Guest Profile

Brian Smith

My life’s journey has given me a unique perspective on human experience, with an appreciation for both the joys and the sorrows I’ve encountered along the way.

I grew up in a Pentecostal religious tradition, and later became part of an evangelical community. After that I became a Christian Universalist, and later went on to study Buddhism and various mystical traditions. As a young man, I was deeply scarred by toxic religion, which, among other things, instilled in me an intense fear of death… a fear that my lifelong spiritual quest has now relieved.

With my wife of 30 years, I raised two beautiful, competent, compassionate and independent daughters. In June 2015, one them, my youngest daughter Shayna, suddenly and unexpectedly passed from this life into the next life at age 15-½. With Shayna’s passing, I experienced the most profound loss anyone can suffer.

After Shayna’s transition, my spiritual quest intensified, prompted by the extraordinary visions and messages I received from her after her death. As a result of those experiences, I immersed myself in researching concepts of the afterlife, taking a scientific as well as a spiritual and philosophical approach to it. I needed to know, not just believe. It’s this experience that I now share with my audiences and the readers of my book, Grief 2 Growth; Planted. Not Buried.