In her books, she talked a lot about "life reviews" after a person passes from the physical to the next level. From what I understand, when we cross over, we get to examine everything we did in the life we just had, in order to learn and to possibly make decisions about what we will experience next. Some might consider this the "judgment" that fundamentalist religion says we must face.

One of my favorite movies is Defending Your Life, which I first watched in the '90s. Meryl Streep co-stars in the film with Albert Brooks and Rip Torn. It's a romantic comedy about an ad executive who dies in a car collision and finds himself in Judgement City, defending his life before a celestial court. If you ever get a chance to view it, I think you'll enjoy it.

As a writer I've kept journals throughout my life. Every time I move, I haul around a big heavy bin filled with diaries and journals since 1966. In preparation for writing my memoir, Stepping Forth, An American Girl Coming of Age in the '60s (2015), I typed up my diaries from April 1966 through the end of 1972 and chose certain entries to include in my book.

I have continued typing those diary entries into my computer, not because I want to publish all that private (and sometimes boring) information about myself, but because it has served as a "life review" that has brought insight into my current life.

Journaling doesn't have to be an "effort." I write just a page every night as it helps me unwind from my day and helps to recall things later that I might forget that are important. It serves now more as a clearing of the emotional clutter in my daily life.

I just finished with 1985 and have started 1986, which was a significant year because of my metaphysical interest which blossomed and eventually gave birth to The Star Beacon in April 1987. I find it synchronous that the month of April is a recurring theme of new beginnings for me, as this April issue marks the start of TSB's 33rd year.

Not only has it been entertaining and a lot of fun to recall events and details of my past — some of which I had forgotten — but it has inspired me to note certain decisions I made and understand some of the consequences of those choices.

Another note in reviewing my old journals ... it has brought back a connection to people and places I once knew. For instance, my parents. Both Mom and Dad left this plane years ago, but when I now read about them in my journals, it is like having a current visit from them. Likewise with others, some of whom have passed on or with whom I've lost all contact for unknown reasons.

An acquaintance I'd briefly encountered at the 1984 UFO conference in Wyoming, whose name was Dick Gregory, influenced my music greatly when — out of the blue — he called me one day and asked if he could pay us a visit. Flustered because I was a busy mother and worked part-time, I reluctantly said okay. Dick spent an evening in our living room in Delta, Colo., talking and entertaining my then-husband and me with his guitar playing and original new age songs. I recorded his performance.

For some reason that visit was a turning point for me. I suspected then that my "mission" was severing me from the "normal" life I'd enjoyed with Jeff, my husband. (He was not a believer in UFOs.)

From the recordings I'd made, I wrote my own piano arrangements to Dick's music and still enjoy performing them on the piano from time to time. He may not have been the best vocalist, but it was the spirit of his songs that impressed me — so much, in fact, that this column, ‘The Meaning of It All,’ was named after the title of one of his beautiful songs.

My mission began to take off at that time in my life, and it was a difficult period in many respects, yet I knew I had guidance and loving spirits around me, and I still do. Just four years later I would meet my future husband, Ethan Miller, and what connected us was The Star Beacon.

Three and a half decades later, I'm still here, continuing the mission I was given — slowing down a bit — but I receive wonderful help from contributors such as the Stellar Skull ladies, Al Fry, Sheri Gould, and many others I don't have room to list here. Thank you, one and all, for your support of my efforts. TSB will continue on.

Ann Ulrich Miller’s latest suspense thriller novel, The Dream Chasers, is available on Amazon in paperback ($15) or as an ebook from Amazon Kindle ($5.99). The audiobook version will be available soon.