True Nature
By Sally Stone
Certified Life Between Lives® Facilitator, USA
Nina immigrated to the United States from Ukraine in her mid-20s and quickly got married. Coming from a creative background, she worked in television production in both Ukraine and the United States. Then the war between Russia and Ukraine began, and her Ukrainian family had to abandon their homes and evacuate. To help her Ukranian family financially, Nina changed her career to nursing.
Nina felt that supporting people’s health sounded like a good deed. However, she hadn’t considered the challenge of transitioning from the fluid, creative thinking she enjoyed in TV production, to a scientific, precise way of thinking. The rigorous graduate program in nursing also proved to be stressful and came at a time when she and her husband were raising two young kids.
As a nurse, Nina could barely send money to Ukraine. After just a year, she developed severe hypothyroidism, which was unresponsive to traditional treatment. She spent her income on countless clinics and procedures. Eventually, she stepped away from her job to heal.
Through prayer and several years of research, Nina found the right treatment and normalized her health. What she learned prompted her to open a private coaching practice. She began seeing clients and, wanting to provide complete medical services, looked into college programs where she could earn her license to prescribe medications. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
When she arrived for her LBL session, Nina was feeling overwhelmed with responsibilities and wanted clarity on how to move forward. Her questions centered on health and career. Medical treatments had eradicated the cancer, but she continued to navigate both short and long-term treatment.
During her pre-talk, Nina shared that in the past year she’d experienced “a positive energy” flowing through her at church. She began asking this energy questions, and it would move her body to communicate yes and no answers. She also experienced automatic writing, which guided her to a specific nursing school program for becoming a prescriber. Nonetheless, she experienced doubts about her path forward and wanted clarity.
When I guided Nina to her safe place, she found herself in the Ukrainian village where her grandmother had lived. Nina spent her summers there walking barefoot and swimming in the river. She could see the sun shining through the canopy of trees and feel the cracks in the earth on the soles of her feet. In the nature setting of her grandmother’s village, she felt completely safe.
From her safe place, Nina journeyed to a childhood memory when she was four years old in the same village. Huge sweet-smelling pears had fallen to the ground from the pear tree in her grandmother’s garden. She chose one for herself knowing she could ask for and receive whatever she liked. Her adult self was aware that her child self was still innocent; nothing bad had happened yet.
As we continued moving back along the timeline of her life, Nina experienced resistance. I suggested she trust the wisdom of her inner guidance and journey to whichever place would be most healing and answer her questions. She found herself hiding from the world in a bubble of light because her mother, she said, had taught her not to trust her heart. As a result, she was filled with doubt, afraid to take action, and scared to make mistakes.
During the process of clearing this belief, Nina could see how a certain way of thinking belonged to her mother, but not to herself. She felt a release into freedom and traveled to a place she called a “living heaven” where she could “glide like a bird above the water.” She had entered the Spirit World and traveled to a place of Rejuvenation where she experienced complete well-being. She knew she could invite anyone to be with her and invited Jesus.
We stayed as long as Nina wanted to receive rest and rejuvenation. When she was ready to continue her journey, she was surprised to be back in her grandmother’s village again, but now at the age of 12 or 13. The Soul’s wisdom continued taking her where she needed to be.
In the village, she found herself swimming in the river “like a mermaid,” feeling free and joyous. After hours of swimming, she would lie on the grass, then walk. In the village for the summer, she was away from the demands of her mom. She could live from her heart; her mom was not telling her what to do.
She felt one with the river, as if it were part of her very Being. Recognizing the river as a spirit guide, we asked the river one of her questions: “Why breast cancer?”
The answer that came shocked Nina. During the current Russian-Ukrainian war, Russian soldiers had destroyed the village, her safe place. She wept deeply for the loss of this one place on Earth where she had felt safe, free, at peace, and protected from the demands of her mother.
I asked Nina to bring the emotional experience of her beloved village into her heart and reclaim the feelings of joy, freedom, and peace apart from the physical place. Owning and anchoring these feelings within herself empowered Nina to console herself and begin to be at peace with the loss of her grandmother’s village.
She realized that the feeling of her safe place was something she had to create in her current life in relationship with her mother.
“How can I do this?” Nina wondered aloud.
The answer she received was, “Nothing special; just take the inner stance of being free and joyful. Copy her—your mother. She knows how to do this. Ask for help. Mom is good at that, too.”
Nina’s dad now came to her. She’d been close to her dad, who’d died a very painful death some years earlier. Nina realized she’d chosen pain to be close to him. We asked if there was a better, healthier way to be close to him. In response to her question, she felt her dad’s loving presence hugging her.
Her father had been a musician and now Nina moved into a joyful state where she could sing and play, live life, and do things her dad couldn’t do anymore. She realized that living with courage and enjoyment would honor his memory, lift him up, and bring her home to the joy and deep knowing of her own heart. She recognized the presence of her dad in her son, too. Spending time with him would connect her to the joy of living.
Then Nina remarked, “I am not made for this world.”
I asked, “What are you used to?”
She responded, “Flying, getting things more easily, communicating through telepathy.”
“What would make things easier for you on Earth?” I asked.
Nina answered, “Meditating so I can fly, feel fluid, and remember my-Self. Not being on a tight schedule. Swimming.”
Feeling connected now to her Soul-nature, Nina turned to the practical question about her choice of schools. The answer she received was to decide for herself. This guidance didn’t surprise her since she’d already received the answer through automatic writing. She realized that deciding for herself was about trusting the guidance she’d already received!
I asked Nina if she could call on the positive energy guide she mentioned in her pre-talk. Her guide arrived and told us her name: Leia.
Leia identified herself as a healer of the magnetic field. She could balance imbalances and move energy through Nina’s body to remove blockages. As Leia’s energy moved through Nina, her body began to move gently in what appeared to be “kriyas,” a Sanskrit term referring to automatic yogic movements guided by the intelligence of the kundalini energy. Leia agreed that these movements were like “kriyas,” though she told us she was not kundalini.
After Leia had adjusted Nina’s energy, Nina appeared before her Elder Council. She called her Council “All-Knowing Presence.” She could feel All-Knowing Presence holding her face with love. She asked more questions, and the answers came as a sense of knowing.
“How am I doing at finding my voice?” she asked.
All-Knowing Presence: “Very good. Very proud of you.”
Nina: “What is important for me to work on right now.”
All-Knowing Presence: “Get clear on what you want. Once you decide, you can have it all.”
Nina: “How can I get rid of illness in Nina’s body?”
All-Knowing Presence confirmed what Nina had been learning: “Continue to find your voice. Don’t associate with your father’s illness. Co-create the village feeling inside yourself, in your life. It doesn’t need to be an actual place.”
Then Nina asked a series of questions about her breast cancer treatment. Leia came through energetically and gently moved Nina’s head to indicate “yes” or “no.”
Nina asked more questions to which All-Knowing Presence communicated: “About your husband: Be playful and stop analyzing. Have fun!”
“About your work: You must play your part. Take action; let it come. One step at a time. Don’t complicate things. You will know by taking action.”
All-Knowing Presence took Nina on a journey. They passed through purple light and traveled to the womb, where Nina experienced her body as beautiful and self-healing. She danced and swam in the amniotic fluid.
Her love of swimming carried her to a past life where she lived deep in the ocean among many kinds of beings. She felt a sense of belonging in the water, which felt healing for body, mind, and Soul. Her memories as a water being unlocked the mystery as to why she felt so uncomfortable on planet Earth.
“Why Earth?” she asked.
“To grow, to expand, to acquire wisdom, which can occur much faster on Earth,” All-Knowing Presence replied.
Nina experienced a difficult death where she had to stand up for herself. Upon Soul releasement, she traveled back to the place of Rejuvenation and invited Jesus again. She took in the beauty of the mountains and the water as she rested. She glided and swam in the healing river and felt a sense of well-being on every level.
When Nina’s time in the place of Rejuvenation was complete, I invited her to look at her Soul-Self in a mirror. She saw herself as an orb of yellow light, a particle of God. She felt at One with everything and all forms of life.
She realized, “I am a creator who must follow my voice and make choices. I am a healer. I chose my family and see that we are all helping each other. There is so much beauty and freedom everywhere. It’s available whenever I connect with mindful practices and my True Self.”
Epilogue:
One week after her session, Nina began school at the college she’d asked about. She realized how lucky she’d been to find this school because only a handful exist in the country. In 20 months, Nina will be a prescriber and able to provide more complete medical support to her thyroid clients. Her husband, at first wary of Nina taking on school during her cancer treatment, came to understand and be supportive.
Nina told me that her LBL experience had opened her eyes to how much she’d strayed from her True Nature. She said, “Due to the influence of my mom, I have not lived from my heart; logic has guided my actions. I abandoned my own needs, and the village was where I could find myself again.”
To reclaim herself and cultivate the village experience in her life, Nina has begun consciously adjusting the way she relates to her mom and her husband. The transition in these relationships will take time, but Nina cannot go back now that her eyes are opened.
She also realized, “The reason for my sickness was that I dedicated my life to rescuing others and living their lives. I did not know how to live for myself.” Now she sees the difference between someone needing help and being able to do it for themselves. This insight gives her clarity and guidance for making healthy boundaries.
Though the breast cancer is gone and treatment continues, Nina is rethinking her treatment plan. She is determined to choose a path forward in alignment with her True Nature.
She ended our conversation by saying: I would have never been able to understand these things about myself if not for the LBL! Her words speak to the power of experiencing our own True Nature and the wisdom of our spirit guides. ♥
Sally Stone is an LBL Facilitator in Illinois, USA, and sees clients in-person and online worldwide