true love

How shall we live then?

Posted on by jptanabe

When my husband was on earth, here and there in our daily life he would drop one word or one sentence that was very meaningful to me. I could chew on it for days.

I remember him saying that “HAPPINESS IS A LIFE WELL LIVED.”

How then do we create a beautiful life?

He also quoted Socrates’ constant question, “how to live the good life?” He said that the good life is accomplished if you live a virtuous life, if you live according to the virtues. This was the Greeks’ simple formula for ethical conduct.

In my experience in building a meaningful happy relationship with Dietrich, a life well lived was a life where we loved our neighbors. Service to others brought us happiness, caring for the world brought deep emotions towards each other. We knew that praying for others not only brought relief to the person prayed for, but deep joy in our soul.

Sometimes the closest neighbor was the spouse we had to love when we could not, but did. Sometimes it was the prodigal son or daughter, we thought is lost forever. 

We cannot make happiness on other people’s misery. The happiness of your child comes before your own. You cannot leave your family. This would be misery instead of happiness.

In other words, what brings a couple together is not only sex, but a common goal rooted in committed love. It is being willing to make sacrifices for the betterment of the marriage and family, and every day making choices by discerning right from wrong, good from evil, sacred from profane

So to live well means constantly making the right choices, by developing our character according to the virtues and according to God’s principles until we become each other’s true love. We can never separate from each other as happy families make a happy world.

We were not part of the “ME First” culture, but doing things together for others we were better lovers, and we gave True Love to each other. We did create a beautiful life worth living. This is our secret treasure for eternity.

Your friend, Elisabeth Seidel

PS: Here is Dr. Tyler Hendricks’ talk on Happiness. Dietrich and Tyler were colleagues at the Unification Theological Seminary and good friends. I hope you enjoy this presentation on “The Path to Happiness.”

Love letter Excerpts for your Valentine’s Day

Posted on by jptanabe

These letters were written in 1977, where there were no cell phones or texts available. We wrote those letters by hand, stamped them and mailed them. And I kept all of them. They are treasures to our heart of a life of True Love with our Heavenly Father and each other. Only the last letter, written to Dietrich after he passed, was written on the computer after 40 years of our life together.

I truly experienced the love of God when introduce to my husband Dietrich, and looking deeply into his eyes it was like a spiritual experience, going through a tunnel all the way to Heaven and sensing God and his profound love. God was looking at me through Dietrich. It has been our deepest wish that everyone can experience true love with our Heavenly Father and each other as husband and wife. With God all is possible.

Dear Elisabeth, you are more in my thoughts than my studies. Heavenly Father performed one of his miracles to bring the two of us together. My whole outlook on life is changed since I became a married man. I send you my love, your Dietrich

Dear Dieter, there is warmth in my heart when I think Heavenly Father picked me to be your wife. I will pray more for you, with all my love, Elisabeth

Dear Elisabeth, I think of you often, and feel your pure spirit sometimes very intensely in my heart. I feel very close to you, and ask Heavenly Father to guide us strongly in building our relationship.
Let us patiently build what will last for eternity, your Dietrich

Dear Elisabeth, I want to thank our Heavenly Father and you, for this uniquely beautiful Sunday we were able to experience together. My heart is filled with indescribable joy when I think of you, and to realize that God led us together to be united for eternity is too much to be contained in my heart. I feel like overflowing and embracing the whole world. We are tasting just a little bit of God’s love. How beautiful it will be when the whole world is able to fully welcome God’s presence, and to respond to His invincible love.
The more I think of you, Elisabeth, the more I am convinced that it is only you who can be my wife. I send you all my love, Dietrich

I only want to add that true love is eternal, and we continue to grow together and love each other, from two different realms.

Here you can find my letter written to Dietrich shortly after his passing almost seven years ago.

Happy Valentine’s True Love to all my friends.

Your friend, Elisabeth Seidel

A Christmas True story

Posted on by jptanabe

It was the end of the year 1976 in New York City. I had just come from France a few months earlier and was adapting to the American life, away from my hometown in the French Alps. and Paris where I had lived.

My job at that time was in a showroom in a French jewelry company on Fifth Avenue. That day I had an appointment with a chiropractor, but I never arrived there. In fact something happened that would change my life and destiny.

I was a bit late, and like all New Yorkers, I started rushing, in the streets. As the street light was changing from red to green, I was the first one running to cross the street. I never made it to the other side.

One car had the same idea to dash through the changing light. It hit me in the back, which projected me on to the ground and I saw the four wheels passing over me. I heard people screaming at the horrible scene. In this split second I screamed to God “Heavenly Father my life is for you.” I was surprised at this audacious sentence to my Heavenly Father.

In a dream state I felt the car was lifted over my body in order not to crush me. A band of angels were by my side; a heavenly presence surrounding me.

As I was laying on the ground, trying to figure out what had happened, the car driver came out of his car screamed at me and left.

Another young guy said he called an ambulance and one lady and other passersby stayed with me till the ambulance arrived. The lady said “I saw Jesus, and he saved your life.” These were words of love and comfort.

I did not see Jesus, but I felt a Heavenly presence, I felt the angels dispatched in New York City. That day I was giving my life for God and he gave it back to me.

Besides a serious broken arm injury and a few days at the hospital I was fine. I spent Christmas that year in a cast and was so grateful to be alive.

I always felt I had a life mission. In fact, a few months later, I met my true, forever love. It was a snowy day with snowflakes all around in the beautiful Belvedere estate in Tarrytown, where in the spring the four-leaf clovers grow. There was to be a marriage blessing, and I was there with my new husband to be.

This was my Christmas miracle. Thank you that I could share it with you.

Your friend, Elisabeth Seidel

Hello…from Heaven

Posted on by jptanabe

November is All Saints’ Day. It is also Thanksgiving.
 
My husband passed on the 19th of November 2016. I realized this year that the 19th of November was also my name day. We celebrate Saint Elizabeth on November 19th. My mom never missed calling me on that day to remind me of Saint Elizabeth’s day.
 
My mom also said I married a saint, which means she thought Dietrich was a saint.
 
This year I got a “Hello” …from Heaven.
 
True love can travel everywhere. It is the most powerful and healing force, and this true love can never be broken. It is the bond that links us to our family, our lineage. Belief that we continue our life in the spirit world is now more prominent that before. Every time we connect with a loved one in that other realm, we are making bridges between the two worlds.
 
It is a new union where we communicate with mental telepathy, and a highly tuned intuition, receiving information and guidance through our psychic senses, and we become an antenna with receptivity. Energy of thought travels fast. You hear things you are not supposed to hear, but maybe you are; things you do not hear usually. I also communicate with my husband through feelings.
 
The universal life force, which I could translate as God’s energy and love for His children, is present everywhere, and sometimes more so in special places on earth like for example the vortexes in Sedona, Arizona, in the Italian Alps near Torino and my mountain hometown in Saint Jean. In the Celtic tradition they are called “thin places” where the veil between this world and the next has been lifted; where the door between our world and the next has been opened.
 
Sometimes between the state of sleeping and awakening, I can get a message from the other side.
 
Close to the anniversary of my husband’s passing, I was awakened by hearing a song in my mind “Hello Darlin!” and then the sentence popped up “Hello…from Heaven.”
I then continued about my day.
 
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and happy All Saints’ Day.

Your friend, Elisabeth Seidel

I Love You No Matter What

Posted on by jptanabe

When there was a conflict with a family member, my husband Dietrich, when he was on earth, always said: “No matter what, I always love you!”

We remember the song Whitney Houston sang with so much conviction and passion that it gave us goose bumps, because we all want to experience such a thing: “I will always love you.”
 
So, when Dietrich was saying (many times to myself) after the storm passed, “I always love you, no matter what!” it was a balm to the heart, a soothing sentence in the mist of hardships, that gave hope. The impossible dream became possible, when worked at every single day until our sentence became: “I will always be with you! Forever together.”

When Dietrich came back home at night, and I heard the sound of his car engine coming up the driveway, my heart was happily beating for him, because in an instant he would open the front door and hug me. Then our young children would be rejoicing to see him again and holding on to his jacket, to receive attention and love.

Harmony in the family is the basis and cornerstone of the kingdom of heaven on earth. In the family we learn and practice true love.

Whose responsibility it is? Mine? His?
In a conversation this summer my daughter Diesa declared, “It is not my responsibility!”

Thinking deeply about it, we are all responsible to maintain and preserve love and harmony, and to go the extra mile, to nurture each other with love and forgiveness.

I love you no matter what means we can be mean at times but we love each other anyway, no matter what!

We can be rude sometimes, but we love each other anyway, no matter what!

We can fight and want to be right, but it does not stop me from loving you, no matter what.

This is why every time when I heard the sound of his engine driving up the driveway, my heart rejoiced and was beating for him, because I could experience true love.

True love? How does it work in practice?

This summer 2022, which I spent in France, I had many opportunities to practice Jesus’ sentence “Love your enemies.” Some days everybody was my enemy, my heart was shrinking. I could not love anymore.

I tried to get hope by reading my horoscope. It said: “Avoid all conflicts. Avoid all confrontations.”
It seemed strange planets were crossing my sky.

This sentence kept coming to my mind: No matter what, I love you! No matter what, I will always love you.

As we grow and become spiritually mature, we get tired of fighting and learn to control our emotions, control our behavior. We respond and do not react. We become serene and calm surrounds us. We digest the difficult feelings. Suddenly, we are no longer rude, or impatient, unforgiving or disturbed, but we apply “I love you, no matter what.” Suddenly we are a step closer to our Heavenly Parent, closer to how we should be, closer to Jesus and to each other. And suddenly we feel happy because we could create a true love moment.

True love needs to become a lifestyle. This is how we change the world
As we build relationships of heart with our family, we need to build relationships of heart with our tribe, our people and our nation. This is indeed no simple task. I love you all, anyway.

Your friend, Elisabeth Seidel

May His Kingdom Come!

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The reason for Jesus’ coming was to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.

Jesus brought a revolutionary heart when he said “God is your father.”
No one never said such a thing before, that we are children of God, that God is our father.

Jesus was proclaimed the Prince of Peace, Christ, and Messiah. He fought evil all his life and one of his ministries was to liberate people from evil spirits and heal them. He saw that the evil spirits could give people diseases and disfunction. That is why today we feel the power of those evil forces, and there will be wars and rumors of war before Christ comes again.

Another of his great statements was, “Love your enemy.” Those powerful declarations can conquer the world.

He also said that he will come back to fulfill the marriage supper of the lamb. Today we are living in such a time as this. It means that at his return, Jesus will find his bride. And with this event (the marriage supper of the lamb) his kingdom will finally be firmly established on the earth.

He prayed, “May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” We will then enter the kingdom as couples. People will have to learn to love with true love. It will take a revolution of heart. It will not be easy. But the Second Coming will show the model. The first coming emphasized individual salvation; the second coming will be to establish family salvation.

We love Jesus even 2000 years after his first coming. And, as my neighbor said, he feels it in his bones that Jesus is coming soon, or already came again.

May you be blessed this coming holiday season.

Together is Better

Posted on by jptanabe

Upon getting up one day, I was mad, mad at my husband. Super mad. I did not like the habit of his to be late, very late or a little late, but late anyhow.

I preferred Princess Diana’s way. She could be late because of who she was, but she was always on time or earlier. Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable. This is a way to show love and gives the message, “I care about you.”

When my daughter Diesa was at Marist college in Poughkeepsie, part of the Red Foxes basketball team, they had a rigorous training schedule. They had to be on the court or the gym at 5 am, which meant be there 15 minutes earlier for warm up. If they were late, they had to do push-ups. This has stayed with her for her whole life. She is always early for appointments.

Of course, Dietrich’s mom (Oma) knew of her son’s habit of being late, because whenever we were invited to her favorite restaurant, or any other place, it was hard to make it on time. One day Oma noticed I was frustrated and gave me some advice: “In these circumstances take your purse and go. Do not wait for him.” Nice advice when your mother-in-law takes your side!

We were living in the woods one hour from Vienna. That morning, Dietrich was preparing to go to Vienna to teach at the Vienna International University, and I was supposed to go to the city with him. As usual things got scrambled and hurried, and I knew my husband was going to speed all the way to the capital, leaving me in a state of anxiety.

So that morning I took my purse and went. I not only took my purse, but I took the car as well, so he was left without transportation. He had to walk to the train station, change trains and get the subway. He would not be on time for his class for sure, and because of that, he was very mad as well.

Meanwhile I was climbing in the Vienna woods with the car, almost surprised by my actions. But I did not feel comfortable with the negative emotions stirring in my heart.

I was climbing up to the famous Hohe Wand, fuming all the way there. It is about 1000 meters high with a breathtaking view well loved by the Viennese for weekends or holidays.

I started walking away through the evergreens, trying to pray for the day, but was not doing so well. Then I found a hut, as you always do when you go through the paths in the Vienna woods. I decided to have some breakfast there. It was still in the early hours of the morning, so no guests were there yet.

I started feeling awkward as the owner was staring at me not understanding my German. He was wondering, “Why is she here by herself at this early hour, alone when everybody still in bed, and she can’t even speak the language.”

The breakfast that day was not tasting so good. In fact, it was tasting almost bad. There was no flavor, no warmth to it. It tasted cold and unappealing. I was starting to feel all alone, from lonely to miserable. Was it worth all the drama? Could there be another way? I was feeling I was right and my husband was wrong. But is it not that we can let the right go, for the sake of peace?

I was not too proud of myself. I had to make a plan to become smarter than him, because deep inside I never wanted to fight. I like harmony and peace. So that day I made up my mind that I would say the time of all my appointments will be half an hour earlier. I will change the time with Dietrich and then relax and still be on time for my schedule.

Let’s not react with toxic emotions. I never liked to fight with my husband. Neither did he. The hardships and difficulties made us grow. To attain a better character and lifestyle we should learn to harmonize with each other and always make peace. Together is better.

Elisabeth Seidel

The Love We Share

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Because my husband and I were so close during our lifetime, we used to share everything; we talked a lot; we were the other half of each other.

So of course, I continue now to share many things with him since he passed more than 2 years ago.

I talk to him while looking at his picture, I write letters to him. Sometimes he answers me like a deep intuition, an emotion, a subtle presence, a certainty, a love sentence coming at me out of somewhere like the other day. Then joy comes into my heart as a river of peace, a sense of protection and affirmation of the eternal.

Is it not the cherished hope of humanity that we live forever? That there is life after life?

I am presently in my hometown in the French Alps, a small, pretty town that you can still find in the middle of the mountains. My friend Annick owns a bookstore gift store there, and she has been carrying my husband’s books. The other day as I was visiting her to inquire if she needed more books, she said yes. I was surprised that she could sell English books in this remote place.

There was a man in the store choosing some books to buy and hearing our conversation he asked me if I was an author. I answered, mainly my husband but I did publish my memoirs. We continued chatting and he gave me his card. His name was Thierry and he was a medium!

Soon enough he said my husband, Dietrich, came from the other side to greet us. Thierry and my husband started a conversation that he reported to me. Dietrich was continuing his work there, and he said that where he was, everything is amplified, and in a sense has more power. They seemed in a good conversation with each other. At the end Thierry bought one of my husband’s books, “Eternal Life in the Spirit World” co-authored by Dietrich Seidel and Jennifer Tanabe. I was a little surprised by this encounter, but as Thierry said: Nothing happens by accident.

As I was exiting the bookstore, jokingly I said to my husband: “Dietrich, you forgot to give me a hug!”

A few days later I received an e-mail from my friend Elizabeth Kiedler (also a medium) and she sent me a message from Dietrich.

“To my beloved wife Elisabeth (that’s me) much love and blessings. I hold you tight in my arms forever. I will never let go. Dietrich.”

This is the type of conversation we have together, with a little help from our friends. For us it is so natural to continue our relationship because of the love we shared.

If you did not read our books yet you can order them here.

Hope you are all well. I love receiving your news and or feedback. I love you all and miss you too. Let’s all build a world of true love and peace. God bless you.

Mom! Be Nice to Dad

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“Mom, be nice to Dad!” My daughter responded, one day after I was using a sharp tongue towards my husband. It came to me as a surprising shock, as I was not even aware of my attitude. Sometimes too critical, or impatiently babbling something too fast or inappropriate. It stopped me in my tracks and I could reflect on my attitude.

I was not nice. To my husband.

I had a lot of reasons why. I could enumerate all of them. In order of importance.
But in the end, it does not matter the reasons why.
What does matter in the end is if we could love anyway.

Being always nice and pleasant speaking, and reconciling and agreeable. This is an art. An art of living together.
Responding in kind when we know the other one is wrong, or we think he is. Forgiving and going over the hurt of squabbling.
In the end it does not matter.
What matter is if we could love, anyway.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, reviewing different situations in my life where I was not nice, and changing them in my mind to the right response.

It is said that when you go to the spirit world, you first review your life. You experience how the other person felt when you were not nice, by your actions and behavior, and also when you were nice, what pleasant emotions you have given to others. This will determine the region where you will be residing in your eternal home.

Other situations were not closed well the way I would have wanted, which means with ultimate true love. So, in my mind I process them, asking for forgiveness, and also asking my husband from the other side of the veil to work at it. We can continue our relationship between the two worlds to make it in the end the perfect love we always wanted. Let’s be nice to each other.

Elisabeth Seidel

Say No to Divorce

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This morning I asked my friend why did his wife wanted to divorce him, such a fine man like him. He said, she told him that she did not receive enough love.

In our case we women always want more. In this case, less is not best but more is good. More love and more attention. More hugs. More cherished words, more time. All of the above. Love unconditionally. Not once but every day. A few times every day. How can this happen in the fast-paced world of today?

Well, when love gets going, is given, received and given back, there is so much more energy, so much more purpose in one’s life. The tiredness goes away, the suffering in other areas of one life diminishes. It is a big dose of health, vitamins and pick me up. True love can cure all, I always heard.

I was very demanding to my husband. How could he cope with me? Many times I asked, please listen to me, to my story, to my pain with so and so. It was serious. He had to drop whatever he was doing and give me immediate attention. Now I am so eternally grateful for those moments. True love was a therapy to feel better.

Every one of us has to find a true love therapy which make us feel better. This New Year let’s proclaim a love therapy where we are the invitation to make someone feel better, more loved, more precious, more needed. “It is in giving that we receive.”

Always say no to divorce.

Elisabeth Seidel