One of the most famous lines in movie history is, "I see dead people", uttered by a young boy. Is there any reason to believe that children can see the dead? Do they have spooky powers denied to adults? Do they grow out of these powers as they reach puberty? Do they forget that they once interacted with the dead? One study says that by age seven, 65 percent of children have had an imaginary friend. Are these "imaginary friends" actually spirits? Do children have the dead as their "imaginary" playmates? They're not imaginary at all. They're real, but they're dead! Children are natural mediums, psychics, and necromancers. They can channel the other world. Is the poltergeist phenomenon caused by children's imaginary friends? Can imaginary friends operate externally to children's minds? Are some children in cahoots with spirits? There is nothing more fascinating than the psychic abilities of children and the astonishing thing that eventually happens to them which suppresses their paranormal powers in order to allow them to enter the normal world, the adult world. What would you prefer – to remain a child all your life and have paranormal powers, or to become an adult and sacrifice your paranormal powers? Nature has made this a tradeoff. Do you want to be Peter Pan, who can fly but can never grow up, or do you want to join the adults and have adult fun and also adult responsibilities? Why do children lose their natural powers? Is it possible to get these powers back? Can adults recover their lost paranormal abilities, the abilities which society warned them as children never to play with? It's always dangerous to play with fire. It's even more dangerous to ignore your natural fire. Isn't it time to light up your life?

Get an (after) life! A belief in the afterlife is common to almost every faith and culture around the world. Even people who don’t consider themselves “spiritual” share a fascination in life after death. In this powerful guide, author and intuitive Diane Ahlquist shares her own knowledge of the subject, as well as the views of such religious and spiritual leaders as Edgar Cayce and the Dalai Lama.

Many clinicians recognize that denying or ignoring grief issues in children leaves them feeling alone and that acknowledging loss is crucial part of a child’s healthy development. Really dealing with loss in productive ways, however, is sometimes easier said than done. For decades, Life and Loss has been the book clinicians have relied on for a full and nuanced presentation of the many issues with which grieving children grapple as well as an honest exploration of the interrelationship between unresolved grief, educational success, and responsible citizenry. The third edition of Life and Loss brings this exploration firmly into the twenty-first century and makes a convincing case that children’s grief is no longer restricted only to loss-identified children. Children’s grief is now endemic; it is global. Life and Loss is not just the book clinicians need to understand grief in the twenty-first century—it’s the book they need to work with it in constructive ways.

Next Level Screenwriting is an intermediate screenwriting book, for those that have already learned the basics of screenwriting, written a screenplay or two and want to bring their writing and stories to the next level. Each chapter of the book examines a specific aspect of screenwriting, such as character, dialogue and theme, and then provides the reader with ideas, tips and inspiration to apply to their own writing. Rather than being another “how to” book, this volume features a variety of case studies and challenging exercises throughout – derived from a broad selection of successful feature films and TV shows from the 1940s to the present day – to help spark the imagination of the writer as they work through different styles and approaches of screenwriting. An absolute must-read for any screenwriter wanting to improve their writing and storytelling skills.

And so the time has come for you to tell the story of your life. How will you do it? A straightforward, linear narrative? Perhaps you will adopt an experimental approach. Do you aim to produce something of great artistic merit? Will you tell the story simply, or do you want to convey something complex and beguiling? Will you be scrupulously truthful, or do you intend to embroider the facts and events? Perhaps you want to present a fantasy version of your life rather than the real thing. Perhaps you want others to admire you and respect you, so you will censor all the unsavory and disreputable things you did. You definitely won't be presenting a "warts and all" account. Or maybe you want people to know exactly who you are, so you will tell it exactly as it is. You will show the world your true self and they can take it or leave it. What kind of audience do you want? Do you seek people of refinement and the highest taste, or are you eager for the masses to crowd in to hear your tale? Are you an elitist or a populist? Do you want to have as large an audience as possible or as select an audience as you can find? Is quality better than quantity? Will you produce a crowd-pleasing thriller, or a high-minded meditation? Perhaps a horror story captures the essence of your life, or a sci-fi, or a western, or a rom-com. It is more tragedy than comedy, or did the laughs and fun times flow thick and fast? There are so many factors to consider. A life is not an easy thing, and its telling is even harder. Come inside and learn how to tell the story of your life.

With this resource, the reader learns to recognize and understand different types of childhood losses while avoiding the stifling cliches that block feeling. The reader will also become aware of the myths that hinder the grief process and learn the four psychological tasks for grief. The author explains the technique of grief work, providing tools, ideas and inventories for educators to help kids commemorate loss.

It all began when James Peterson was a camp counselor and two children, watching him meditate, described the colors they saw around his form: “…we saw colors coming out of his stomach. And the outside was purple, then it was blue, then it was yellow, then reddish and light yellow in the middle.” Studies indicate that almost seven percent of young children have such psychic experiences. For the most part, they don’t tell anybody about them for fear of being ridiculed. But the author believes it would be psychologically healthy for them to relate such occurrences to adults if they feel the need. In this book Peterson has put together a charming collection of case-histories about such psychic episodes. He believes they should be accepted as factual: that frequently they emanate from the “wisdom of innocence” present in youngsters. The question of the secret life of kids is examined by Peterson from the point of view of philosophy, occultism, and child psychology. He suggests why and how such experiences manifest, and their potential value to the child’s growth pattern.

An expert answers your pressing questions about near-death experiences (NDEs)— revealing their positive effects on spirituality, consciousness, and our relationship with life and death. Death is the only certainty in life. Yet many people shy away from thinking about it until something drastic happens—the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness; the sudden death of a loved one—which can throw us into turmoil. Paradoxically, contemplating death and the frequently-experienced phenomenon of near-death experiences (NDEs) can help alter our relationship with death and release us from the fear that often surrounds it. After an insightful introduction about why the subject of NDEs is so worth exploring, each chapter in this book addresses a key question: • What are the characteristics of NDEs, and are there different types? • Are all NDEs pleasant, or can some be distressing? • Who has NDEs, and under what circumstances do they occur? • How do they affect the people who have them, and how can this change their lives? • How can NDEs be scientifically explained (aren’t they just hallucinations)? • What can we learn from NDEs, and can they change our attitude to life and death? • Can NDE studies lead to an evolution in consciousness and an enhanced sense of spirituality? The bestselling author of The Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences, Dr. Penny Sartori brings readers on an exploratory journey through the world of NDEs, challenging preconceptions and encouraging us to accept and feel empowered by death—rather than living in fear of it.

Children have been a part of the cinematic landscape since the silent film era, yet children are rarely a part of the theoretical landscape of film analysis. Lost and Othered Children in Contemporary Cinema, edited by Debbie C. Olson and Andrew Scahill, seeks to remedy that oversight. Throughout the over one-hundred year history of cinema, the image of the child has been inextricably bound to filmic storytelling and has been equally bound to notions of romantic innocence and purity. This collection reveals, however, that there is a body of work that provides a counter note of darkness to the traditional portraits of sweetness and light. Particularly since the mid-twentieth century, there are a growing number of cinematic works that depict childhood has as a site of knowingness, despair, sexuality, death, and madness. Lost and Othered Children in Contemporary Cinema challenges notions of the innocent child through an exploration of the dark side of childhood in contemporary cinema. The contributors to this multidisciplinary study offer a global perspective that explores the multiple conditions of marginalized childhood as cinematically imagined within political, geographical, sociological, and cultural contexts.