There is a lot of debate as to whether there is “free will” or your life is “predetermined”. I know in many religious circles, including Judaism, G-d controls your destiny.   I am going to challenge this notion for a moment based on my experience.

I do not believe PREDESTINATION and FREE WILL are on the same plane.  I think they are on different playing fields and one does not happen because the other is being passive.  Why do I believe this?

Because I have experienced the good and bad of my decision-making, based on what I had seen ahead of time.

I will always be in search of HOW I can see the future, but for this blog, I am going to state the facts and figure the physics out later.

First example, I saw my impending doom 3 months before it happened.  You know this story. I told everyone and there were measures taken in the operating room that day to save my life. (37 Seconds).  Now, I can argue, I had FREE WILL to speak up or to shut up and I chose to speak up.  Spiritualists might argue, it was always in the cards for you to survive, so if you didn’t speak up, you would have had the same outcome.  I am going to stop them right there. And here’s why.  Many women who have suffered from what I had, a catastrophic amniotic fluid embolism, are in far worst shape than I am. If I didn’t say anything, I might have still survived, but how well I would have survived is debatable.

Seeing as I cannot do a comparison by going back and experiencing it again but not saying anything, I am going to let you know, this isn’t my only example to show you how I get to the same conclusion…

YOU ARE MORE IN CHARGE THAN YOU THINK!

 

Second Example, my family was at the county fair and we were with another family. We were at the picnic table and the moms decide we are going to get the pizza. We walk away and I get a vision. I see Jonathan playing a fishing game with our oldest, our middle would be crawling around the ground with her friend and no one would be watching Jacob and he would be gone.

My girlfriend knows me well enough to see I was experiencing something.  She asked: “what was that?”  I told her and she said “Go tell Jonathan.”  We turned around and they were still at the picnic table.  I told my friend “If I go tell him, he will say ‘dads parent different than moms… go get the pizza.”  I didn’t say a word.

So we left to go get the pizza.  We come back 15 minutes later.  They are at the table and I am 100 feet away and I don’t see Jacob. Then 50 feet away. No Jacob. I yell “Where is Jacob!” We scrambled, the police found me and luckily we found him. Thank G-d.

After I calmed down, I asked Jonathan “were you at the fishing game with Valentina while Adina was crawling on the ground next to you?”  He replied, “How do you know that?” I threw up.  Then I got angry.

IF I SAID SOMETHING, he would have been aware of his surroundings and nothing would have happened. I was sure of it.

This doesn’t just work for my outcomes, this works for others.

Third example. My stepdaughter started this summer as any 12 year old.  Excited for the break and looking forward to 8th grade in a school she loved.  Issues arise where her mother will not engage as to whether she will continue at this school or be transferred elsewhere.  Valentina asks me “What do you think is going to happen?”  My gut tells me she will not be going to the school she loves. But I have no proof.  It is just a “hunch.”

She is heartbroken and I told her, “I can be wrong.. and besides, sometimes, having the information can prepare you for what’s to come and how to work with it. Lessening the disappointment when you hear the news.  Or be excited when you hear I am wrong.”  Unfortunately for my daughter, the news came a week before she went back to her favorite school.   She wouldn’t be continuing there.

Here’s the rub.  Valentina sat with the information of a hunch for a month before she got the news.  The wheels in her head were spinning as to what she could do to insert herself and take control of her own narrative.  She told her father to reach out to the new principal and let them know what was going on. Genius.  Jonathan never thought about it at all.  So he sent it over and the new principal said “if this is the current court order, I cannot accept her into this school. You will need to do it through proper channels.”  So guess where our little superstar is attending school currently? Yup, you guessed it. Her favorite.  And SHE did it all with her own FREE WILL.  She could have sat back and let it all happen, but instead, she took control and changed her outcome. Brava!

If a 13 year old can do it, YOU CAN TOO!

I have been in the driver’s seat of saving my life. I have been a passenger and let the energy unfold without inserting myself. I have watched other’s who instinctively KNOW what is going to happen, but would prefer to bury their heads in the sand to avoid getting hit.

Here’s the thing, if it is going to happen, would you want to be more in control of it or avoid it?  And if it isn’t going to happen and you “missed” the signal, what’s the worst thing that can happen, you talk openly about your fears and thoughts and prepare for it?

We all might be predestined to die on a certain day or help to save lives, but it has no bearing on the fact we all have free will to get us to that point.  At every crossroad in our lives there are choices.  Your free will and intuition help guide you through those tumultuous times.

Don’t be a spectator in your life. Be a VIP.   Because as life throws you curveballs, you want to be the only one up to bat to control the direction of that ball.