How to Experience the Paranormal

Understanding & probing into paranormal phenomena. An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic 

The information below is adapted from the nonfiction book you see on the left that my wife Barbara and I wrote about our actual family paranormal experiences. It came from the final chapter titled, “Your Natural Paranormal Heritage,” the type of guidance we wished we had had when we first began our explorations.

These are helpful steps you can take right now if you wish to uncover your natural, paranormal birthright.

Since you already have innate understandings, abilities, and connections in this arena, what you will read about here are nothing more than handholds leading you on a journey of self rediscovery.

In the end, YOU are your best teacher.

1. A Paranormal Notebook

If it is your intent to pursue a path of personal exploration into the nature of existence, we strongly recommend that you establish a simple record keeping system. A spiral notebook does the job very nicely. In it, record by date, every dream, event, perception, coincidence or communication that could possibly indicate your linkage with your own truer reality.

This exercise will:

• Force you to begin evaluating all sorts of life circumstances
• Promote the possibility of further occurrences
• Show you patterns of information and events that you never would have suspected without such careful day by day attention
• Provide a historical account useful to others within or outside your own family. In our case, our notebooks evolved into our book, An Explosion of Being.

If you don’t like to write, it can seem difficult to maintain such information, but its importance can’t be overlooked. With a little effort, tiny segments of time can be found, and shorthand methods of entry can be devised to minimize the burden. If you follow the steps in you find here, use the notebook as a storehouse for the results.

2. Ask Yourself Why You Are Alive At This Moment

It’s a simple question and you may say, “Oh, come on, now.” As simple as it sounds, an answer forged quietly, honestly, and fully, will show you the edges of your current belief system. We suggest you write your answer in the Paranormal Notebook, because the act of transferring such thoughts to paper will force an increased clarity.

If your answer is, “I don’t know,” or “Mom and Pop wanted kids,” fine, write it down. Once you have your answer in all its complexity or brevity, file it away for three months; six months or a year. At the end of that time, bring out this same question and your answer and try again. The difference between the two answers, or several answers, over longer periods of time could show some interesting changes.

3. Ask Yourself Why Are You Reading This Article Just Now?

Was it out of curiosity? Did someone recommend it? Were you looking for specific kinds of information? Were you hoping to find some answers to questions sensed, but not formulated?

Look at your own definition of what your conscious purpose was, because it sets the stage for the potential usefulness of what value this information will have for you.

4. Ask Yourself, “About the Paranormal, I Believe That . . .”

Coupled with your answer as to why you are alive, take another page in your notebook and complete the statement above. Whether you use one line or three pages is not important. This exercise will help to solidify your current outlook. Also, repeated over a period of months or years, doing this can show some very startling changes.

You might find some enlightening information about yourself if you also respond to the companion question, “About the Paranormal, I Wish I Could Believe that …”

5. A Support System

It’s very tough going it alone if you seriously intend to explore your relationship to your multifaceted existence. Without someone to talk to and share with, you can begin to feel quite isolated.

This is especially true if your closest daily associates criticize or poke fun at your thoughts or experiences. Therefore, whatever you do, find a friend or a group having similar interests. It may involve some effort, but take it from two who continually multiply their enthusiasm and experiences by constant caring interaction. It works!

You will find a support system a must if you wish to pursue your own direct communication with alternate realities. In this way, also, you may increase the power of contact potential, while decreasing the possibility of discouragement.

6. Paranormal/Spiritual Related Literature

There has been and will continue to be an abundance of written material explaining various “insights” about man’s true nature. Some of it will benefit you greatly, some of it will confuse you, and some of it will try to enslave your mind. We suggest only that you read as widely as possible, eventually concentrating on that information which:

• Satisfies your intellect but also feels right in some inexpressible way; and
• Allows you the greatest freedom of choice and expression possible. (You must feel good intuitively about the guidance you are receiving, and you must be the one in control)

7. Courses and Seminars

As with the literature in this field, we suggest that you get as wide an exposure as you can to the great variety of thought. The structure in these educational settings can vary from intellectual objectivity, to zealous promotion of one particular belief system.

If ideas opposite to yours are offered, use them to clarify your own belief system. But if you feel that a belief is forced upon you or that your thoughts are ridiculed, get away as fast as you can. Conversely if you suddenly feel that a particular presentation is the flaming key to the universe, step back, slow down and give it a little time.

Jumping on an attractive bandwagon too quickly doesn’t give much leeway for the sensible weighing of information.

8. Guidance from Intermediaries

In addition to books and courses, there are, within society, people who either view themselves or are viewed by others as the go betweens helping to link you and the world of the paranormal or the spirit. Their knowledge, abilities and intentions are often of reasonable quality, and their counsel can prove very helpful.

Most of us on this earth need assistance from others who apparently know more than we do. Barb and I suggest you simply absorb what seems to be useful, but if pressure is applied for you to change what you feel is right, or if messages are transmitted from spiritual sources that might part you from your bank account, step away.

9. Looking into Your Own Past

Everyone has had things happen in his or her life that are indicators of a personal connection to a larger essence of being. You are no exception, and if you haven’t already discovered this, relax, look backward from this moment on, all the way to your childhood and see what paranormal/spiritual experiences you can find.

These could be vivid dreams, feelings that you’ve been somewhere before, feelings about someone that proved correct, vision you never shared with anyone, coincidences beyond belief, or the knowledge of what someone was about to say. Write them down in your notebook as they come to mind and leave some room, as others might surface after a period of time.

My great grandparents

After looking at your own life experiences, think about stories that you may have heard from other people. Many family histories contain tales of strange happenings, and a little probing will often uncover much more than you suspect.

If you have children at home or older relatives living with you, a wealth of information might be available just through attentive listening. What you will accomplish by this sort of inquiry is a wonderful verification that life contains many such very real episodes.

11. Dreams

Everybody dreams but not everybody remembers them. The sleep state is your direct linkage to the paranormal and the world of spirit. You can capitalize on that linkage if you so desire. In the very limited space of this appendix, we can only touch the surface of how to do this, but the following concise list should be of help:

• When you wake up in the morning, wait before arising and think about any dreams you might have had. If even bits and pieces filter through, get up and enter that information in your notebook. If you are pushed by time, use whatever cryptic scrawl or abbreviations you wish, but write it down.
• If you don’t remember dreams very well or if you wish to remember more than you usually do, give yourself the repeated suggestion, just before going to sleep, that you will increase your dream recall.
• If a very vivid dream awakens you, get up and record whatever you can remember, otherwise it could well be lost the next morning. If you’re too groggy to write, use a tape recorder.
• Through setting your alarm clock sometime in the middle of the night, you may be able to interrupt a dream artificially and remember its contents.
• When recording dreams, see if you can remember these kinds of things:

Ψ  Are you actually participating, watching yourself, watching others? Who else is  involved? Are they living or dead? Are they known to you?

Ψ  Where does the dream take place? Note the physical surroundings such as buildings, landscape and objects. Is it within the present time period as you know it? If not, can you identify a time in history where they might have been worn?

Ψ  Are you yourself or someone else?

Ψ  What events occur within the dream?

Ψ  What is said?

Ψ  What kind of emotions are you feeling during the dream?

Ψ  Are there any particular sounds or smells that you can recall?

Ψ  What kind of clothes are you and others wearing?

• After each dream, or each week of dreams, consider what the meanings they may hold for you. All dreams, in our opinion, have a layered set of meanings, and all are valid within certain contexts. Many valuable books have been written about dream interpretation, but they often cast dreams in symbolic concrete that may not always be fully correct or thoroughly useful. What we are saying is that you and only you are the best interpreter of your dreams.

12. Time Out, Meditation, Prayer

Somewhere within your day, find small chunks of time to close out the physical world. It may be the five minutes before the kids get up in the morning, during a coffee break at work, or in the stillness before sleep, but if you intend to enhance your linkage with levels of existence or consciousness beyond your own, this step is essential. Here is your chance to turn down the volume of this world and tune into another.

An elementary step, yes, but it can help to relieve physical stress, establish a comfortable rapport between your multidimensional facets, and open direct channels to an infinite and highly complex intelligence. No one method is best. Search the literature, take a course, experiment, but most of all, create that which gives you a feeling of peace, safety and identity with all existence.

13. Imagination and the Paranormal

After dreams, your next direct linkage into alternate realities is imagination. The playful, creative part of you that sometimes slips into “daydreams” is actually another point of departure into the next level of consciousness. With your physical awareness in control, this is where you can exchange information, ideas and possibilities with your multifaceted self.

Through the careful nurturing and positive management of imagination, you can exert a powerful influence on the structuring of your reality, as well as help to unfold your other natural psychic talents. If, on the other hand, you give up conscious control, live great portions of your life within imagination, or concentrate on negativity, then you will be heading for trouble.

Take note of what you see or do within your imagination. This is a very private exploration and you need not share it with anyone unless you really think that might be of benefit, but the process will begin to show patterns of personal emphasis. While many times you are playing with interesting probabilities, on occasion, you actually may be seeing into or creating your future.

If the prospects you see are bright, happy, and useful to all concerned, then give those thoughts additional imaginative concentration on a daily basis. If some of the prospects that you see are dark, unhappy, or hurtful to yourself or others, then flood your imagination with one of your more positive “day dreams.”

14. Daily Events and the Paranormal

Within each day, week or month, many events will show themselves as indicators of your spiritually determined purpose for being in this life. When spliced together, these indicators weave patterns of your multifaceted learning needs, often showing how your patterns connect with the purposeful experience lines of other people. From the ups, downs, hassles and ecstasies, you will begin to observe an incredibly complex and interdependent organism.

15. Coincidences

In your viewing of daily events, take special note of those things people classify as “coincidences.” They are some of the more easily discernible of your inner patterns that will show you an existing structure which may have otherwise been dismissed.

When a “coincidence” occurs, make a rough guess as to the odds against that particular combination of events and then double those odds for any other “coincidences” linking itself with the first one.

Note: See articles listed in the blog categories titled, Paranormal Coincidences and Paranormal and Carl Jung.

16. Life Pattern Analysis

While continually looking at the happenings in your own life, look at those of some other people close to you. As they fight their own battles for existence, you might find it interesting to calmly picture their ultimate purposes, learning patterns, and “coincidences” that they might not be able to comprehend in the heat of daily survival. It’s always easier to view the other guy’s problems objectively, and through that dispassionate analysis, you just might learn something about yourself.

17. Sensing Other People’s Thoughts and Needs

Don’t force it, but gently become aware of those times when you “just knew” something about another person that you could not possibly have known through any physical means. It may be the “coincidental” knowledge that a ringing telephone has a certain relative or friend on the other end. It may be that “motherly” sensitivity that awakens you in the night to attend a sick child.

It may be that instantaneous awareness of what someone is about to say, seconds before it is said. In daily living, many such events happen, but we often pass them off, much to the discredit of their origin. Keep as careful a record as you can of these events, and by so doing, you will reinforce the possibility of more such things occurring.

18. Auras, Lights and Colors

People and objects emanate the multidimensional aspects of their truer reality. Especially surrounding people, the emanations can be seen as distinct from physical reality, and may appear as bursts of light, patches of color, bands of light or color, misty clouds or heat wave type disruptions. In our experience, these sightings usually come at times of high relaxation, sleepiness or times of intense emotion.

Psychological readiness and a philosophical acceptance seem generally to determine our accessibility to these perceptions. We suggest that a daily imagination exercise be conducted where you visualize yourself as able to see these things.

19. Misty Images and Ghosts

Communication between the physical world and other aspects of reality are commonplace occurrences, but it usually happens beyond conscious awareness. If this type of visual event occurs, it does so because, on some level of consciousness, you and “someone else” planned it for a specific purpose. The contact may be with an entity that has never taken part in physical existence; it may be with the spiritual essence of a physically. deceased person or it could be a portion of the spiritual essence of someone living, including yourself.

We cannot suggest ways to develop or enhance this ability, nor are we certain that it should be developed. However, the recording of any such events in your notebook might eventually show them to be a part of a pattern that, as yet, you may not fully understand.

20. Out-of-Body Experiences

Out-of-body experiences are most likely the initial stages of an emergence into alternate realities during sleep. Again, as with other portions of your spiritual heritage, those occurrences are normal events happening nightly, but rarely remembered by the conscious mind.

In the preliminary conscious stages, a rigidity of body and a near paralysis can cause slight panic. It is much easier to say than to do, but if you find yourself in this condition, try to relax and flow with the experience. Fighting it causes that panic, but then again, perhaps the panic causes you to remember the experience.

Experiences, such as this, may not be of use to everyone equally. It may or may not be to your greater purpose to recall that kind of event. But giving yourself specific suggestions just before sleep such as, “I will become conscious during any out-of-body experiences tonight,” may, after a period of time, have the desired result. Then use those few precious moments after waking in the morning to recall any such nighttime adventures and record them in your notebook.

To reinforce your belief that a conscious memory of an out-of-body experience is possible, use your imagination at any available time during the day to visualize such a thing happening.

21. Direct Communication with Other Realms? Preparations First

Have you decided that you definitely want to establish conscious contact with alternate levels of reality? If so, here are some points that you should consider before starting:

• Remember that your subconscious is a part of your multidimensional reality. It is most likely that the subconscious is the linking force with higher levels of existence and therein lies a problem. Rightfully so, your initial direct contact might well be your subconscious, but don’t mistake it for the essence of higher wisdom.
• Be honest with yourself. If your emotional life is in any kind of severe turmoil, that is not the time to try initiating direct contact The result could be greater upset, garbled messages, and a sabotaging of what could become very rewarding and useful at a time of more stability. During emotional turmoil, your contact is likely to be limited to a subconscious that is being bombarded with negativity and that may be what you receive as a message. Negativity.
• Be honest, again. Why do you want to establish contact? If in any way it is to prove your superiority above others or to prove a particular point of view, you’re heading for trouble. Your subconscious will obligingly create whatever you wish, but it will not be real in any sense of the word, and in the end, you will have nothing.
• Walk before you run. If you haven’t already kept track of your dreams, developed a comfortable “time out” linkage, and experimented with imagination as a co-creator of reality, do so before attempting direct contact. The solid base of those steps will ultimately save much time and be of immeasurable assistance in establishing a clear and valid communication.
• Perhaps you have a particular object or sound that immediately makes you think of things spiritual or paranormal. For us, it’s our cut crystal spheres. For you, it might be a Bible, a picture, a particular piece of music, or a certain woodcarving. If you have any such object, use it as an initial “mental trigger” to establish a preliminary mind set before going to the next stage.
• Use whatever meditation or prayer sequence that you employ daily and then…

Ψ  Clear your conscious mind by closing your eyes and imagining a pure, white light flowing over and through your entire being. Think of the source of this light as God, Infinite Intelligence, or your own crystalline soul. See the light, feel its warmth and goodness. This process will tend to keep the subconscious in its place and will indeed assist you in establishing a clear channel.

Ψ  Make use of psychic constructs. Create a specific place within your imagination and use it as the meeting ground for contact. Work on the specifics of this place well before you try communicating. Give it as much life and realistic detail as possible, so that you can actually visualize yourself within that circumstance. You might develop a seaside retreat, a palace in Europe, or perhaps a particular setting in nature. The more care you take in building this place in your mind, the more solid the middle ground you will create between realities.

Ψ  Call for contact.  Once you have followed the previous steps, in sequence, make a statement something like, “I’m ready,” or “I wish to make contact,” or “Is anyone there?” You determine what you want to say and whether or not you want to say it mentally, or out loud. But, whatever you do, you must reach out forcibly with your mind.

22. Initial Direct Contact with Other Realms

Once the preparatory sequence is complete, and the call for contact has been made, just relax and let your mind float a little. What do you see? What do you feel? Stop there if this is your first attempt at direct communication. Bring yourself back to full consciousness and write down anything that occurred. You may find that this is an adequate method of contact by itself, with a wealth of information. If so, continue with it and don’t bother with other methods.

If, on the other hand, you become afraid in any way, bring yourself back to full consciousness and stop trying to communicate. If your desire is strong enough, try again at other times, but you may find your subconscious is actually interfering, or it simply may not be your ultimate purpose to establish conscious linkages with alternate realities.

23. Evaluation of Direct Contact with Other Realms

Above all, if what you see or receive through any method of contact is negative, profane, hurtful to others or highly directive, stop doing it. Either you are in touch with an unsettled part of your own subconscious, or you have stumbled into the sphere of a much lesser developed entity. You have the control, so use it.

Try again another day, but next time, follow your preparatory sequence very carefully with special attention to the “white light” process. In addition, throw in some specific directives of your own such as, “Subconscious, stay out of this,” or, “I will converse only with higher level entities.”

Now, if through whatever direct method you choose or develop on your own, reasonable or even beautiful visions or messages appear, just let it flow. Use your notebook later to record what transpires and study it at your leisure. Look also at other entries in your notebook. Are there any correlations? Study what you receive, but don’t give a great deal of credence to it, initially.

Only over a period of time will you be able to sense its validity and wisdom. Take no direct action on information that flows until time and analysis have occurred.

Here for your consideration are some additional criteria that might be useful as you consider your messages:

• Do you get a sense of caring and a concern for you as an individual?
• Are you advised to work towards a greater understanding of your truer nature?
• Is caution advised in accepting everything that flows through the direct communication?
• Is information given that can be verified in the physical world?
• Are useful insights offered regarding your particular purposes for coming into this world?
• Are care and concern shown for those around you?
• Are useful insights offered regarding others close to you, including their purposes for existence and your purposeful relationships with them?
• Do you receive reminders of your personal responsibility to those around you?
• Are you given insights regarding life after death or life before death?
• Are you given insights into the nature of the soul?
• Are explanations given about events within your life or events happening in the world?
• Do you receive information that explains the purposes for the earth’s existence, physical life in general or the spiritual nature of material life?
• Do you feel love emanating from what you receive, or is love discussed as a vital life ingredient?
• Above all, are your life and thought processes enriched through the direct contact?

If a reasonable combination of these criteria doesn’t exist within the communications, you may still be in contact with your subconscious or a lesser developed entity. Therefore, we advise you to ignore the information at least for the time being. If you set these criteria as a conscious goal, however, you probably will find your level of contact elevated and its validity enhanced.

24. Predictions

Extreme caution is necessary here. If you are in touch with your subconscious or a lower level entity, you are likely to get all kinds of wild predictions, including those possibilities you most desire or fear. You might simply be having something repeated to you that you either want to hear or would like most to avoid. The caution comes particularly if action is demanded by your source, ordering you to radically change things in your life. Just remember this: a good source of direct contact is a helping agent and not a dictator. If it is a valid and useful source, it will “demand” nothing.

Even when you are reasonably satisfied as to the quality of contact that has been established, take all predictions and their time frames with a few grains of salt. The view of physical life by alternate facets of existence can have distortions and symbolic meanings that must be looked at carefully. It often depends on the level of development of your source as to how refined and accurate this information may be, in physical terms.

Your source may see your “probable” actions planned before birth, but not see the next “probable” path that you finally decide upon some night in the sleep state. Your source may indicate that great wealth is in store, but that could mean a wealth of knowledge.Your source may also indicate impending disaster or good fortune “soon,” but, as in our case, it may happen three years later.

25. Ouija Boards

The Ouija is a simple device and can be found in most toy stores. It can be a valid but slow method of communication regardless of the fact that many people view it as a game. It works, because the psychic power of two individuals is unified, linking with alternate realities through subconscious muscle control of the pointer. It is sometimes a feared device, because the light mood in which Ouijas often are approached can result in the flow of subconscious or lower level entity communications.

Record keeping and the deciphering of messages takes time. The easiest method is to have three people involved so that one individual can write each letter as it is indicated while the other two manipulate the pointer. Whatever you do, don’t rely on your memory; it just doesn’t work. If only two of you are working the board, remember two or three letters, then stop and record these in your notebook and go on. After several lines of letters have been delivered, search out words, divide them with slash marks and add logical punctuation. If they make sense, continue.

If not, try again some other time but give it a fair chance.

Sit down in a quiet place with pen and paper. Go through the preparation sequence for direct communication. Then, without any conscious structuring of a topic or theme, write whatever words flow into your mind. Just relax and let it flow for a page or two. Then stop, take a little time to carefully read what has been written. You might be amazed. Use your evaluative criteria and see how this material fares.

This method, if it meets a reasonable number of criteria for Evaluation of Direct Contact, provides excellent initial linkage with perhaps just the next higher level of your own being. It often will give you great insights into yourself, providing you with a solid framework upon which you can grow into the deeper levels of contact, if you so desire.

27. Automatic Writing

In this method, again, sit in a quiet place with pen and paper. Implement the preparation sequence. As opposed to “Stream of Consciousness” writing, however, completely clear your mind and don’t allow words into your consciousness. With pen in hand, rest it on the paper against a flat surface and say to yourself, “I will allow communications to flow through my hand, apart from my conscious mind.” Then wait. The pen may eventually move, seemingly of its own free will, producing lines, scratches, a scrawl, letters, words, sentences or pictures.

As with the Ouija board, your subconscious is controlling the movement of your hand through involuntary muscle contractions, but upon evaluation you may find that the primary connection came from a much higher level. The method of deciphering this information is similar to the one you use with the Ouija, but the added complexity of the unfamiliar handwriting that might emerge may take a little getting used to.

28. Verbalizing Messages from Other Realms

If you have had reasonable success with one or more of the other methods of contact, then a verbalization of contact by you is a possibility. Proceed, as usual, through your preparation sequence, but stop within whatever psychic construct you use as a meeting ground. Here, your call for contact will stay centered, and you will say something like, “I’m ready for words or concepts to flow through me verbally.”

While making this call, keep in mind your successes with other methods. You may see words or feel impressions or sense ideas. Whatever happens, unless it’s frightening in some way, try to verbalize it. Just let it flow of its own accord and worry about the contents later.

Here is where a partner can be of immense value as a support, a booster of your own psychic power, and as a recorder. If this isn’t possible, at least have a tape recorder running, so that the messages aren’t lost. Unless you have unusual recall abilities, you will forget a great deal of what comes through. In the beginning, keep your sessions short, say five or ten minutes, expanding those limits only after positively evaluating your source and its effect on you. As we were told through such early communications of our own, “Choose your source as carefully as your mate.”

If this method seems to work well for you, and you wish to continue it, we suggest strongly that if you don’t have a partner in this exploration, get one. If you so desire, it is possible for this verbalization to naturally blend into a trance communication where your awareness is dimmed. Under these circumstances, time can have little meaning, and you may remember almost nothing of what transpires. Here is where the definite security, guidance and even instant evaluation of a partner can prove absolutely necessary.

In the development of trance communications, the variety of levels of contact and styles of delivery can have wide ranges. The main thing is that you and your partner proceed only when you feel at ease and evaluation results appear satisfactory. If any part of what you are doing doesn’t feel right for any reason, slow down, back up, or stop entirely. Look at what’s happening and only continue at a comfortable pace.

Keep in mind though that movement from one level of trance communication to another may be uncomfortable simply because you are learning to utilize newer and better modes of psychic bonding with your source.

29. Unique Paranormal Development of Your Own

What we have shared with you is our own view of how you might uncover personal linkages with your natural psychic heritage. Admittedly, what we have written is based almost totally upon our own experiences. This has the advantage of our first hand observation and the disadvantage of our isolated perspective. Please, form your own mosaic of development from what we offer and what others offer, but leave large spaces for you to color in with your unique ideas and methods.

Through your sources and experiences, you will find paths of expansion that are truly yours. Then stand back and look at a beautiful and unduplicated creation, for it exists nowhere else but within you.

30. Children and the Paranormal

If you have children and wish to help them discover their own psychic/spiritual natures, these points are suggested only as a starter for whatever your own special approach will be:

• Instruction is only as good as the knowledge and experience of the teacher. Seek the solidity of your own understandings before you try guiding your children very far.
• Develop your communications skill with specific emphasis on listening. If a truly open and easy communication structure doesn’t really exist in your family, start building it now. Without it, you’re finished before you begin. Through effective communication, you build trust and through trust, you establish an atmosphere of sharing and a willingness to be taught.

Think of the old railroad crossing sign that says “Stop, Look, Listen.” In working with your children keep that sign foremost in your mind. As adults, we are often too busy with our own thoughts to really slow down enough, or to keep quiet long enough, to see what’s happening with our kids. It’s a standard adult affliction that we’ll probably never fully conquer, but the more of it we control, the more learning will take place.

• Pace your efforts accordingly to the ages, needs and maturity of your children. Pushing too much, too soon, will only sabotage what you are trying to do. Think in terms of years and a slow, sporadic development.
• Use your children’s experiences as they arise. Work with the dreams and visions of childhood as major departure points, encouraging your children to tell you all about the particular event. If the experience seems too negative or if there is an obvious reluctance to talk, back off.
• Remember one thing. Your children will be teaching you during all the time you think you are teaching them.

Click here to see information about my paranormal & historical fiction series for young adults and adults who are young at heart.