Her son’s ‘accident’ and near-death visions are the topics of Barbara’s book, “Keep Searching for Blue Jays: A Miraculous Account of Life Beyond Our World – I’m With You Always”.
Author Barbara Chevalier guested on America Tonight with Kate Delaney to talk about her son’s near-death experience and visions, which inspired her book Keep Searching for Blue Jays, and share her insight on mental health awareness.
In 2006, Barbara’s youngest son, Bryan, was taken to the hospital. According to the police, an ‘accident’ happened in their home. She found out a few hours later that Bryan was shot at point-blank range in the chest and back with a 9mm. He was brought out of his medically induced coma and taken off the ventilator after three and a half days later. Then he conveyed to Barbara about his experience of the afterlife, God, Heaven, judgment, and many other insights.
“I always wanted a story to write about that was worthy of writing about,” said the author about her reasons for writing Keep Searching for Blue Jays. “I just never felt the right one came along and then, you know, they say you got to be careful what you wish for.
“I knew after we ended up at the hospital and standing over my son just a few days later was that story.”
What did Bryan tell Barbara right after he was cleared medically? “I went to heaven and saw God.”
“I knew when he started talking to me about what he had witnessed and experienced and what went on,” said Barbara. “He told me what God looked like, how they interact and told me about judgment and all these nice warm fuzzy feeling things. With all the trauma that Bryan had, he was still smiling. He was reliving those experiences.
I just knew, standing there, this is that story that is going to change so many people’s lives. I felt there was an urgency to get it written. At that moment, I didn’t realize it was going to take that long to get it written but at the end of the day, it’s there, there’s an energy about it and the way my son responded to everything was just otherworldly.”
The conversation later turned to the subject of mental health when Kate asked Barbara what people who are caught up in their struggle bubble should do to get out of the cycle.
“I really want for people to shine a light on our own mental health and how important that is for us to live and productive in industrial life. Some of the biggest takeaways are that, as much as we are told we’re powerless, when you really step back and remove emotions, you come to a place where you just understand that what you think, what you speak, and the emotions you tie to things, that actually draws things to us or repels things from us.
“So, I would say that it’s not necessary to be super positive all the time because if you go too far to the left and you’re super negative or you go too far to the right and you’re overly positive, either way, you’re fit into yourself or you’re toxic, repelling. I found there’s a straight and narrow balanced centered place to be. We’re all human and we can only take so many things on our plate and so many traumas before those things begin to compound.”
Barbara further emphasized the importance of mental health by pointing out the interconnectedness between choice and mindset.
“What is important to me is that we understand mental illness or mental health issues are a result of a person running out of resources to adequately cope with the situation or situations at hand,” said Barbara. “Generally what I’ve found across my life because I’ve always been fascinated with near-death experiences and psychology and the brain, in general, is that we stay within that centeredness and just allow life to unfold. Some of us are so frantically running around, trying to figure out what our purposes are right in front of our face and right under our nose. We wouldn’t recognize it for one or a couple of things, one being is that we’re so tied down working hard to figure it all out.
“It just comes to a place of self-acceptance and self-love… Understand that we do have choices and we can be empowered even in the face of situations like was my son. I believe when we are given something of that nature, that the opposite holds true if we are in this fallen world as people and label it, then that means there is duality. With duality, if I’m given that measures of what we would look at as a calamity, then there’s also an equal portion and measure of a blessing. It depends on my response as to what comes back to me. The only differences are our imprint, our energy, and to every person, place, and thing. Sometimes we hold on to prejudices.
“We should be more open and make sure we interact in our lives, build our lives, and keep our mind, mouth, and emotions wind up at least 80% of the time. That’s where I found things to be the magic.”
Purchase Barbara Chevalier’sKeep Searching for Blue Jays: A Miraculous Account of Life Beyond Our World – I’m With You Always in either print or digital format on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
To know more about Barbara Chevalier, please visit her website AUTHOR WEBSITE