Thank you very much Bets and Spooky and Dave! It was, indeed, a happy birthday!
Because I was on my sister's schedule for traveling to visit family, and she could only get certain flights, we both flew back home yesterday on my birthday, meaning I spent a lot of time in airports and on airplanes. The flight I boarded was sitting there for a while waiting for thunder and lightening to pass. There were some men across the aisle behaving as if they were "silly drunks" and making a lot of noise, but I was trying so hard to read my book on consciousness raising. I was sitting between a man and his wife and they were talking over me. Finishing this book didn't look too promising.
However, this gentleman noticed the book I was reading and proceeded to tell me some interesting things about his life, including the fact that he remembers his own birth! He remembers being in a dark place, not feeling particularly happy. He says he remembers seeing his grandmother's face looking down on him.
Later in life he felt called spiritually to go to India and never made it there, but he did practice TM and studied with at least one other well-known spiritual teacher.
He also recounted an experience of being on a hilltop and having a spontaneous experience of being immersed in the light. His life totally changed afterwards, and he had special abilities, which he did not use properly, meaning, that he used them selfishly. He feels that they diminished because of that. Life went on for him, and these days he enjoys new age music a lot.
I told him about this site, about Bruce Moen, and about Robert Monroe. He seemed interested.
The plane ride passed in an instant talking about these things.
That's what spirit will do for you!
love, blink