That’s the question I had to ask myself. I’ve known for awhile now that I have some kind of ability that all people have but not all have discovered. Whether it’s seeing events to come or an entity that needs attention, I’ve felt a drive to develop those senses. One thing I had to consider before taking on the task of building that gift was whether it would be of benefit to my family and me.
Since my early childhood I’ve known that I wanted to help people in some capacity. To me, it was the reason for our human race as a whole to even be here. (Big thoughts for a little kid!) During my 20’s I was interested in tarot cards and crystals but nothing serious. My thirties were basically filled with starting my family with no time for anything else. It wasn’t until I was in my forties that I felt the need to further my knowledge in ghost hunting and mediumship. The sense that my life mission was not yet fully discovered encouraged me to dig deeper into the idea of being a psychic medium. It certainly helps to have supportive people around you. The experiences you have, you’ll want to talk about. Having the sympathetic ear is valuable. The other side of that is not having support. You’ll have to decide if what you want is important enough to possibly alienate those close to you. I wasn’t sure how my family would take it but I knew I had to be true to myself. Some of them were more supportive than others. The group I have been a part of, IKOPS, has encouraged me to move along with my studies.
Should you develop your medium skills? There is no ONE answer for all people. Do your research online, read books on the subject (Allyson Dubois and James Von Praagh for example), consider the time and energy, and talk to other mediums but most of all…listen to your heart.
So recently, I had an experience that was all too real. I encountered what I perceived as a bit of a jealous or “snippy” comment from someone working with another paranormal team. They didn’t like the age of our group, they didn’t like the number of investigations we had posted on the web. They felt like for all the media attention we have recieved, that we didn’t deserve it in their eyes. So my question is this: why did this person care? Are they jealous they don’t have the attention? Do they not see that anytime a paranormal team gets some notice that the awareness about the paranormal groups as a whole goes up even more locally? Don’t they get it that they get benefit from it too? I’m not sure why people act like that.
Yes, IKOPS is less than a year old as a group. However, some of the members have solid experience before joining IKOPS, and the newer members are getting good experience. As for the number of investigations, I guess it never occurred to anyone that we might not post everything? Maybe we’re getting notariety in our region because we do QUALITY investigations, not a quantity of them. Maybe we’re just a better group than they are. I’m not saying we are or aren’t, but there could be many reasons why IKOPS is where it is, and other teams are not. Since I’m not in those other teams, I’m not qualified to say what their issues are.
All I know is that as a team, IKOPS does the very best we can to offer a well rounded investigation and we present the evidence without fanfare. We’ve offered to include other teams in our investigations and have in fact collaborated on a few projects with other teams. We want to share and learn from others as well.
So if you’re a member of a paranormal investigation team, lighten up. All this stuff doesn’t have to be so rigid and stiff. Conduct a solid investigation, let the facts speak for themselves, and enjoy all the new people (past and present) that you get to meet!
In the last year, paranormal investigation teams have popped up all over the place. But what does it take to be a good investigator? Well let’s take a minute to discuss, and maybe even debate, what it takes to conduct a good investigation and to be considered a good investigator.
First and foremost, you must be willing to accept the fact that more often than not, you will find nothing paranormal going on in the locations that you investigate. That’s just the plain and straight truth. Second, you must have patience. To think you’ll walk into an investigation and have the ghosts clamoring to talk to you just isn’t realistic. Third, let’s take a look at your motivation for being a paranormal investigator. Are you trying to get on TV? Write a book? Be on the radio? Seeking fame and fortune? If so, this may not be the thing for you. Are you willing to manufacture evidence to get the world to notice you? If so, the paranormal investigation world doesn’t want you.
So sit back, examine what motivates you to enter this field and see if you have what it takes to be a good investigator.