My book Conversations with History: Inspiration, Reflections, and Advice from History-Makers and Celebrities on the Other Side almost didn’t get written. Four months before I started writing, I was in a coma, and the doctors didn’t know if I would make it.

Like many of you reading this, I have not had an easy life. I struggled with major physical problems since I was a teenager. Despite my struggles, I earned a BA in telecommunications, then put myself through law school while working full-time. I became an attorney and worked for a labor union in Washington, D.C. Then a freak exposure to some very toxic mold pushed my already marginal health over the edge. My immune system broke down, and I became allergic to seemingly everything. Although I underwent several medical interventions, I became sicker and sicker. These health problems cost me a career I loved, and left me with a life filled with fear, pain, and uncertainty. At one point I was living a virtually nomadic existence, as everything and everyone around me had the potential to make me very sick.

In 2011, I experienced a health crisis that culminated in a weeklong coma. My spirit guides came to me in what I could only call a near-death experience, and asked whether I wanted to stay on Earth. They gave me three minutes to decide, saying that if I stayed, there was a big surprise in store.

They knew how to get my attention! I was very curious. What surprise could they mean? At that point, simply an end to suffering sounded pretty good. And, honestly, I felt I’d had enough surprises. But I knew in my heart that if I left, I would feel disappointed. I wouldn’t have published the books that I knew I was meant to publish, and I would be leaving my family and friends. So I told my guides that I wanted to stay.

When I awoke from my coma, everything had changed. To this day, my doctors, calling my recovery “miraculous,” shake their heads and say they don’t understand it.

Four months later, the surprise my spirit guides promised appeared—Ben Franklin showed up in my kitchen. Thus began the parade of spirits clamoring for an interview, and when I was well enough, I wrote. I titled my book Conversations with History, and when it was finished, I entered it in a contest with Hay House—and won a publishing contract. No agent, no rejections, just a book contract. I am living proof that miracles can and do happen if you are walking your path.

So if you are struggling, please know that I have been there, and am still there, every day. Yet I know I am walking the path I was destined to walk here, and that makes all the difference. I can truly say that I love my life, as hard as it can be, and I am curious about what is next for me. I would like a guarantee that I will be okay (wouldn’t we all?), but what I have been through has taught me to take the best possible care of myself, to participate in life, and to appreciate every minute that I’m here. (Although I have learned from my spirit friends that life on the Other Side is pretty wonderful, too.)

I look forward to sharing this journey with you because, as my celebrities in spirit remind us, we are all in this together. Life is precious. And even though it may seem otherwise, we are never alone.

The Three Questions People Always Ask

When I spoke with people during the process of writing this book, three questions came up over and over again:

1. How Did You Choose the Participants in This Book?

The answer is: I didn’t—they chose me! Most of it seemed orchestrated from the Other Side. Throughout the process of writing this book, I was always on the lookout for messages and signs about who should be included. Names popped into my head out of nowhere, and my attention would be drawn to songs on the radio, dialogue on TV, images in the subway, or books in the store. Spirits can be very ingenious in the ways they catch our attention, and New York City, where I live, has so much celebrity signage that it gave them lots of opportunities.

2. How Do You Actually Communicate with These Spirits?

Although the spirits and I live in different dimensions, we were able to communicate in several ways that didn’t involve speaking. Spirits don’t have a body or a voice box, but they do have the ability to transmit information. They were able to connect with me primarily through my psychic senses of hearing, seeing, and feeling, and many of them were very good at it.

3. What Is Life Like on the Other Side?

Throughout these interviews, I would occasionally ask spirits what they’re doing on the Other Side. The answer is . . . pretty much anything they want to. They experience all kinds of relationships. Some have a special soul mate, which may be a romantic connection. They engage in many of the same things that we do for fun on Earth, such as spending time with friends and loved ones, and going to plays, concerts, and other cultural events. They can have a job if they so choose, and manifest homes in whatever type of environment they like. They will often study and learn new skills to better themselves and continue to be of service. Some of this information is then imparted to people living on Earth, which results in advances in many fields such as medicine and technology.

It’s very hard to wrap our human brains around these concepts, but suffice it to say that spirits live a very wonderful life. The Other Side is their true Home. Earth is just a place they come to visit. Below you can watch my video submission to Hay House about my book: