I feel the same way about teaching. When a student thanks me after a class because he or she has learned something new, or has gained a new insight about their intuitive abilities, I feel grateful to know that I’m helping someone progress. Tributes are for heads of state. To me, a smile of gratitude is sufficient.

However, I was electrified – stunned even – when one of my students paid me the ultimate compliment – in front of hundreds of people! (I wasn’t there, unfortunately – or, maybe fortunately, for if I’d been in the room when that had happened, would I have hid under a chair?)

One of my students, Val, was attending the I Can Do It conference, sponsored by Hay House and held in Toronto in April 2009. The event featured many top Hay House authors like Wayne Dyer, Sylvia Brown, Gregg Braden, John Holland and Toronto psychic and medium Colette Baron-Reid.

Val was taking Colette’s intuitive development workshop called “Your Partnership With Spirit.” The workshop included an exercise involving psychometry, where participants were paired with someone they didn’t know, and each person had to give his or her partner a reading that was based on information picked up while holding an object belonging to their partner.

Val held her partner’s watch, concentrated for a few moments, and went with her gut feelings. She then proceeded to tell the fellow things about his life that made his jaw drop.

After the exercise, Colette asked the crowd if anyone was amazed by what they had come up with. Val’s partner raised his hand, and Colette called them up to the stage. Val’s partner said she was bang-on with her reading.

“That’s great,” Colette said, then asked Val, “Have you done this before?”

“Well, yes, as a matter of fact,” she answered. “I’m in a psychic development class. And I think you know my teacher: Carolyn Molnar.”

And at my name’s mention, Val told me later, there was a polite smattering of applause from the audience.

When Val told me the story after our last class, my first blushing thought was, Oh, my God. But then I felt elated – I was being recognized for the work! And I was filled with a sense of pride for Val’s achievement.

(An interesting footnote to this story: I met Colette Baron-Reid about ten years ago at the old Omega Center, and her message to me – and I’ll never forget this – was “You’re going to be doing what I’m doing someday.”)

So, yes, I felt good to be recognized for my work. But not as good as I felt for my student Val, who had the courage to trust her intuition and give her partner – a complete stranger – a reading that brought him closer to the power of spirit. And – who knows? Maybe Val is going to be doing what I’m doing someday.

If you have any questions or comments about my work, or questions about any other subject relating to mediumship, I’d love to hear from you. Write me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and please visit me again!