Unlimited Potential Healing Center

A fellow dowser, Adhi Two Owls, told the story of how she escaped what should have been instant death in a vehicle accident. Her truck was totaled when it tumbled down a steep hill, yet she walked out without a bruise or scratch.

I find such stories fascinating. What was it that defied the laws of nature? Was it just not her ‘time’? Divine intervention? Dumb luck?

I  too have been faced many times with scary, dangerous situations in which I could have/should have died or been seriously hurt. Here are a few:

#1. A Last Minute Warning

As I was walking out the door to my first day of Kindergarten (those were the days when neighborhoods were safer), my mother told me not to accept rides from strangers. Ten minutes later as I walked by the vocational school, some rowdy students slowed their car along side of me and with leers and mocking tones tried to get me to take a ride with them.

Listening to my mother’s last minute warning saved me.

#2. The Disturbed Boy in the Basement

In grammar school, I went down to the basement of the two family house where my family lived. The basement was always left unlocked. There in the corner of our canning jars was a boy hiding, obviously terrified. I recognized him as the mentally ill boy who lived in the neighborhood. I talked him into coming upstairs for a special treat my mother would give us, and while it took a while to reassure him, he eventually did. My mother then called the police who took him home. I believe that paying attention and being alert as I entered the basement, staying a distance away, and calming speaking with the intruder whom I correctly identified as more scared than dangerous helped.

Being alert and aware of my surroundings, staying calm so that I could correctly assess a potentially tricky situation was vital in the safe de-escalation.

#3. Shrunken Heads

At age 14, I went along with my father on his business trip to Providence, Rhode Island. While he was going to be working, he thought that I would enjoy spending the day visiting the local museum and park. With the long day ahead of me, I started to more diligently looking around the museum by reading all the tags in the display cases. A worker approached me and asked if I wanted a tour. Before I knew it, he led me up to the attic and locked the door behind us. I kept talking as if nothing was wrong, but kept moving around the rows of shrunken heads, keeping my distance always a few feet ahead of him, and then calmly walked back down the attic stairs to the exit where I could have been heard if I screamed, all the while maintaining my cool before demanding that he unlock the door. He finally did, and I breathed a sigh of relief. 

While I stupidly had gone with him into the attic, what helped me was to rapidly assess my situation. I was intently aware of where he was and how he was moving as I stayed ahead of him without getting distracted by the objects stored there. I quickly scanned for resources of things I could use (the exit and how to get there), the most likely place people would hear me if I had to yell for help, furniture I could have used as a body block, things I could have used to throw at him or to make enough noise (ie. breaking a window) to bring assistance.

#4. A Few Inches Saved My Life

Just out of college, I was driving home from a friend’s house in my VW Beetle. It had rained, and for some reason, my car skidded across 3 highway lanes and was heading straight into the car in the oncoming lane. In what I thought was my last moment before certain death, a 3-4 inch concrete divider stopped my car and saved me from a head-on collision into the on-coming lane.

#5. A Time to Swim, and a Time to Float

The following year I was about to fly to Europe for a trip back to the ‘motherland’. After many years of sitting at my grandmother’s feet listening to stories of her growing up in Europe, I wanted to return to my roots. A few days before I was scheduled to fly, I went with some friends on an overnight camping trip to Fire Island, New York. We swam all day. After they got out of the water, I remained in the water thinking that it would be a long time before I saw the ocean again. But very quickly I got caught in a rip tide and was pulled out to sea. I tried swimming against the current, but I could not. I tried waving my arms and yelling, but my friends did not see or hear me over the roar of the surf. I was getting exhausted, taking in water. I knew I was in serious danger, but I also knew that I did not have the strength to fight the tide. I decided that the only thing that I could do was to flip onto my back, face the oncoming waves, and take a deep breath before each wave crashed over me. Staying calm and conserving my energy was paramount to staying above water.

I floated and floated for an unknown period of time before I was aware that several men were pulling me into shore. Somehow, I must have drifted out of the current and back into the natural incoming tide. I learnt an important lesson that day.

There is a time to swim and a time to float.

A time to do all in your power to take direct action, and a time to conserve your energy and ride it out when it is clear that there is nothing else you can do.

#6. Engine Trouble

Within the week, I was on a flight on Icelandic Airlines–the cheapest flight to Europe at the time. There was an hour long delay before passengers could board the plane in New York. Then another long delay on the tarmac. Next was an emergency landing in Nova Scotia for repairs. I asked a flight attendant about it. She responded that it was not anything serious like engine trouble, because if it were, we would be there for 4 hours. We were there for 4 hours. Continuing on the flight to Iceland, I saw one of the propellers sputter and stop, but we made it to land safely anyway. Many of the passengers decided not to get back on board while the plane was again grounded for yet another 4 hours of emergency repairs. But I continued. On the final leg of the trip, we flew only about 100 feet above the water where I watched the waves beneath us during the entire journey.

Very shaken, I arrived in Luxembourg and the youth hostel. While showering, all of my money and traveler’s checks were stolen. The next day, I went into town to report the theft to the police and the American Express office. I was stung by some flying insect that caused my entire arm to swell up as if I had elephantiasis, and gave me a fever that persisted for a few days. Back into town the next day for medical treatment. Bad omen for what was to come. 

Lesson: While I safely reached my destination, that was pure luck. I should have paid attention to all the obvious and done as so many other passengers did, which was to take another flight.

#6. A Premonition

Yet another time I was all packed and ready to leave central Virginia in my motorhome to speak at a hypnosis conference outside of Chicago. At the last minute before leaving, a neighbor called. And I was about to say “if I don’t see you again, I just want to say goodbye.” And I immediately thought, “what was that about?” This neighbor lived across the street. Of course, I am going to see her again, unless….something happened to me. Was I going to die on this trip? 

With a premonition of danger, I drove only 25 miles/hour over a long, windy, narrow mountain pass that goes up 4000+ feet and over the Appalachian Mountains. As I was coming down my brakes gave out just as I was going around a sharp curve.  This made it impossible for me to prevent hitting the tall boulders that lined the entire right side of the road. The side door of the motorhome was crushed, and I had to exit out a window. When I examined the damage, the impact missed the propane tank by only a couple of inches. Had I been going any faster, it would have exploded.

Paying attention to a premonition saved me .

#7. A Last Minute Thought

Again all packed and just 30 minutes before leaving for yet another conference half-way across the country, I had a last minute thought to make up the bed because I would be exhausted after driving all day. And it was paying attention to a last minute thought that saved me. This bed lowers from the ceiling. As I was tucking in the sheets, what was between my hands half-way under the bed, and looking eyeball to eyeball with me was a copperhead snake (very poisonous).

I dropped the mattress, ran outside and a neighbor to help me. Unfortunately, the snake escaped from his snare and was able to get into a floor vent and from there anywhere in the ventilation system. A State Trooper who raises poisonous snakes came to my aid. But we were unable to find and remove him. However, we found 3 more snakes in various areas of the storage bays. No surprise that I stayed home, put mothballs and glue traps everywhere, and didn’t drive that thing for a while. The thought of me driving at high speeds on the highway with these critters moving around, or me crawling into bed later?…..Scary!

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I invite you to write to me about your own stories of escape to remind us all of those moments of grace, divine intervention, or whatever made the difference.

Copyright 1/2022 by Roxanne Louise. However, this article may be shared in other free online sources only if this copyright notice and links included with the content