Blind but I paint the dead
I asked the Universe for help leaving my job – and went blind!
CChris Barbour, 59, Newport, South Wales
limbing into my car and buckling the seatbelt, I groaned. It was Monday morning in December 2016 and I had another long week of commuting 70 miles each way to my job as a graphic designer ahead of me.
‘I wish I didn’t have to do this,’ I muttered to myself. I hated the job, hated the long hours, hated the commute. My blood pressure was sky-high from the stress of doing a job I loathed.
What I really wanted to do was to focus on my own art. But, truth be told, I knew I wasn’t good enough to make it as a professional artist. I’d tried to paint before but the end result was always rigid and uninspired
The graphic design job paid the bills. What choice did I really have?
Sighing to myself, I started the HQJLQH DQG VHW R IRU ZRUN
They say be careful what you wish for. I’ve always wondered if someone ‘up there’ was listening to my plea that day.
Christmas rolled round – and at OHDVW , JRW VRPH WLPH R ZRUN WR relax. The family were coming to stay with my wife Sharon and I for a few days. On Christmas Eve, I nipped into Bristol city centre with my grandchildren for a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping.
After a trip to Santa and a mince pie, we headed home.
I was carrying my one-year-old granddaughter Naomi over the threshold when, all of a sudden, I came over really light-headed. I put Naomi down, staggered to the nearest chair and sat down, putting my head in my hands.
‘Are you OK, Chris?’ My wife Sharon sounded worried.
I looked up to reassure her that I was alright – and realised I couldn’t see her properly.
I had poor vision in my left eye, but nothing that stopped me reading, driving or using a computer.
Blurred vision
Now my right eye was blurred, too. There was a big white blob right in the middle of my vision. I could barely make out my wife’s face.
μ8p \HV ,¶P ¿QH love,’ I mumbled. ‘I had a bit of a funny turn but I’m sure I’ll be OK in a minute.’ I didn’t want to worry Sharon, not with a house full of people – not over Christmas. Anyway, perhaps my sight would come back as quickly as it had disappeared?
But it didn’t. And by the time I went to bed, I was so worried that I told Sharon what had happened.
‘One moment I could see, and the next I couldn’t,’ I confessed.
Sharon looked at me, KRUUL¿HG Μ&KULV ZK\ didn’t you tell me? You could have had a stroke. We’re going straight to KRVSLWDO ¿UVW WKLQJ LQ the morning.’
So instead of spending
Christmas Day with the family, Sharon and I spent it at the local hospital in Bristol. I was poked and prodded and underwent all sorts of tests as the doctors tried to work out what was wrong with me.
My blood pressure had skyrocketed, so I was given an MRI scan to examine my heart and nervous system and rule out the possibility of the stroke.
, ZDV ¿QDOO\ VHQW KRPH VWLOO almost blind, with bloodthinning tablets.
I tried to make the most of Christmas, but I was too worried. We all were.
A few days later, I was given the results of my tests. ‘The artery at the back of your eye is blocked,’ the doctor told me. ‘It’s because of the high blood pressure. That’s what’s caused the loss of sight.’ ‘That’s good to know,’ I nodded. ‘Will \RX EH DEOH WR ¿[ LW"¶
Permanent loss
‘I’m sorry, Mr Barbour,’ the consultant said. ‘I’m afraid the loss of sight is permanent. All we can try to do now is stop it getting worse.’
I left the hospital, numb with shock. It took a while for the full implications of this to sink in. I’d never be able to drive again, or read, use a computer.
I had no choice but to give up my MRE VLJQ XS IRU GLVDELOLW\ EHQH¿W , was worried sick, fell into depression. ‘What are we going to do for money?’ I worried to Sharon.
But Sharon, who’s a working medium with a direct line to spirit,
There was a white blob in my vision
seemed less concerned than I’d expected.
‘Everything happens for a reason,’ she said, patting my hand.
‘The angels granted your prayer to give up work – and yes, it seems pretty brutal now, but you’ve got to trust in the Universe. It’s going to be OK.’
Helping out
Although I was spiritual myself, I was pretty sceptical about that. But at least now I had the chance to get more involved with
Sharon’s spiritual work, which was something I’d always wanted to do.
She had her own healing centre at our home, seeing customers for reiki healing and psychic readings.
One day, I was sitting quietly in the room, listening as she did a tarot card reading for a customer.
Suddenly, the image of a woman came into my head. I could see her so clearly in my mind’s eye.
I found myself picking up a pen, pulling a notebook towards me, and drawing the image that had popped into my head.
Sharon and the customer looked at me.
‘What are you doing?’ Sharon asked – but the customer was staring down in shock at what I drawn on my notepad. ‘Oh my God,’ she gasped. ‘You’ve just drawn my grandmother!’
Identical image
I’d drawn the customer’s grandma
She pulled out her phone and showed me and Sharon a photo of an older lady. I could just about make her out – and she was the spitting image of the woman I’d just drawn.
It turned out that she’d passed away a few years previously. The customer was delighted that we’d been able to bring her through.
‘That sketch is amazing,’ she gushed.
‘You’re such a talented artist.’
‘Thanks,’ I muttered, a bit embarrassed at the compliment.
‘That was amazing, Chris,’ Sharon said afterwards. ‘I think you might have a gift.’
I shrugged. ‘I’ve suddenly become a talented artist? Overnight? But that can’t happen, can it?’
‘Not that sort of gift,’ Sharon told me. ‘I think you’ve got a spiritual gift.’
I laughed. ‘I doubt it you know. ,W ZDV SUREDEO\ MXVW D RQH R ¶
‘I’ve told you before, you’ve got to trust in the Universe,’ Sharon said. ‘I know your spirit guides are with you – I can see them even if you can’t!’
She smiled at me. ‘I think this is what your guides and the Universe meant to happen all along.’
Istarted drawing regularly for Sharon’s clients – and it was like a channel had opened. Suddenly, I could draw and paint in the free, uninhibited way I’d always dreamed of doing. I never thought about it ORJLFDOO\ LW MXVW ÀRZHG RXW RI me without me realising it.
‘It’s like when you’re driving a car and suddenly you’re at your destination but you’re not sure how you got there,’ I said to Sharon, trying to put the feeling into words.
‘It’s your spirit guides taking over, controlling you and putting the pencil or paint where it needs to go,’ Sharon explained to me.
During one card reading, I sketched a dog. Pretty random, I thought. When the woman looked at it, she started crying. It was
her dad’s dog and her dad had just come through to us during the reading.
Flat cap
Another time, I drew a
PDQ LQ D ÀDW FDS ZLWK D SLW head in the background.
‘That’s my grandfather,’ the client said immediately. ‘And you’ve also drawn the view from the window of his house in the background. Wow! That really is uncanny.’
Recently, I’ve been drawing a little girl, Sharon says it’s one of her guides, Emily.
I’ve actually seen Emily myself. Although I can’t see things if I look at them head-on, I seem to have no problem seeing spirit, even with my eyes shut! I’ve caught glimpses of little Emily in the corner of our bedroom. She’s about six years old, and Sharon says she probably died of smallpox.
I can’t see my own guides – but Sharon can. She says that one of them is a monk. I’ve also done a shamanic journey to connect with my animal guide, and I got the word ‘marmoset.’ I actually had to look that up afterwards as I didn’t know what a marmoset was!
I can feel them with me, though. Most importantly, I can feel their energy guiding me when I paint. It’s like I’m a channel for spirit, and I’m doing their work of helping them connect with the living.
Dream come true
Sharon was right, of course – she always is! Although it was incredibly hard losing my sight like that, the Universe gave me my dream – the ability to paint. My blood pressure has gone down since I gave up my stressful job, and Sharon and I have moved to Newport, South Wales, where we run the %XWWHUÀ\ (QOLJKWPHQW &HQWUH WRJHWKHU R HULQJ KHDOLQJ readings and spiritual development courses.
I’m far happier now than I was in my old job and life.
It was like someone up there ¿QDOO\ VDLG Μ5LJKW ZH¶UH JRLQJ to sort this out for him.’ As Sharon says – trust in the Universe and it’ll see you right!
One of my spirit guides is a monk
Learn more about Chris and Sharon or book an appointment at bengalrose.co.uk