“I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything in the world.”

New York Times best-seller and star of the TLC show Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo is bringing her show to the South Okanagan Events Centre on April 9.

Caputo said being able to connect with Spirit, the name she’s given to a presence she claims to have felt since she was four years old, is an honour because her gift brings peace to so many of her fans. Mediums, she said, act as conduits between the living and deceased, delivering messages to loved ones in hopes that they’ll find closure.

“I knew what I did helped people, and changed people’s lives, but until Long Island Medium and until I started travelling around the country doing live shows and hearing people who have watched the show or attended the live show, about how it really did change their life, gave me a completely different perspective and level,” said Caputo. “To be able to give someone the gift of peace and to sense their loved ones giving them permission to live their life with happiness and joy, even though they have died, is such a gift.”

Caputo said being a medium between the living and the deceased has allowed her to realize that people experience grief in so many different ways, a realization she says has given her clarity and perspective about her role.

“I think in life, regardless of whatever it is, we think that people experience the same things that we do. That was the way it was for me with my gift. I thought everyone saw people standing at the foot of their bed at night, heard people talk to them in a room when no one else is there but yourself,” said Caputo. “And even with grief, there is so many different levels of grief. There are so many reasons people might not want to go on after the loss of a loved one.

“For Spirit to be able to acknowledge these bullies and guilts and negative emotions that we carry and to say, ‘Hey, you need to start living life again.’ Knowing that it’s living life through my eyes with happiness and joy and knowing that you’re not missing out, it’s absolutely incredible.”

Related: Theresa Caputo, star of hit TV show, coming to Penticton

But Caputo is no stranger to non-believers and doesn’t blame them for their skepticism.

“People ask me all the time ‘How do you handle people that don’t believe in what you do?’ and I’m like ‘Listen, I just want to say that what I do is absolutely crazy!’, you know,” said Caputo. “Spirit talks about things that you experience, things that you witness with your own two eyes. And it is almost like a life coach saying put your best foot forward, and go out and live life. And believe in yourself.

“That’s the main message for me. I want everyone to know that there is more to life than just here in the physical world. More importantly, your loved ones are still with you.”

As an example, Caputo said to pay attention to “the little things that go on around you that remind you” of a passed loved one. This could include a song that makes you think of them or a familiar smell that brings them to your mind.

“These are direct messages from your loved ones. That’s a bond that can never and will never be broken. I want you to know that all those little things that go on around you that you might be a coincidence or weird, it’s not. It is Spirit.”

Caputo said she’s “incredibly proud” of the live shows she’s been able to put together with her team, saying that she will be in and amongst the crowd for a majority of the SOEC event.

“I never want anyone to be deterred by the size of the space while I’m performing because I am not on that stage,” said Caputo. “What happens is I come out, I give a quick speech for maybe 10 to 12 minutes and then Spirit will start to guide me around that stage. I don’t where I’m going to be, I don’t know who is going to get read.

“Spirit will have me stop and deliver the messages to you, right there in front of you. We have cameras that follow me around and it’s set up so you can feel and be a part of this amazing experience. It is so intimate, even if there are 5,000 people, it’s so intimate. People tell me all the time that while they personally did not get read, what they saw was life-changing.”

Tickets for Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience at the SOEC are $39.75 (plus service charges) each and can be purchased online in advance. Purchasing a ticket does not guarantee a reading.

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