I once had a client who believed her husband, Jim, who had passed into spirit six months previously, had returned to Earth as a cat. She got this idea because several times while sitting in her backyard garden, thinking about how much she missed her partner of thirty-one years, a fluffy white cat walked by. In fact, once the cat had stopped, looked at her, meowed once, then scampered off.

While I do believe in reincarnation, I gently explained that I didn’t think Jim became the cat – instead, his spirit may have influenced the cat to pass when she was remembering him. "It was Jim’s way of saying hi, and letting you know he’s thinking of you, too."

I often hear stories like that – a butterfly alights on a headstone the moment loved ones stop by the grave to pay their respects, or a car alarm goes off when friends talk about how much they miss their buddy. How many times has this happened to you: A song comes on the radio that reminds you of someone in spirit – just as you were thinking about that person?

I don’t know how spirit can set off a car alarm or influence a DJ to play a certain song at just the right time. But it happens. You may not notice it, but I’m willing to bet it happens to you more often than you think.

Just be aware of dimes and feathers.

At a recent public message event, I scanned the audience and immediately felt drawn to a woman with the deepest blue eyes I’d ever seen. They almost seemed to glow. Spirit has a message for her, I thought, as I connected with her energy. That’s why they’re pointing her out to me. As I started to speak with her, I imagined a dime.

"Why is a dime so important to you?" I asked, mystified.

She shrugged.

Her friend sitting beside her nudged her with an elbow. "Remember the dime you found outside the door?" she said. "You were saying how you hoped your mother would come through, and then you saw it on the ground."

A picture formed in my mind, and I described an Italian woman with a flowery apron in a kitchen making cannolis. The woman nodded enthusiastically, saying it was her mother, whose specialty was cannolis. Then I gave more evidence and a message from her mother in spirit.

"Oh, I’m gonna keep this lucky dime," the woman said, reaching into her pocket.

"That’s one way our loved ones in spirit let us know they’re around, watching over us," I said. "They take the change people drop, then move it with their energy so we find it. Save those coins. I put them in a jar and at the end of a year, donate the money to charity. That’s my way of returning the spirit money back to spirit."

I then asked the group if they ever found feathers, or saw them float down from the sky – especially when no birds were around. A few people raised their hands. "That’s another way spirit contacts us," I said.

"And do you ever feel a tingle that runs up your back or down the arms when you’re thinking about someone who had died?" Many people were nodding. "That’s a spirit hug. Next time that happens, imagine the person holding you in their arms and giving you a loving hug."

The rest of the event went well, and I continued bringing through evidence of life after death for many in the audience. As people filed out of the room, I hoped that their loved ones would find away to touch in with them. Perhaps a few of them would stop to pick up a dime or feather they might have ignored and walked past before.