Lotus Laughing: Extraordinary Tales of Mystical and Inspirational Life Experiences

By Marie-Celine Sinclair

High on the balcony of an ultra-modern apartment above a riverside cityscape on New Year’s Eve and the fringe of a new decade, ten friends gathered. With six hours to pass until the midnight hour, Lillian invites her guests to share tales of extraordinary, mystical, and inexplicable events that have occurred in their lives. These are tales that nobody would ever believe but are true. Haunted by the 11:11 numeric configuration, bestowed a life mission, and visited by ethereal beings not of this earthy world, Lotus Laughing will speak to the depths of your inner self and challenge you to probe your long-forgotten past. Perhaps you, too, may have memories of an extraordinary life that needs telling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Jul 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781504318440

Marie-Celine Sinclair

A journal keeper, a researcher, a lover of writing and the aesthetic, an author, and an English teacher. Marie-Celine Sinclair is no stranger to the written word telling a tale from the factual to the mystical. An adventurous person and seeker if knowledge and wisdom, Marie- fully endorses the importance of asking questions and seeking answers to life's mysteries. Believing the mystery of the self to be the most prescient of them all.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Marie-Celine Sinclair.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com.au

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1843-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1844-0 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date:  08/19/2019

A cknowledgements to dear friends and family

My sincere gratitude is extended to everyone that has in some way inspired the ideas within these pages; you know that I’m talking to you. My deepest thanks, however, go to my life-long friend and companion, Alex, without whose patience and commitment Lotus Laughing may yet still be a ‘work in progress’.

And to my dear reader, thank you for being drawn to this little assemblage of inspirational tales; may you be heartened by your experience.

Marie-Celine Sinclair

C ontents

Introduction

Let the Evening Begin

Lillian’s Tale

Tashi’s Tale

Zara’s tale

Jez’s Tale

Gemma’s Tale

Carlos’s Tale

Kristina’s Tale

Denouement—The Mission

I ntroduction

Miracle definition: An extraordinary and welcomed event that is not explicable by current natural or scientific laws.

11:11 Numeric Configuration

Every time I glanced at my digital watch, literally every time, the 11:11 number configuration presented itself. That marvel transformed the course of my life. I had to find out what the 11:11 numerical configuration was, and I did. From that point on, I realized that life was full of extraordinary phenomena, that there are miracles and synchronicities occurring all around us but we’re just not attuned to experience them. That’s up to us to do—to attune ourselves.

Lillian, the hostess, started to unravel her most unbelievable tale. Her guests were left speechless, but something deep within them provoked their own memories; it seemed everyone had a most extraordinary tale to tell.

L et the Evening Begin

Setting the table

G uests started arriving around 6 p.m. to a New Year’s Eve party on the eleventh floor of a West End apartment overlooking the bright evening lights of Brisbane City. Dear reader, allow me to paint the setting in words to describe what the guests would be seeing. Picture high up in a modern apartment on a spacious balcony the twinkling of the multicoloured lights of city skyscrapers towering in the distance, and just below, the shimmering of the large turquoise-lit oval pool’s lights illuminating the canopies of the tall and tropical pandanus and palm trees—normally soldiers of shade on hot Queensland days. The meandering of the river to the left, not fully visible because of the cover of the night’s blanket, was certainly audible, with the sounds of the river ferries merrily gushing past. These happy guests arrived bringing offerings of a variety of cold beverages and plates of tasty treats. The dozen or so invited friends were ready to hail in the New Year, in fact the last year of the decade, with abundant fun and festivity; however, they did not expect what lay head.

Ending the year had never been so exceptionally unique; this night unfolded tales of a most miraculous, unimaginable nature. Such tales were told that unless you’d read them here, you’d never believe. But, my dear reader, every tale was true; every tale unpacked a story about an unusual life occurrence that had inextricably shifted the course of each of these guests’ lives. Permitted to retell these tales, it is my pleasure to remind you of possible unexplained events that may have occurred in your life but which may have been buried under accumulating layers of ordinariness in the process of surviving daily living and its barrage of demands. Allow me to introduce myself.

Playing the role of your narrator, it is my full intention to ensure that you are left breathless and in awe at the completion of each guest’s tale. Although these stories may sound unbelievable and contrived, they are not; seeming that these types of events just don’t happen or that they may be coincidental is why, perhaps, our lives occur mostly as predictable and often as mundane. Perhaps we’re taught to think that every facet of life can be explained away: that miracles just don’t happen; that we don’t have any real will to shift the course of our lives; that people who believe otherwise are either cuckoo or conspirators. Dear reader, you may change your mind after hearing these ordinary people’s tales. Some aspect of your inner being may ignite with a memory from a past long gone and may talk to you in the language that resonates with your inner truth. Being your narrator is my happy task. Now allow me to introduce the setting and the characters— your guests.

This story unfolds at the end of the year, the closing of an old decade, the imminence of a brand-new era. It is always a fortuitous time of possibility for new and successful beginnings and perhaps the completion of a run of bad luck, thwarted expectations, or just predictable stagnation. New Year’s Eve has always been a celebratory festivity that brings an expectation of new and better beginnings along with it. You’d want to be doing something of value that night; you’d want to be with a couple of others, at least; wouldn’t you want to stop the unworkable, change directions, and start something new? It seems not for all—what has happened to joy and boundless life possibilities for some people? Doesn’t life get you down at times? But I digress.

You will want to know whom you’re going to share some time with here between these pages and whom you’ll favour and perhaps fall in love with. Or who will perhaps annoy you, maybe because they remind you of someone—even yourself! Let me start by introducing you to your hostess, Lillian. Shame there are not more Lillians in the world: flamboyant, feisty, and full of fun. But not silly—no, definitely not.

If souls had ages, Lillian’s would be very old; she had a deep wisdom beyond her years. Intuitive and intelligent, she hid behind a facade of playful carelessness just to get along with younger souls, those still largely dominated by mundane earthly matters. Visually, Lillian was a pleasant-looking person who had taken care of herself physically all her life; she was slender and wore her clothes elegantly. With many stories to tell herself, and much adventuring behind her and still in front of her, Lillian always enjoyed the company of others, and in many ways, she needed others to reach out to and open up conversations with. Lillian needed to know who you were; how you ticked; what you knew; what you were up to in this lifetime—she needed to know if you were one of her kind. Whatever that was.

She was now divorced, without recriminations or regrets from either partner and, unbelievably, her ex-husband, Jez, was actually her soulmate (the two of them reckoned). Being genuinely the dearest of friends, they had maintained that relationship for many years. You’d be pleased to know that apparently Jez too would be coming this evening and bringing with him a tale most intriguing. Lillian knew she had loads of living ahead of her, so she took great care of herself - not only physically - but mentally, and more importantly, spiritually. But again, I deviate. Let’s get into the exciting stuff: the extraordinary and unbelievable tales.

Being at a gathering on New Year’s Eve meant staying around at least until 12:05 a.m.—period! Lillian had invited her guests to arrive around 6 p.m. Whoops—bad timing, Lilli! Six hours until fireworks, big hugs, and well-wishing. Six hours on a balcony (admittedly overlooking the city lights) was a long time, even if there was plenty of prosecco, aperol, champagne, and chardonnays—not to mention all the tasty canapés, gourmet dips, cheese platters, hot dishes, antipasti, and so on.

However, as a well-honed sociable person, Lillian had a sophisticated understanding about keeping the party going and avoiding the hazards of drunken and somewhat disorderly guests or, worse still, premature departures! As such, she’d decided that they’d play a special game while still imbibing in party indulgences that would keep them happily occupied as a group while drawing towards the midnight hour. Setting a large twelve-seater outdoor table with glamorous decorative dressings, candles, and with drinks and nibblies within easy reach, this perfect hostess asked her friends to take a seat and fill up their glasses. A game was about to begin—not an ordinary board or card game. No, this was a game of forgotten memories of life-changing adventures, possible spiritual awakenings, and and irrefutable evidence that, There are more things in Heaven and Earth … than are dreamt of … (Bravo, Mr. Shakespeare.)

The guest list included characters who had known each other through a local yoga class and some from the cyclist club which they’d participated in—and some had been friends for many years. In fact, everyone was at least connected to another in some way. As mentioned, these ten (apparently two others, a couple, couldn’t make it at the last moment) sat around Lillian’s table on that New Year’s Eve in West End on a balcony overlooking the sparkling city lights. They were awaiting the counting down from ten to one, awaiting the sounds of neighbouring screams of shared excitement, and awaiting the explosion of multicoloured dazzling fireworks. Midnight, a new year, and a new decade were emerging.

Other than Lillian, whom you’ve briefly met, the other guests included friends Gemma, Clara and Mick, Zara and Taylor, Tashi, Carlos, Kristina, and, finally, Jez (a later arrival). Age-wise, these characters ranged from early thirties to sixty-plus, all with interesting life experiences and tales to tell. As yoga pals or cyclist mates, the relationships between the old friends were already close and of a certain calibre, with different degrees of emerging self-awareness and open-mindedness. Don’t get me wrong: they weren’t all best friends—they were ordinary people from different walks of life—but the majority of them had yoga in common; they had something of spiritual value in common, and their tales of extraordinariness would reflect this.

The Party

After a good hour and a half of imbibing, everyone happy, chatty, and gregarious, Lillian asked her guests if they would enjoy participating in something different, something extraordinary. Her friends were taken aback at first, not knowing where Lillian was going with this, but Zara, Lillian’s best friend, was the first to say, So what did you have in mind, Lil?

She asked them if they felt the same exhilaration in the air that she felt and invited them on this auspicious night to share with the group an exceptional experience they may have encountered. To recount something unusual that had left an indelible mark on their lives, something that had changed the course of their life’s direction, something they didn’t usually reveal for fear of being considered an oddball by others. I want to know you better, to know what has driven some of your choices and directions in life, she explained. "Numerous unusual events have occurred in my life. Some would call them paranormal, miraculous, delusional, coincidental, serendipitous, or just downright ridiculous simply because the incidents didn’t fit into their normal expectations of how life should occur. But I know strange and inexplicable events do happen to us—and mostly we keep these things private."

Carlos, a thirty-four-year-old yoga instructor of ten years—strong in both mind and body—interjected at this point. He concurred with Lillian and thought he knew what she was alluding to. Lillian, this is very stimulating and challenging of you to ask us to share something for which, in the past, we may have been ridiculed; are you building up characters and ideas for your future books? Ha-ha. But seriously, I admire your courage to open up such a conversation amongst a group who don’t know each other that intimately.

Yes, but we all have something in common, retorted Lillian. I believe we’re all open-minded, share some degree of spiritual awareness, and are here together on this propitious night—that’s a pretty unique group of ordinary people, don’t you think?

Carlos, always light-hearted, with a natural emotional intelligence, laughed warmly at Lillian’s youthful enthusiasm and vivacity. You’re right, my hostess with the mostest. I’m happy to play this memory game; in fact, I do have a rather unique tale to tell also.

Topping up her glass, and Kristina’s next to her, with more bubbly champagne cuvée—and popping a fresh strawberry in both glasses—Gemma joined in the conversation. Actually, Gemma had always had a soft spot for Carlos (who wouldn’t?), and feeling high on the whole occasion, she suggested that sharing tales about unusual encounters in each other’s lives was a wonderfully imaginative way to pass some of the time until the midnight hour celebrations.

Let me introduce Gemma to you. While she was once a stunning looker, Gemma was certainly still a most attractive person who exuded warmth and empathy, one who, I’d say, had suffered in some way—you could see it in her eyes. As your narrator, my point of view is that Gemma had a dark secret she’d prefer to keep hidden: a grief, perhaps shame, perhaps something that was ready to be aired and released; maybe that’s why she was drawn to this table on this auspicious evening.

At forty-four years old, Gemma had gone back to working in higher education, a university tutor, although once a highly accomplished businessperson and founder of an enormously successful training centre. Also a volunteer team leader with a not-for-profit online crises support service, Gemma herself had survived a bad marriage and in some ways was still grieving. However, as mentioned, she quite liked tall, dark, and handsome Carlos, though he’d given her no indication that he reciprocated her feeling. He was rather attracted to exotic Kristina but couldn’t quite determine her age or her marital status, as she gave nothing away; Kristina was a very private person.

Born to an English father and Anglo-Indian mother, Kristina was born in Brighton, England, and migrated to Australia with her family at the age of thirteen. Obviously, with a mother born and raised in Calcutta, India, and a true Londoner of a father, Kristina’s heritage was mixed. With her dark looks and English reserve, this of course made her, as Carlos also found, an interesting and unique person—one you’d like to get to know more intimately. Beautiful within and beautiful without, Kristina brought a serenely divine mystique to the party, and being a prodigious world traveller, she too had a number of most unbelievable tales to tell, but one in particular defied all modern scientific explanations. But apologies in advance: this tale is reserved for the climax of this evening, just before the explosion of fireworks.

On the other side of Kristina sat