During the past several nights, as I watched for glimpses of the Geminid meteor shower, I looked up at the sky with an entirely different understanding of the universe—and my place within it—than I had held just a few months ago, before working with Val.
Even more striking than the flashes of light shooting across the sky was the transformation in my own perspective inspired by Val’s Soul Repair program. I’m Laura Carrier, an attorney, and this is my story.
I was led to Val by my beloved cat, Suki. Just after turning 17, Suki developed an aggressive tumor in her throat that was preventing her from eating and drinking. Her vet said nothing could be done to help her and recommended that she be euthanized right away. But I couldn’t bear to let go of the best friend I’d ever had. During the past several years, I had descended into the depths of depression, becoming isolated, fearful, angry, and trapped in toxic home and work environments. Suki’s wonderful presence in my life had often been my only reason to keep going in these difficult circumstances. I didn’t believe I would be able to survive, nor want to survive, without her. So I searched for an energy healer who works with cats and discovered Val.
After Val began treating her, Suki coughed up several pieces of the tumor, which allowed her to eat and drink again. She lived for another four months, during which she sometimes acted like a young cat again, catching mice, stalking birds, and even chasing a hummingbird on our last day together. I will always treasure those precious additional months we were able to spend together.
While working with Suki, Val told me that I needed to make significant changes for the sake of both Suki’s health and my own health, since my anger and despair were creating a toxic situation for both of us. Embarking on the Soul Repair program helped me to see that my longstanding depression stemmed from being trapped in my own mind and cut off from contact with my soul. Val and I discussed the likelihood that this situation originated in early childhood, when I learned to protect myself from overwhelmingly painful feelings by staying habitually out of my heart. But remaining so dominated by my mind had eventually become an imprisonment rather than a protection.
During the Soul Repair program, I learned for the first time how to effectively quiet my mind so that I could reconnect with my heart and begin to hear my soul. I had tried unsuccessfully for years to meditate, but most of the time had been unable to quiet my mind for even a few seconds, due to a terror of giving up control.
Val taught me techniques to overcome this long-term difficulty, as well as techniques for working with my soul to detach at a deep level from unwanted events that I would previously have reacted to with negative emotions that would make me more and more powerless.
Now when something starts to bother me, I am able to connect to my soul and detach from the stressful event without giving away my power to someone or something outside me. I’ve also experienced physical changes.
When I began the Soul Repair program, I still had frequent discomfort from a head injury six years ago, which temporarily got more pronounced during the soul repair program and then disappeared. I can’t even remember the last time I felt this discomfort.
Suki was my active companion as I began the Soul Repair program, often coming to sit on my lap as I did the daily exercises. When she passed away during my Soul Repair journey, I still believed that I would not be able to go on living without her. Val compassionately challenged and guided me to discover the gift in this seemingly unbearable loss, and to focus on finding out what life could be like on the other side of recovery from the intense grief.
Val also helped me to understand death in an entirely new way, gradually becoming able to comprehend that Suki’s body had simply been a vehicle for her soul, discarded like an old car when it became unable to function well, and that the spirit that had animated her body remained with me even after she had left the body behind.
I began to feel Suki’s love and support more and more clearly, and have repeatedly noticed that I feel closer to her now than when I was interacting with her in her physical form. I now feel confident that Suki will remain with me, whether she returns in another physical body or stays in her current form.
Val’s guidance and support helped me to navigate through and beyond this dreaded, life-shattering event in a way that I could not previously have imagined. Since Suki passed out of her body, I have experienced many periods of profound happiness and hope for the future.
Contrary to my previous fear that I would be unable to continue living after Suki died, I now hope to live in this body for several more decades, because there are so many things that I want to learn and discover.
The Soul Repair program introduced me to a process that I hope will be life-long, of allowing my life to be guided by my heart and soul, rather than just my mind. This program and the many tools it gave me served as a catalyst to my transformation from someone who felt trapped in a cage and paralyzed by fear and depression, into someone who recognizes that life is a precious and important opportunity to learn and grow, and is inspired and excited to discover more.