My energies have actually been focused this last year on my upcoming title: How To Find Heaven which is published by Simon and Schuster in July 2015 and alongside that I have recently paired up with the brilliant Kim Nash (www.kimthebookworm.co.uk) who is helping me launch into social media with Facebook and Twitter as another way to keep in touch with my readers. I think the personal element in my books and the fact that readers can contact me directly with their questions and stories and then get a personal response is one of the reasons they have sold so well and it will be exciting to see how social media can expand that potential.
Conversations with Heaven was released last July and has that personal touch too, although unlike How to Find Heaven it is more a collection of reader stories than my story and spiritual discussion, mixed in with reader stories which is characteristic of all my other books - and I return to that tried and tested format in How to find Heaven.
Why is dream analysis so important for our wellbeing?
As I always say dreams are like your inner therapist - and even the most together person needs some therapy now and again. In our dreams we can work through issues that may be blocking our development in real life because every symbol that appears in our dreams represents an aspect of ourselves. For example, if you dream of having an affair with your neighbour - and you are not attracted to your neighbour in any way - this suggests that there are aspects of your neighbour's personality that you need to integrate or develop yourself. Dreams are therefore like having your own therapist and training yourself to remember your dreams (we all dream every night but many of us forget) is healthy for mind, body and spirit.
When did you begin to believe in the afterlife?
In the womb - before the womb as I also believe in reincarnation. The turning point though for my belief came in my early thirties. Up until that point, although I believed in heaven, I had had no psychic experience to prove it to myself but in my early 30s I clearly heard the voice of my mother in spirit calling my name at a busy junction urging me to take the right path. Instead of heading left as I had originally intended I turned right and that split second change of mind saved my life.
You are born into a family of spiritualists, so can you tell us a bit about their influence on you when you were little?
My mother, grandmother and great aunt were all respected psychics and it was common place for me to watch their spiritualist demonstrations. My earliest memory is when I was around 5. My great aunt was in front of an audience and speaking to someone about a departed loved one and I saw that person cry and smile at the same time and as a child wondered how that was possible. I remember seeing them when they came in and they looked sad but when they left they looked lighter, freer and brighter. I was in awe from that moment on and longed to inspire and comfort in the same way but as mentioned above I couldn't see spirit and it took me close to four decades of spirit searching to find my spiritual path in life and start to see heaven within and around me.
What would you say to challenge someone who does not believe in the afterlife?
I would say they are entitled to their opinion, as am I but all I ask is that they keep an open mind. Yes, there is no definitive proof of heaven (although from my research near death experiences come extremely close) but there is also no definitive proof that heaven does not exist. How do they know they are right? There are so many things we can't see or touch that transform lives - love being the most profound example - and I believe spirit is the same. It is always there surrounding us. We just need to let go and trust ourselves and it. I truly believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience and not human beings having a spiritual experience. open your mind to that idea and watch your life transform.
Please give us some insight into one of the stories of contact with loved ones from your latest book.
I'll talk about a story that came in yesterday which delighted and inspired me. It came from a lady called Jane. She told me that she was not religious or spiritual but last month something incredible happened which transformed her life. She had a vivid dream about her mother - who had died ten years previously. In the dream her mother told her to wake up because her son needed her immediately and would need her for the next year. She woke up and it was 3.06 am. Unable to sleep she decided to get dressed and do some work. At 5am the phone rang and it was the hospital. Her son had been involved in a 3.05am car crash. Mercifully her son survived, although he had broken both his legs and had suffered serious trauma. Doctors told her after hospital discharge in six to eight weeks he would need round the clock care at home for at least six to nine months while he recovered.
What is the most unusual story of contact that you have come across?
Every story I get sent is unusual - that is the beauty of these stories. They are all completely unique but also have in common the theme of heaven being ever present in our lives and death most certainly being not the end. If I could think of one though it would have to be a story about a kitchen roll that seemed to have a life of its own. Harold wrote to me to say that he lived alone and rarely used kitchen roll but his departed wife used it obsessively. For seven days after her funeral he came into the kitchen and squares from the kitchen roll had been pulled off and neatly placed in a pile as if his wife in spirit was urging him not to be untidy and make sure he cleaned up. As soon as he heeded her message and started clearing away cups and plates the kitchen roll stopped appearing.
What is next for you?
How to Find Heaven in July 2016 will be a very exciting book to promote as for the first time I tackle the subject of religion in great detail - particularly relevant in light of recent events in the news. The book also acts as a how to guide for all those longing to discover their own spiritual path but feeling disillusioned by doubts. I hope it will be an inspiring and life changing read. I also always look forward to answering mail from my readers and now looking after my Facebook and Twitter sites. I think the more of us who spread the word that heaven is real and this life is not all that it seems the closer to earth heaven becomes.