Stealing is stealing is stealing is stealing is stealing

Recently I have started to follow a good many authors. Several are extremely friendly and talk to me like I'm a real friend. At least two that I know live near me, I think I could be real friends with them. One of them encouraged me to enter a writing contest, although I am not sure she knows she did. I like to support new authors, I can only imagine how scary it must be and how you can easily slide into a funk if you don't take off right away, or start to think your work sucks.

Anyway, I friended several authors on facebook, and then several started friending me, then a few editors and publishers. Before I knew it I am in the middle of the author world. These are really amazing people. They put a part of their soul into each book. I know the book I am attempting to write has some very personal tidbits in it, but if you didn't know me personally you would never know what parts they are.

One of the things that recently came up in this circle of the publishing world is pirated books. It was wrong when music was being downloads illegally, the government went after 80 year olds and 6 year olds, charging outrageous fines. I remember Metallica had a huge backlash of some of their fans over pressing forward with lawsuits and pushing forward for criminal action to be taken. The same thing with pirating movies. So now the new thing is ebooks.

All of this got me thinking. Plenty of people said things like "I can't afford to buy all the books I want." "The publishers are at fault for making them too expensive." "The book stores jack them up when a book gets too popular and they know that everyone wants to read it while it is popular" and just can't wait to read it now, or go to the grocery store and get it 25% off.

And this is what I have decided. I have never illegally downloaded any music or movies. I wouldn't do it with a book. I get free books aplenty on Amazon, all legal like! I wasn't raised to steal, and this is stealing. So why do people do it. Well my answer would have to be.... because we live in hell. This is it. There are those of us that live to add something a little better to the world. Put a smile on others faces, remind them of love or excitement in their youth. Maybe we just want to let someone know that they are thought about kindly, or thought about at all.

Then there are the ones that don't care. They are more concerned in how to get theirs. No matter what. They suck the life out of what ever they can and usually that means they get what they want, when they want, and damn the consequences. They don't care that someone put their lives into something wonderful, they only want their immediate gratification, and certainly don't want it to be taking money out of their pocket. SO if they can support others that do the same thing, immediate gratification by cheating to supply others with immediate gratification, they all seem to find each other.

The question then becomes; If a person has in the past participated in an action that is wrong, be it illegal in the truest sense or what would be considered open for "civil action." They know they did wrong. Everyone makes mistakes.

But at what point do you remember that we all have a moral compass, we all have the inner whispers of what is right. Do you become the person you want to be? Or..... Do you remain the person you have settled to be?

I remind myself everyday to Remember The Person I Want to Be. I don't want to be a cheater, liar, or a thief. I don't want to be a mother that teachers her children that is allowed in even the smallest degree.

And I'm sure invairably someone will put that on a plaque or a t shirt and tell the world they came up with the saying "Remember the person you want to be." Nope it was me, I've been telling myself and friends that for years now. But it is so much easier to steal. (sarcasm)

Why I don't have psychic friends

I used to be embarrassed by my "gift." Sometimes I still am. I don't advertise the fact that I talk to dead people. I once had someone tell me that they could see how people would think I was psychic because I am very observant. You know, like that show The Mentalist? I can't argue with that. I do notice things other people don't pay attention to. I love to study people.

Years ago I spent some time doing the Psychic Phone Line thing. This is the reason I don't have psychic friends. I was exposed to so many fakers, liars, cheaters, and the ones that genuinely do have the gift used it to take advantage of people. My "mentor" actually told me to "fake it, if you don't know just go with it." I can't do that. Above all I believe in personal integrity. If I didn't know, I would tell them. If I got images that I didn't understand I would explain to them what I saw then tell them it was up to them to figure out. Sometimes I sounded a lot like a fortune cookie. LOL

I am psychic in all the ways that word entails. I hear, see, dream, have visions, have spirit guides, can speak to the dead, see the future, see the past, pick up on peoples emotions, and sometimes even hear their thoughts. I always have my wall up though. Unless I'm invited, I never look in on someone. If there is a situation that I absolutely must be aware of, my guides will tell me. To me, sneaking a peek into someones mind is tantamount to rape. Your invading them in a very intimate way. I have discovered that 80% of "psychics" have little to no scruples. 75% to 80% of those are just outright liars and fakers.

I am naturally a skeptic. Just because I can see the dead, doesn't believe I think every Orb is a spirit. Sometimes it is just dust, or a bug. Just because there is a weird reflection in glass doesn't mean that your seeing a ghost. Weird noises can just be weird noises. I don't know how many times I have been told that something evil was in someones home. Ghosts are usually misunderstood when they actually are around.

I was very disappointed when I was introduced to the world of psychics. Sadly what should be a very uplifting and loving atmosphere is very dark. All about the money. My Grandmother once told me that taking money for your gift taints it. I thought she was wrong at the time. Not anymore.

While working the phone though, I did get a great deal of validation. I had a woman walk into my living room one day while doing a phone reading. She was decapitated, carrying her head under her arm. I ask the lady on the phone why a woman just walked in carrying her head. She told me her niece was decapitated in a car accident.

The worst validation I have received is also why I don't always see this as a gift. Someone in my life abused her kids. I called the authorities a number of times. She had four children. I was driving down the road one day and had a vision. It shook me to my core. The family was at a funeral, the casket was about 18 inches long. I called my mother and told her that this woman was going to kill her baby. I screamed and yelled and called the authorities. I told anyone who would listen. I begged for help. The baby was six weeks old when she killed that tiny soul.

I've also noticed that most people ask about the stupidest stuff. "Am I going to win the lottery?" "Is my man cheating?" First, no one who asks is ever going to win the lottery. Second, if you have to ask, then yes he is cheating on you. I tell anyone that asks me to take a look at something for them, more than believing me, you have to believe yourself.

We all have the intuition to run our lives in a healthy way. We all have that little voice, you just have to learn to listen to it. If your suspicious, there is a reason. If you think, I need to grab that umbrella, it will probably rain. If you get an itch to check your baby's temperature, there is a reason. Just listen. But listen to YOU.