations. And the more you accept direction, the more intimately you’ll understand your soul and trust your intuition and guidance to show you, and keep you on, the spiritual path you’re meant to follow.
Spirit, the Ultimate Collaborator
What’s so astounding is that right after I decided to write a book about lessons, Spirit took its participation in this project to a whole other level. At my live shows, I noticed that similar struggles and experiences kept coming up in specific ways. So for example, in one night, I read three different people whose loved ones’ souls congratulated them on losing weight; on another, I channeled multiple children killed by guns; and within a ten-day span, Spirit was really into blurting out when women were secretly pregnant against all odds. It was ridiculous! There were also more spiritual “themes,” like angels, miracles, and inspiring dreams that made me stop and think. But what really blew my hair back—and that’s saying a lot—was when people with related messages found each other after my shows to talk about their stories, exchange emails, laugh, hug, and just be there for one another. It’s as if Spirit were organizing the book’s material for me, while also creating a sense of community at my live events for the audience.

Then I began the writing process, and things got even nuttier. While deciding which stories to use, I couldn’t believe how many causes of death repeated themselves. A few of the stronger souls had the same names too, which I feel was synchronicity getting my attention and confirming that I was on the right spiritual track (synchronicity is like a coincidence, but it’s when two or more events that seem unrelated come together in a meaningful way). And when my coauthor and I got in touch with subjects for interviews or to follow up on a reading, nine times out of ten we happened to do so on a significant day, like the anniversary or birthday of the loved one we were discussing!

I never question Spirit, and my gut knew these unbelievable “coincidences” happened for a reason. Spirit always works in the most incredible and awe-inspiring ways. I believe Spirit made sure I realized that while we’re all here to learn our own lessons, we share the challenges and triumphs that teach them to us. We learn from our lives and each other’s, and this gives us hope that we can carry on in good and hard times. Our souls are connected in this world and the afterlife, so we’re never really alone.
How to Use This Book
Early on, Spirit insisted that the book’s chapters appear in a progressive, intuitive order. They didn’t suggest how to organize them exactly, so I trusted my instincts. I knew the first lesson had to be about faith, and the final lesson about healing, because those two subjects truly bookend every spiritual learning process. In between, the lessons I included build on and inform each other, but you won’t get lost if you jump around based on how you’re feeling that day. I’ve also named each chapter according to a lesson that I feel Spirit wants you to know, but the main subjects of each (like patience, authenticity, love, gratitude, etc.) are what matter most. Finally, you’ll notice that Spirit underscores the majority of their lessons with being the best person you can be, as you fulfill your journey, because your behavior has a sizable impact on others’ lessons too.

Another thing that may stand out is that I talk a lot about God. As I’ve emphasized many times, and will continue to say, I call the most brilliant source of energy and the creator of the universe God because I was raised Catholic and this supports my faith. But Spirit tells me there is only one God, so if you want to call him a Higher Power or a name that is more closely aligned with your beliefs, have at it. I just don’t want you to dismiss Spirit’s lessons if you can’t relate to my use of the G-word. You have to understand, it’s impossible to write a book about lessons without talking about Him, since they all originate with Him and His intentions for your life on earth. I also want to be clear that although Spirit has said these are influential lessons for soul growth, I am in no way saying that you need to master these to “get into Heaven.” I’m shown that everyone crosses over and then, depending on how well you completed your lessons, according to the path your soul determined before you were born, you enter the Other Side on a level that reflects those standards.

Last but not least, please don’t think I’m the final word on spiritual lessons. I can only tell you what I’ve discovered that makes sense to me, and hope it resonates with you. More than anything, I think you’ll find that this book is well worth the read for its amazing stories—your amazing stories. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn, and I guarantee you’ll squeeze your loved ones a little tighter the next time you see them. Your grandma won’t know what hit her!