Hello everyone! Today marks the 10th post for Rave Reviews Book Club's 30-Day Blogging Challenge. Congratulations to all my fellow bloggers who've made it this far. Were 1/3 of the way there - Woo Hoo! 
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Unity Consciousness

Before I discuss the link between ascension and self-actualization, I would like to step back and add a few more ideas regarding unity consciousness – a topic which I brought up in my previous post.
 
Spiritual expert Dr. Deepak Chopra has suggested that other-worldly, or alien type of experiences – like the ones that I've been through, are discussed in all the major religions of the world. At least in their esoteric studies. According to Chopra, for a spiritual awakening experience to take place, a person needs to reach a certain maturity at the soul level. Having said that, if someone lacks an understanding of what’s occurring, the integration of that experience into their everyday life can be quite difficult.
 
Honestly, I feel like the poster child for this last sentence.
 
That’s because it took me the better part of a decade to come to grips with witnessing the spherical UFO and then having my entire body shake the following night. Native American shamans, as well as other indigenous peoples around the world, refer to what I experienced as a spiritual initiation. Their understanding is that spiritual initiates are “chosen” (whether they want to be or not) to bring spiritual energies into the world to help humankind in a variety of ways. I suspect the type of help that I’m able to provide may be rooted in some strange incidents involving myself and the now infamous, grey aliens. To the best of my recollection, these entities began interacting with me when I was only four years old. I will discuss this topic in more detail in another post.   
 
On a positive note, after a lot of mental, emotional and spiritual wrangling, my sense now is that that I am on the precipice of reaching a full integration (a full understanding and acceptance) of my experiences. This means that my enlightenment has moved beyond the “shocking phase” and is now at a point where I'm able to live a normal and productive life. Getting to this point required a significant shift in my consciousness. What this means is that I have a newfound understanding, at least on some level, that there is a oneness to this life – that everything and everyone are connected in some way. 
 
As for the terrifying demon experience which I discussed in my previous post, the following are some additional thoughts by Dr. Deepak Chopra as it relates to this topic:

 “…the terror you experienced was likely the ego’s fear of annihilation in the wake of that expansiveness. To explain how it is possible to experience transcendence even before all the blocks to that experience have been removed, Maharishi used an analogy of how it’s like tiptoeing past a herd of sleeping elephants. To extend the analogy, sometimes we wake up the elephants on the way back. I think that is what happened with your experience of terror.

 By overcoming whatever fears remain in you, yes, you will return to that state of unity. It works the other way as well; by continuing to experience the unified state of consciousness in meditation, the fear will dissolve.  The Upanishads declare that fear is born of duality. By moving beyond duality we remove fear. That experience of unity is our true nature, so our destiny is really just to come back to our true self.”
 
-Dr. Deepak Chopra
 
 
I think it’s important that I expand on a couple of points made by Dr. Chopra. For starters, Maharishi, otherwise known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (January 12, 1918 - February 5, 2008) was an Indian yoga guru who was known for his work in transcendental meditation. Secondly, the Upanishads are sacred Hindu texts, written in Sanskrit, which are outlined in the Vedas. The Upanishads state that there is no duality in the universe, even though there is diversity. The unifying principle to all this diversity is referred to as brahman. By the way, duality in this instance has less to do with disagreements between people, for example, than it does with coming from a single source.  

Ascension
 
Now onto my theory linking self-actualization to ascension. I’d like to begin by describing what is meant by ascension.

Ascension is:

• Believed to be evolutionary in nature
• Also referred to as spiritual awakening
• Experienced as an increase in vibrational frequency
• When someone feels they have been supernaturally upgraded
• Sometimes called light activation
• Is similar to shedding one’s old self and being reborn
• Is about reaching new heights in one’s life, such as, rising above bad habits and limiting mindsets and beliefs.

Having said this, spiritual ascension isn’t just about love and light. Take it from someone who knows, there’s a lot of work, pain, fear and aggravation involved in getting to the other side. Some people, such as yours truly, have dark aspects of themselves which must first be dealt with before they can fully ascend. My biggest hurdle was that I was too nice, too accommodating and too quick to placate difficult people. I also had a lot of fear about seeing the UFO. The reason for this is that a couple of people in church suggested that this could have been a sign of Satan. Because of a frightening experience I had involving grey aliens as a child, this “sign of Satan” was partially responsible for triggering something known as the Dark Night of the Soul. It was an exceedingly difficult time in my life.

The good news is that I’ve made it to the other side. By having worked through my limiting beliefs and habits and dealing with some things in my life which needed to be corrected, I have ascended. I now feel ready to self-actualize.

Self-Actualization

For those unfamiliar with self-actualization, this is an idea which originated from Dr. Abraham Maslow, (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) a famous humanistic psychologist. In simple terms, self-actualization is about becoming the best version of yourself that you are capable being.

For me, I first needed to deal with all of my old, limiting ways of thinking, feeling and acting. This then opened the door to my growing into the very best version of myself that I am capable of becoming. Included in this are things like improving my physical health, daily prayer and meditation, writing, reaching out to others on You Tube and across social media, etc.   

So, I guess it’s now official: I’m a work in progress.  : )
​
What about you? Do you feel as though you are in the process of self-actualizing? If so, in what ways?

If you enjoyed this post, or perhaps you learned something which expanded your perspective, please hit the like button and leave a comment below. As always, thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

​Donna M. Atwood, founder of ALIEN EXPERIENCERS NETWORK is also an American writer of suspenseful paranormal and science fiction as well as spiritually based non-fiction. In her fictional works, she draws upon her B.A. in psychology to develop flawed and complex characters, while her background as a nanotechnology start-up owner serves as the foundation for her sci-fi's exciting, futuristic technologies. In addition, as a trained massage therapist and ET/UAP experiencer, when it comes to her non-fiction writings, Ms. Atwood is comfortable exploring some of the more esoteric aspects of the human condition. Ms. Atwood is known for reaching out to other experiencers as she maintains that there is nothing more important than supporting one another during this time of ascension.

Donna M. Atwood is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the American Massage Therapy Association, the Exoconsciousness Group, the New York Writers Association and Rave Reviews Book Club. Additionally, she proudly supports Phoenix, Arizona's chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. Currently, Ms. Atwood resides in Tucson, Arizona where she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her grand dog, Luna. She is also frequently sighted around Sedona, Arizona where she partakes of its vibrant arts community, New Age shops, and world-class hiking. 

​CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest
 

In my previous post, I described a horrific experience in which I telepathically heard from someone or something that I thought was a demon. That’s right, I said it. A demon. As in an evil spirit who torments people and turns their lives into hell here on earth. I’m being completely real when I tell you that, whatever was going on, this was a truly terrifying experience to go through. Moreover, as someone who holds a degree in psychology, I was deeply concerned with the state of my mental health – this, even though I’ve always had a good head on my shoulders and have no history of suffering from severe mental illness.

Something else that I think is important to mention is that before my spherical UFO sighting (and the subsequent electronic malfunctions and paranormal activity which occurred all around me as a result of this encounter), I had gone to my doctor and obtained a prescription for Adderall. This medication was supposed to help alleviate the concentration problems I was having during that time. As it turned out, it helped for the first day. Then, it actually made things worse.

After clearing the mental illness hurdle with a psychiatrist who deemed that I was in fact, sane, I scheduled a subsequent visit, this time with my OB-GYN. I wanted to see if anything I was experiencing might be related to perimenopause. The GYN informed that that it’s not unusual for women in their forties to have some issues with concentration. He then placed me on low dose hormones.

Annoyingly, the voice in my head seemed to know everything that happened in my life. I say this because soon after my appointment, he asked if my hormone prescription was impacting my ability to hear him communicate with me. Much to my chagrin, the answer was no. With that answer, he let out a small chuckle. He then suggested that rather than taking Adderall for my so-called ADHD issue, perhaps I should take the time to actually deal with my problems. From his perspective, popping a pill wasn’t the answer I was looking for. In other words, the demon felt that it was time for me to stop burying my head in the sand and start resolving all the scary things in my life which needed fixing.

Because there appeared to be some benefit as to what was experiencing, this was the first time that questioned my "demon theory" about who was communicating with me. Still, I was upset that he wanted me to stop writing science fiction. If that weren’t enough, he insisted that I close all of my social media accounts which were connected to my pen name, Danica Cornell. This was inconceivable to me – as in, a literal nonstarter. That’s because I had a lot of followers back then, as well as people in a book club who counted on me for a variety of things.

I’m being straight with you when I say that I wasn’t the type of person to just up and disappear on folks, but none of that mattered to the demon. In fact, when it came to my writing, my social media accounts, and the book club I belonged to, nothing seemed to matter. He didn’t care that I had been a very good mom or that I had tried my best to be a decent wife. In my mind, both of these accomplishments were noteworthy since I had been raised in a family ravaged by alcoholism, domestic violence and worse.

It also did not seem to matter that I had formed the first of two of my family-owned nanotechnology start-ups. I did this with the goal of keeping people safer from severe weather events and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons than they would otherwise be without our technology.

It did not matter that I was kind-hearted, polite or that I went out of my way to chat with neighbors and lend an ear to friends who needed it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect. But I knew then as I do now that I’m a truly decent person. Any mistakes I’ve made, I’ve repented and asked for forgiveness. Since I’m such a sensitive person, I’ve done so repeatedly. Nevertheless, it eventually became crystal clear that whoever screamed at me for six nights straight wanted me to ditch my pen name, stop hiding inside of science fiction and book clubbing and get busy solving some family issues.

At this point, I was mostly convinced that the demon was determined to ruin my life. I was utterly petrified. Even worse, I was unable to tell anyone around me what was going on for fear of being thrown in a mental hospital. I was so scared that I even met with a father at a local Catholic Church to find out what was involved in obtaining an exorcism. I was utterly dismayed to find out that it took months to receive approval. I figured by then I’d be dead.

A couple of weeks later, I approached a pastor at a local church. The demon made fun of me during that time by calling me Danica Cornelius and yammering on about my pasteurization process. At this point, I wanted to pull my hair out.

What I didn’t fully grasp back then is that someone from an unseen realm needed to break my ego. Then and only then could I work on my personal and spiritual development. Eventually, this would allow me to transform from being a people-pleasing doormat into the person that I am today - a woman who stands tall and speaks her truth.  

Experts in spirituality, such as Dr. Deepak Chopra, believe that what may have seemed demonic in nature, may have actually represented early awareness of my own unlimited nature. To be honest, I’m still grappling with this concept, but I suspect that it may have to do with what is known as the higher self. I will now attempt to explain this as succinctly as possible.

Presently, my suspicion is that multiple timelines may exist in our universe at the same time. (Some people may refer to this as the multiverse.) As unlikely as this construct may sound, I think it’s possible that these timelines might consist of different versions of ourselves in different dimensions. When our higher self is able to break through to our present-day self, I believe this may represent one facet of what is known as unity consciousness. Another facet may be the eventual unification of earth’s human race as well as knowledge of, and direct interactions with, extraterrestrial species. We may also gain a better understanding of the spiritual realm. Perhaps someday in the future, everyone will be able to hear this realm through an increasing ability to match their vibrations, at will. I guess what I’m saying here is that the universe may be far vaster and more complex than many of us may have originally understood.

In my next post I will explore a possible link between ascension and self-actualization.

What about you? Have you ever gone through a spiritually difficult time which ultimately served to strengthened you? If so, I'd love to hear about it! (Please only share if you're comfortable doing so.)

If you enjoyed this post, or perhaps you learned something which expanded your perspective, please hit the like button and leave a comment below. As always, thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Donna M. Atwood, founder of ALIEN EXPERIENCERS NETWORK is also an American writer of suspenseful paranormal and science fiction as well as spiritually based non-fiction. In her fictional works, she draws upon her B.A. in psychology to develop flawed and complex characters, while her background as a nanotechnology start-up owner serves as the foundation for her sci-fi's exciting, futuristic technologies. In addition, as a trained massage therapist and ET/UAP experiencer, when it comes to her non-fiction writings, Ms. Atwood is comfortable exploring some of the more esoteric aspects of the human condition. Ms. Atwood is known for reaching out to other experiencers as she maintains that there is nothing more important than supporting one another during this time of ascension.

Donna M. Atwood is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the American Massage Therapy Association, the Exoconsciousness Group, the New York Writers Association and Rave Reviews Book Club. Additionally, she proudly supports Phoenix, Arizona's chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. Currently, Ms. Atwood resides in Tucson, Arizona where she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her grand dog, Luna. She is also frequently sighted around Sedona, Arizona where she partakes of its vibrant arts community, New Age shops, and world-class hiking. 

​CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest
​

Hello everyone! Today, my schedule was filled with grocery shopping and other errands, the seemingly never-ending task of processing laundry and a whole slew of business-related items. I hope each of you have had an enjoyable and productive day as well. I don't know about you, but I always feel that if my Monday starts off positively, then it bodes well for the rest of the week.  : )

So, as promised in my previous post, I'm here today to discuss a dark and difficult time in my life. This was, in fact, the darkest time in my life, but in a strange way it benefitted not only me, but several other people as well, so I'm going to get right to it.

It’s more than a little embarrassing to admit this but, shortly after my encounter with the large, spherical UFO outside my family’s home in upstate New York, I thought I started hearing from a demon – inside my head. The demon actually yelled at me, telepathically, for nearly a week. To my relief, the noise quieted during the day, (but was still audible) and then invariably, it would start back up again at night. The demon's voice was deep and masculine. Much to my dismay during this ordeal, by the time I was ready to go to bed at night, he grew so loud that I would be unable to sleep! I even tried listening to music using headphones, but just like with the TV and the lamps, my portable CD player invariably and inexplicably, malfunctioned. By the time things eventually began to settle down, I was so exhausted that I appeared to have aged ten years inside of a week. I mean this quite literally.

While I can’t say for sure whether what I experienced was truly demonic in nature, what I can tell you now that many years have gone by, is that this is precisely what I needed. Someone, some entity from somewhere, was intent on getting my attention, and frankly, anything less would not have worked. The fact of the matter is that for most of my life, I was far too nice. Far too accommodating. Far too much of a people-pleaser. By never standing up for myself, this made it seem as though I did not stand for anything. At times, this made me feel invisible. Simply stated, this part of my personality needed to be corrected - and quickly.

Looking back, all I know for sure is that this incident had a profound impact on my life. Whoever or whatever was at work, they wanted me to make some changes, and they meant business. As a result, I was forced to set aside my science fiction writing, which in reality wasn't that much of a sacrifice, considering that I hadn't been able to concentrate for months. As much as I did not want to do this, (believe me, I fought this for several nights, hence the reason I was yelled at), giving up my writing for a while provided me with the time necessary to once and for all deal with my marriage. In the end, I asked for a divorce, and as you’ve probably already guessed, I was polite about the whole thing. Fortunately, our split was amicable, and I am grateful that we've been able to remain friends. I also helped our daughter deal with a couple of issues commonly faced by young adults. Being able to step in at this time in her life meant a lot to me. I love my daughter very much and I'm proud of how she turned out. If all of this weren't enough, I also sold the family home and many of our possessions while working part time and attending a challenging program for massage therapy. After graduation, I moved across the country to Arizona to be close to my daughter who had just relocated there to attend graduate school. Equally important, my mom was now in need quite a bit of assistance. As a result, I’ve dedicated the last two-plus years of my life, every day, to helping her.

As I was getting thrown into all of this, I didn't realize that standing up for myself and correcting a lot of situations would ultimately go a long way to increasing my self-confidence. Additionally, I’ve gained real-world experience in far too many areas to mention here, but suffice it to say, this newfound knowledge will serve me well. Best of all, I respect myself and have a close, loving and honest relationship with God. By becoming more authentic, my relationships with family and friends have also grown closer and more genuine. I guess what I'm trying to say is that as unlikely as it may seem, I’m pleased to report that I'm a better version of myself than I was before my encounter with the orb. I’m happier, healthier and wiser. If that weren't enough, I’m thrilled to be stepping into a role within the UFO/spiritual community, a role which is so much more than I ever could have envisioned for myself years ago. More on this in my next post.

I will leave you with one last thought. Whoever it is that that controls these orbs, they wanted me to share the following with you: when we humans don't take care of each other, we end up only hurting ourselves. 

What about you? Did you ever go through an exceedingly difficult time which ultimately served to strengthened you? If so, I'd love to hear about it! (Please only share if you're comfortable doing so.)

If you enjoyed this post, or perhaps you learned something which expanded your perspective, please hit the like button and leave a comment below. As always, thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

​Donna M. Atwood, founder of ALIEN EXPERIENCERS NETWORK is also an American writer of suspenseful paranormal and science fiction as well as spiritually based non-fiction. In her fictional works, she draws upon her B.A. in psychology to develop flawed and complex characters, while her background as a nanotechnology start-up owner serves as the foundation for her sci-fi's exciting, futuristic technologies. In addition, as a trained massage therapist and ET/UAP experiencer, when it comes to her non-fiction writings, Ms. Atwood is comfortable exploring some of the more esoteric aspects of the human condition. Ms. Atwood is known for reaching out to other experiencers as she maintains that there is nothing more important than supporting one another during this time of ascension.

Donna M. Atwood is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the American Massage Therapy Association, the Exoconsciousness Group, the New York Writers Association and Rave Reviews Book Club. Additionally, she proudly supports Phoenix, Arizona's chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. Currently, Ms. Atwood resides in Tucson, Arizona where she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her grand dog, Luna. She is also frequently sighted around Sedona, Arizona where she partakes of its vibrant arts community, New Age shops, and world-class hiking. 

​CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

Is it Sunday already? I hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful weekend! 

So, I left off in a previous post that after witnessing a large, luminous, spherical UFO outside my family’s home, my entire body shook, almost as though I were experiencing a grand mal seizure. What I endured, however, was not actually a grand mal seizure. Nevertheless, soon thereafter, I started hearing ringing in my ears. I also noticed electronics malfunctioning in my presence and, even more disturbing, paranormal activity was beginning to take place around me. The nail in the coffin was when I started hearing words and phrases – inside my head!

At the time, my husband was aware that I had seen a UFO, but he did not comprehend the totality of the effect it was having on me. Additionally, while I suspected something may have occurred to me neurologically, I had no real understanding back then of the human chakra system. Having said this, by the time I started hearing words and phrases inside my head, I grew concerned for my mental health. Needless, to say, I called a psychiatrist - right away.
​
Without going into too much detail, over the course of several weeks, I recounted everything that had taken place. I did not leave out any details. I made clear to the psychiatrist that I had no desire to harm myself or anyone else. Even so, being a Christian, I prayed and prayed and prayed for protection. After all, nobody wants to end up in a psychiatric hospital.  

All I can say is, someone must have been watching over me. That’s because this particular psychiatrist was not only aware of, but accepting of the fact that, sometimes, anomalous experiences really do happen to everyday folks. In retrospect, I can’t help but wonder if he was familiar with the work of Dr. John Mack.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with his career, Dr. John Mack was a professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from 1977 to 2004. He was also an author and won the Pulitzer Prize (biography) in 1977 for his work on T. E. Lawrence.

It is well known by ufologists that as a psychiatrist, Dr. Mack had no serious interest in UFOs or the alien abduction phenomenon - at least not early on. Naturally, when he was approached in the early 1990s about interviewing people who claimed to have been alien experiencers, he wanted nothing to do with the project. However, after enough time and persuasion, he did eventually agree to take this task on, albeit rather begrudgingly.

Much to his surprise, Dr. Mack found the one common theme with the two hundred abductees that he interviewed was that they were mentally stable. They were confused and frightened at the prospect of having been abducted by extraterrestrials, but they were, for lack of a better term, sane. These people came from all walks of life. They had differing levels of education and religious affiliations. They resided in a wide variety of communities, consisted of different races and both genders were represented. While it’s true that some had experienced serious trauma in their lives, others had not. In other words, despite the surprising diversity of people included in the alien abductee cohort, Dr. Mack, found these individuals to be healthy - at least from a psychiatric standpoint.  
​
Below are some thoughts shared by Dr. Mack during an interview in the late 1990s with Public Broadcasting Station’s, program, Nova. I think readers may find what he had to say helpful, at least in terms of understanding what it is that ET and paranormal experiencers go through.

“Just how literally to take this, is one of the most interesting and complex aspects of this. And I want to walk through that as clearly as I can. There are aspects of this which I believe we are justified in taking quite literally. That is, UFOs are in fact observed, filmed on camera at the same time that people are having their abduction experiences.

People, in fact, have been observed to be missing at the time that they are reporting their abduction experiences. They return from their experiences with cuts, ulcers on their bodies, triangular lesions, which follow the distribution of the experiences that they recover, of what was done to them in the craft by the surgical-like activity of these beings.

All of that has a literal physical aspect and is experienced and reported with appropriate feeling, by the abductees, with or without hypnosis or a relaxation exercise.

....There is a—I believe, a gradation of experiences and that go from the most literal physical kinds of hurts, wounds, person removed, spacecraft that can be photographed, to experiences which are more psychological, spiritual, involve the extension of consciousness. The difficulty for our society and for our mentality is, we have a kind of either/or mentality. It's either, literally physical; or it's in the spiritual other realm, the unseen realm. What we seem to have no place for—or we have lost the place for—are phenomena that can begin in the unseen realm, and cross over and manifest and show up in our literal physical world.”

-Dr. John Mack
 
Until I sat down to write this post today, I honestly did not know that Dr. Mack had, at that time, already started to grasp, the existence of different dimensions and other types of intelligent physical and energetic forms of "life" as well as the spooky, non-local, simultaneous action of particles in quantum mechanics, as noted by Dr. Albert Einstein. 

I must say, this was a gratifying piece of information to discover! 

Before I end today's writing, I would like to add some additional information about myself. For starters, I would like to state very plainly that I believe in God. I Pray every single day. I pray for others who need help. I pray for protection, loving guidance and wisdom.  I also meditate, as I find that it keeps me calm and helps me to focus.

As for my background, I was raised Christian and have studied a number of the world's religions, most notably Judaism. I have friends of differing backgrounds and faiths. I cherish each and every one of them. Having said this, for the life of me, I'm not sure why all of this "UFO stuff" has happened to me. (It started in childhood, more on that in another post.) 

One theory I have is that it's possible my prayers are actually being answered! After all, these orbs do seem to function like guiding lights for me. (Again, more to come on this topic.) For example, I have the strong feeling that I'm supposed to help others who may be going through the same types of experiences that I've gone through. This is why I created Alien Experiencers Network - to reach out to other experiencers who are frightened by what is happening to them. 

In my next post, things get scary when I'm exposed to the unseen world's dark side. Stay tuned!

What about you? Have you ever experienced something paranormal? If so, how did you react? Did the phenomena return? Do you continue to see things? Please share only if you feel comfortable doing so.

Thank you for visiting my blog! If you enjoyed the content, (perhaps you learned something new?) please be sure to hit the like button and leave a comment below.

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

​Donna M. Atwood, founder of ALIEN EXPERIENCERS NETWORK is also an American writer of suspenseful paranormal and science fiction as well as spiritually based non-fiction. In her fictional works, she draws upon her B.A. in psychology to develop flawed and complex characters, while her background as a nanotechnology start-up owner serves as the foundation for her sci-fi's exciting, futuristic technologies. In addition, as a trained massage therapist and ET/UAP experiencer, when it comes to her non-fiction writings, Ms. Atwood is comfortable exploring some of the more esoteric aspects of the human condition. Ms. Atwood is known for reaching out to other experiencers as she maintains that there is nothing more important than supporting one another during this time of ascension.

Donna M. Atwood is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the American Massage Therapy Association, the Exoconsciousness Group, the New York Writers Association and Rave Reviews Book Club. Additionally, she proudly supports Phoenix, Arizona's chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. Currently, Ms. Atwood resides in Tucson, Arizona where she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her grand dog, Luna. She is also frequently sighted around Sedona, Arizona where she partakes of its vibrant arts community, New Age shops, and world-class hiking. 

​CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

I had no inkling when I woke up this morning that today would begin with a bang.  

As it turned out, I hadn’t even finished my first cup of coffee when my phone buzzed. Nobody calls me this early. Not ever. Once a person becomes part of my inner circle, I make one simple request: please do not call me before the sun clears the horizon, unless of course it’s an emergency. Texting is fine. Calling is not.

Begrudgingly, I made my way over to the desk and disconnected my phone from the charger. I saw that it was my boyfriend, Steve. I braced for bad news. At the time, I had no idea that what he was going to tell me would influence today's post.

“Hi, honey. What’s going on?” I asked.
“What's going on is, your friends are back.” The words practically tumbled out of his mouth.
“Oh really? At this point I could barely contain my excitement. "What did they do this time?” 

Steve went on to inform me that at precisely 3:00 AM, the television in his living room turned on - by itself. Believe me when I tell you that this is not a one-time incident. Recently, over the holidays, the same television turned itself on at 2:00 AM. If that weren’t enough, one of his garage doors opened at around the same time. As God as my witness, neither one of us were playing a trick on the other.

All I can say is I warned him.

Actually, it was probably a good year and a half ago when I first told Steve that he’d likely start to experience some unusual phenomena, that is, if he hung around me long enough.

Lucky for me, he tends to take these things (mostly) in stride – which is good because a couple of months ago, something else caught his attention. This time, it was a small red orb. Approximately the size of a silver dollar, this little guy floated outside his bedroom window before zipping straight in through the glass. The orb paused. It then leisurely floated over the bed and toward the dresser before darting out into the kitchen. Steve never saw where it went after that.

I was not present when this incident occurred, but I myself saw a green orb around a year ago after a dear friend of mine passed away. I always knew that alcoholism would cut his life short. It was a terrible loss and to be honest, I was pretty upset for weeks. Whether this green orb was connected in some way to my friend’s passing, I’ll probably never know.

On a related topic, my mom recently shared with me a paranormal incident which involved her father. She said that soon after he passed away, his ghost appeared before her. This occurred after she had exited her shower and wrapped herself in a towel. She said that she stood in the middle of her bathroom, stunned. Once he vanished, she began to sob. Eventually, my mom regained her composure and asked him to come back. He never did.

To hear her story brought tears to my eyes. I never met my biological grandfather, but my mom adored him. She said that he was organized, intelligent and hard-working. Hmm, sounds a lot like my mom. Now that I think about it, this sounds a lot like me, too...on a really good day.  : )

What about you? Have you ever experienced something paranormal? If so, how did you react? Did the phenomena return?

Thank you for visiting my blog! If you enjoyed the content, please be sure to hit the like button and leave a comment below.

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Whew! What a busy Friday this has been! From laundry to phone calls to errands and business-related tasks - you name it, I did it. I hope everyone reading this post had a similarly productive day and that you have an enjoyable weekend planned with the people you love the most.

As I discussed in my previous writing, several years ago, I was left wondering why my entire body shook after witnessing a large, floating sphere outside my family’s home in upstate New York. Three full days after seeing the orb, I still had shared this incident with no one. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this but, it wasn’t until day number five that finally confided my orb secret to my husband. You may be surprised to learn that I never did tell him about the seizure-like event. Honestly, I was afraid to. After I saw the look on his face when I told him about the sphere, I was convinced that I had already crossed a line.

Please know that it is not my intention to make my then-husband sound like a monster. He was a good man, but at his core, he was a no-nonsense, PhD scientist. He wasn’t creative or open-minded in the way that I’ve always been. As such, back then I knew that without any evidence, he’d never believe me, so the best thing that I could do would be to never bring up the subject again. After all, our marriage was already strained, and I didn’t want to make things any worse than they already were.    

Despite my best intentions, all of my efforts at our relationship really didn’t matter much. That's because, by the time that I told my husband about the UFO, I was already developing a faint ringing in both of my ears. Even worse, lamps dimmed whenever I was close by, and the picture on our television grew fuzzy whenever I approached it. Perhaps strangest of all was when my dog’s collar slipped over his head – by itself! The latter upset me so much that, for weeks, I refused to walk Hugo outside after dark.  

To my knowledge, my husband only took notice of the TV and my reluctance at walking the dog at night. At one point he smirked that I had probably been abducted by aliens. Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond. I was mortified. I don’t think it’s even possible for me to adequately put into words just exactly how I felt. For starters, I was terrified. Was something wrong with me? Was I was going crazy? Had my physical health been jeopardized? Due to the length of my encounter, would I develop cancer sometime in the future? 

To be brutally honest, I was afraid that my husband was going to leave me. Our relationship had basically been over for years, and in my mind, the fact that I saw a UFO was the perfect excuse for him to file for divorce. He could claim that I was mentally ill and go on with his life, leaving me to pick up the pieces of this mystery by myself.  

Even so, I tried to carry on like nothing had happened. The problem was that within a few weeks, I started to hear words inside my head. Then phrases. I knew that these were not my thoughts because the words I heard were typically different from the ones I would ordinarily select. I was now terrified that I was in the early stages of psychosis. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not concentrate. This proved to be a disaster on so many levels, not only because I had a family to take care of and a business to oversee, but I was also in the middle of penning a science fiction book (not about aliens). One morning, I took a long look in the mirror. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, the moment had finally come to face the truth: it was time for me to call a psychiatrist. 

And that's exactly what I did. More to come in a future post...

What about you? Have you ever experienced something that you couldn't explain? Did you ever feel like your relationships were in jeopardy because of it?  Please only share if you feel comfortable doing so.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. If you felt there was any useful information here or that you could relate to this post in any way, please hit the like button and leave a comment below.

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Today marks the fourth day in the Rave Reviews Book Club’s thirty-day blog challenge, and I would like to express just how much I’m enjoying the submissions so far. Not only am I finding these entries to be engaging, but I’m also getting a better sense of who is who in the RRBC community. Additionally, I appreciate the supportive comments which I’ve received from many of the members. What a joy it is to be able to interact with other writers in such a friendly and authentic manner!

For those of you who read my previous posts, I’m guessing that at least some of you were surprised to find out that I’m an experiencer – as in a Close Encounters type of experiencer. Please know that I recognize how difficult of a topic this may be for some of RRBC’s membership to relate to. I mean, UFOs and aliens are not something that most folks typically think about. I get it. Having said that, I would like to share that it literally took me years to wrap my head around what took place during my otherworldly encounter. If that weren’t enough, I also had to grapple with the fact that much of my life had changed as a result of it.

One more thing before I get back to my story. The truth of the matter is that my ufology-based work chose me. I did not choose it. My original plan had been to write science fiction, as to me, this was the safest way to make a meaningful contribution to the UFO community. I had no intention of ever sharing my story with anyone - much less the online world. Yet here I am. Go figure.

Having said all of that, it’s time to get back to our regularly scheduled programming…  : )

In my previous post, I described witnessing a large luminous sphere in the middle of the night. Some of you may recall that this close encounter lasted for a solid fifty minutes.

It’s now the following day. Because I’m aware of the giggle factor surrounding UFOs, I’ve decided not to tell anyone in my family about what I saw outside our house the night before. The ironic part about all of this is just how calm I am. I say this because ordinarily, I'm a somewhat anxious person, especially if I feel the need to fib or keep a secret. Furthermore, the only two things that provided relief from my anxiety were aerobic exercise or when my husband took a business trip. Not only was I exercising less back then, my husband's business trips had also grown less frequent.

After an early start, I decided to proceed with my day as I normally did. Since it was the weekend, I had some laundry, light cleaning and grocery shopping to attend to.

Later that night, I once again returned to sleeping on the sofa with my dog, Hugo. Thankfully, his colitis was showing signs of improvement. At this point I was relaxed, but not overly tired. I yawned and stretched. I felt grateful, even honored, to have had the opportunity to witness the luminous sphere the night before. That’s precisely when the strangest thing happened. With absolutely no warning, my entire body shook. I was stunned - especially given the fact that I had no prior history of seizures!

To be clear, at the time that this occurred, I was wide awake. Moreover, I was able to move my head. The reason this is important is because when a person has a grand mal seizure, they are not coherent, they often froth at the mouth, and they almost always must be protected from their uncontrolled, jerky movements. In contrast, I was not foaming at the mouth, my movements were relatively controlled even though the shaking was quite pronounced, and I was able to tilt my head backwards. That’s precisely how I saw the terrified look in Hugo’s eyes. In a reassuring voice (which admittedly was shaky), I told him I that would be fine.

After about sixty seconds, the shaking stopped. Surprisingly, I felt perfectly fine. The thing is, while I didn’t understand why my body shook, I was pretty sure the orb was responsible. I remained still on the sofa. I guess I was waiting for something else to happen. It never did. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep with an awareness the everything that taken place was somehow meant to assist me. I'm not sure how I knew this, but I was confident that this was the case. 

As it turned out, it was only few short days later when things grew really strange around my house. At the time, I lacked an understanding that in order to improve my situation and lead the happy life I'd always dreamt of, I was going to have to go through nothing short of hell on earth... 

What about you? Have you ever experienced something that you couldn't explain? How did you handle it? 

Thank you for stopping by my blog. If you enjoyed the content here, please hit the like button and leave a comment below.

Wishing you love and light.
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I must admit that I’m more than a little bleary-eyed right now. Then again, I have only myself to blame for my inexplicable dalliances on late night social media. With morning arriving way too early, I dragged myself out of bed today and made my way into the kitchen. With the press of a button, the familiar aroma of my favorite espresso’s earthy and floral notes once again wafted through the air. Moments later, as if by magic, I was reminded how sip after sip had the ability to put another bounce back in my step. To be frank, sometimes there’s nothing better than a cup of liquid gold to get this writer motivated for yet another busy day ahead.

After a cold shower, dressing and applying just enough make-up to look human, I sat down for my daily half hour of meditation. This was followed by another fifteen minutes of stretching. If I don’t have an appointment, this is usually the time I head into my office. These days, the emails seem to bombard me from every direction. As usual, I focused on the highest priority ones before delving into my You Tube channel.

For better or worse, my workday today is shorter than usual due to some errands that I must run. I’m also having dinner tonight with a gal pal who lives here in my neighborhood. When I consider my jam-packed work schedule, I’m amazed at how busy my social calendar has grown, especially over the last two months. Then again, I’ve made it a point to network with people all around Arizona. As a result, I now have friends in the greater Phoenix area (including through MUFON and the Exoconsciousness Group), Sedona and of course Tucson. I consider each of these friends to be a blessing.

It’s also a blessing to be here with you today. As such, I would like to share a true and wonderous story with you about an intervention which came to me from above. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that as strange as it sounds, an intelligent and conscious entity in the form of a large, luminous orb may very well have saved my life.

My saga began several years ago on a cold April night in upstate New York. It was nearly midnight when I decided I’d had enough tossing and turning on the L-shaped sectional located in my family room. Bored, I shuffled to the oversized window overlooking the back yard. Gazing up at the starlit sky, my attention eventually lowered to the snow packed ground and then back over to my dachshund, Hugo, who was sleeping peacefully on the sofa. As it turned out, the two of us were bunking together due to his raging case of colitis. Poor thing. No matter what we did, no matter who his dog sitter was, (and they were all phenomenal), his tummy eventually grew irritable whenever my family went away on holiday. As fate would have it, my family and I had just returned from Florida earlier that evening, hence the reason Hugo and I were holed up together. To be honest, I didn’t mind. I really loved that little dog, even though he tended to bark way too much.

The clock on the wall above the fireplace now read midnight. How ironic. Hugo was comfortably asleep while I stood here in my nightgown wide awake. A chill ran through me. In only six hours, my husband would be in the kitchen making breakfast. To make matters worse, I was a nine-hour-of-sleep-per-night gal. With a diagnosed case of severe allergies (upper five percent, globally) and a propensity for respiratory viruses, I’d learned the hard way that sleep deprivation was not my friend. A small smile settled on my face as I watched Hugo’s chest rise and fall, the rhythmic movement of his breathing reminding me of the waves we’d just seen on the beach in Florida. All at once, something out of the window next to Hugo caught my attention. It was a large ball of white light!

In disbelief, I rubbed my eyes. I looked again. Was this really happening? Was a UFO really on my property, and if so, why was it visiting me?

A wave of fear and curiosity enveloped me. Frantically, my eyes darted over to Hugo, who thankfully, was still as snug as a bug on the sofa. At this point, I needed to be certain that I was in fact, awake. A deep, self-inflicted pinch to my arm confirmed that I wasn’t dreaming. This now begged the question, Had I suddenly gone mad? Under the circumstances, it was a reasonable query. After all, I held a degree in psychology. With all the research papers I’d written, this meant that I knew an awful lot about schizophrenia and major depression with psychotic features.

On the other hand, because I had endured a couple of bizarre encounters with the greys as a young child, I also believed in the existence of extraterrestrial lifeforms. These incidents took place when I was four years old, well before I knew anything about aliens. (More on this topic in another post.) By now, my racing thoughts did little to comfort me. With concern about my mental health mixing with worry for my physical safety, I crouched down to the carpet and slid behind the blue draperies. The way I saw it, I really had no other options available to me.

My rational side knew that placing a piece of fabric in front of my body wouldn’t save me from an advanced otherworldly species, still, I thought it might keep the orb from noticing me. Slowly, I stood up and peered out across the room. Turns out the orb remained gracefully situated above our side yard, close to the exterior of the house. Much to my chagrin, I also had the distinct impression that it was aware of my presence inside. I took a deep breath. Slowly, I exhaled. I thought it bizarre that instead of this craft being a UFO landing on the ground, what I was looking at was a plasma-filled sphere of light hovering off the ground. Additionally, this object was positioned only thirty or so feet away from me. That meant this was a close encounter by anyone’s standards.

Questions tumbled through my brain. Was I in trouble with God? Was this the devil himself? Was I looking at an omen of things to come? Were the grey aliens from my childhood coming back to abduct me?

My heart raced.

My breathing grew shallow as my eyes continued to train on the orb. The fact that I didn’t hear a single sound from outside only gave credence to the advanced nature of this technology. Moreover, I’m not sure how it knew that I was watching it, but I was certain that this was the case. Then, without warning, the orb jiggled in an exaggerated manner. This suggested that it was happy – dare I say, excited - to see me!  In amazement, I stared at the joyful movements taking place outside my window. “Should I take a picture? What about a video?”  In the end, I decided not to leave the family room for fear that when I returned, the sphere would be gone. Besides, my cell phone was charging all the way upstairs in the master bedroom. I figured this was likely a once in a lifetime occurrence, so I decided to stay put.

The next thing I’m about to share may seem more than a little mundane, but the truth is that for fifty long (yet short) minutes, the orb and I stared at each other. I couldn’t pull myself away from watching it. Not only was it beautiful - in an otherworldly sort of way, but there was also something oddly familiar about it. Maybe part of this was due to the way it made me feel. I know how crazy this may seem to people outside the UFO community, but this ball of light appeared to be a conscious entity. If that weren’t enough, its unique mannerisms seemed to suggest that we might be old friends. Perhaps this was someone or something that I had encountered from a distant time or place. Hard as I tried, I couldn’t quite reconcile whether it originated from one of my previous lifetimes or possibly from some other time in my current life.

Thoughts swirled as I watched the familiar stranger outside. All at once, intuition ruled the night. I now understood that this orb was a timeless, living technology likely designed to reactivate information which had been squired away deep inside my subconscious. With any luck, history long since forgotten would one day stir back to life.

If that weren’t amazing enough, there was something even more impressive about this floating ball. It had the capacity to exude emotional warmth. Inexplicably, it seemed to understand my day-to-day struggles to the point that I could almost sense its compassion for me. I can even state that in its presence, I felt love, friendship and respect. Once all of this became clear to me, a thought having to do with mystery school teachings flickered through my brain. At that exact moment, I was certain that I was safe in its presence. It even occurred to me that perhaps angels and UFOs were, at least in some cases, one in the same. Even so, out of an abundance of caution, there was no way I was going to step one foot outside. I’d heard too many instances of people unintentionally being burned by simply touching, or being in the vicinity of, an unidentified craft.  

Since the orb had made no moves to enter the house and nothing else appeared to be happening, I eventually decided to let go of the drapery which had been functioning as a makeshift shield. Through mental telepathy, or at least my attempts at this, I told the orb that I was a friendly earth human and thanked it for its visit. I then made my way across the family room where I curled up on the sectional, close to Hugo. It was at this point that any lingering concerns I had about the sphere’s intentions for abducting me, faded away. In its place, a calm serenity washed over me. Viscerally, I knew that this visitor would not bring harm to myself or any of my family members. Furthermore, with any luck, it might even be here on mission to affect some good on all of humanity.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of my husband in the kitchen. Somehow, instead of reeling from anxiety, I was unusually calm. In fact, I felt completely at ease – something I hadn’t experienced for a long time. Even so, I decided to say nothing to any of my family members about the orb. In fact, not a word of this strange encounter came out of my mouth for a full five days. Then again, by that time, my transformation was already well underway. More on this aspect of my encounter in my next post. 

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

​Donna M. Atwood, founder of ALIEN EXPERIENCERS NETWORK is also an American writer of suspenseful paranormal and science fiction as well as spiritually based non-fiction. In her fictional works, she draws upon her B.A. in psychology to develop flawed and complex characters, while her background as a nanotechnology start-up owner serves as the foundation for her sci-fi's exciting, futuristic technologies. In addition, as a trained massage therapist and ET/UAP experiencer, when it comes to her non-fiction writings, Ms. Atwood is comfortable exploring some of the more esoteric aspects of the human condition. Donna M. Atwood is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the American Massage Therapy Association, the New York Writers Association and Rave Reviews Book Club. Additionally, she proudly supports the Phoenix, Arizona chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. Currently, Ms. Atwood resides in Tucson, Arizona where, when not working, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her grand dog, Luna. She is also frequently sighted around Sedona, Arizona where she partakes of its vibrant arts community, New Age shops, and world-class hiking. When it comes to her work, more than anything else, Ms. Atwood loves connecting with other experiencers, as she believes there is nothing more important than supporting one another during this time of ascension.

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As usual, my schedule was full today, but not always in the ways I would have preferred it to be. Still, I can’t complain. I managed to publish a blog post. Make that two. This is my second post for today as I’m playing catch up for Rave Reviews Book Club. In addition to blogging, I updated my website, made the rounds on social media and did some research on Zeta extraterrestrials in preparation for my You Tube channel. Perhaps most amazing of all was that I cooked dinner! (Mushroom risotto, for those who are interested, and to my delighted surprise, it was delicious!)
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For those of you reading this post, perhaps the most interesting part of my day occurred over dinner, when I found myself thinking back to my life several years ago. To put it succinctly, at that time, my whole world came crashing down around me. That’s because, as a highly sensitive empath, I had routinely put everyone else’s needs ahead of my own. After doing this for decades, it’s probably no surprise to anyone that my behavior ultimately ended up impacting both my physical and emotional health. 

​For starters, my allergies (which had been medically treated for twelve years) had grown horrendous. Furthermore, with a now overtaxed immune system, I not only picked up colds and flus with a snap of a finger, but I was also exhausted to the point that I slept ten hours a day. If that weren’t enough, I was emotionally frazzled. Despite my best efforts at concealment, this showed up in every aspect of my life – most notably in my inability to concentrate, which proved to be a disaster while running a nanotechnology start-up, writing science fiction and raising a teenager. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, during this period, I often felt as though I had reached the end of my rope.

At the time, I blamed everything that was occurring on the external world. And to a certain extent, some of how I felt can reasonably be attributed to other people’s behaviors. After all, difficult people are labeled as such for good reason. Even so, the fact of the matter is that when it came to the important people in my life, I had allowed a lot of things to go unsaid or “under said”. Having stated this, to my credit, for the longest time I stood up for what I believed in, but I did so only to a point. Then, I’d invariably relinquish my position for the sake of keeping the peace. Not surprisingly, after decades of giving in to things which I knew to be poor decisions for myself and my family, I finally lost my fighting spirit. This resulted in a lot of rumination on my part and a feeling of being stuck in a difficult life. It saddens me to admit this, but with the light inside of me all but extinguished and my personal growth ground to a halt, I finally reached the point of perceiving myself as being unloved, unworthy and dare I say, even disposable.

Back then, I didn’t have an understanding of the role I had played in all of this. Sure, it’s a wonderful thing to be a kind and caring person. Sensitive empaths tend to be attuned to the emotions of others, which is how we can understand the subtle dynamics that exist within a family system or friend or work groups. The problem is, in order to satisfy the other people in our lives, we often end up putting our own needs last. The key to rectifying this is to achieve a balance of give and take in our day-to-day interactions. Admittedly, this can be difficult in today’s world, especially when a child’s wellbeing or an adult’s career or paycheck is on the line.

Fortunately, it was during this time period when, out of the blue, I experienced something not only exceptional, but utterly out of this world. To be clear, this was a heavenly encounter, and it not only taught me the meaning of unconditional love, but it also helped to strengthen me to the point that I ended up regaining my self-respect. Simply stated, it was exactly what I needed at that time – this, even though it had me spinning at every turn. I have a lot more to say about this amazing contact experience and the incredible journey it led me on in my next post.
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Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

​A writer is supposed to write, right? Well, it’s not happening today, except for this post. It’s January 2nd and I’m sipping leftover champagne while unpacking Christmas gifts. My washing machine sounds like it’s spinning out of control. Even worse, my place is a mess. I’m one of those people who is highly visual so, the neater my surroundings, the tighter my writing.

The thing is, as I type these words, I’m realizing how much I needed a holiday from what I jokingly refer to as Donna, Inc. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, even though it has been part time undertaking, at best. It’s just that I’ve been banging my head against the wall for years now. That’s because every aspect of my life needed to be dealt with, starting with my relationships. As a result, a divorce and cross country move became necessary, but I’m glad someone from above spearheaded all of this. Frankly, I'm happier and healthier as a result. (More about all of this in future posts.) Equally important, I can finally concentrate. This has naturally improved my writing - no master’s degree required.

What people may be surprised to learn is that it's because of my writing hiatus, that I've gained a lot of respect for myself. There's been nothing harder for me than mostly setting aside my chosen profession, rolling up my sleeves and dealing with uncomfortable people and situations. Nevertheless, the peace of mind and knowledge I've attained over the last several years has proven priceless. So has the wisdom.

That being said, the spin cycle in my washing machine has come to a blessed end. Time to finish up the laundry and cook something for dinner. I’ll catch you guys on the flip side. Happy New Year! 

Wishing you love and light,
Donna M. Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ​