Near Death Experiences

NDE is short for Near Death Experience. One in ten people worldwide has had an NDE, some more than once. The International Association for Near-Death Studies (Durham, NC) estimates that 774 NDEs occur in the United States every day.

Regardless of age, race, culture, or where they live geographically, people who have had NDEs recall similar experiences.

• Seeing white light while dying (a blaze of light or a tunnel of light)
• Seeing light beings, angels, people, lost relatives (some they've never met or seen pictures of in life)
• Meeting Jesus or a "man" (without seeing the face)
• Looking down from the ceiling or higher and seeing one's own lifeless body
• Seeing Earth from a great distance
• Seeing a part of a larger, more beautiful Earth "up there"
• Seeing colors much more vividly than humanly possible
• Hearing music, singing, or the tinkling of bells
• Communicating telepathically
• Feeling more love, peace, and joy than imaginable
• Being shown aspects of one's life called a "life review"

Many report being told it's "Not Time" to die, while others are offered a choice to stay or go back. 

All say they were changed in some way.

• They came back with faith or restored faith
• They came back with a new sense of purpose or reason for living
• They came back with a need to serve others in some way
• They suddenly had an awareness they didn't previously have
• They returned with heightened senses, sensitivity to energy, or psychic gifts
• They are no longer afraid of death

Some people have returned angry because they didn't want to leave the love behind. Once in a while, people say they entered a place of darkness where they were afraid for their very soul but were "saved".

I've personally experienced two NDEs, one when I was a child and drowned in a swimming pool and again as a young mother on an operating table when my heart stopped due to a post-birth hemorrhage. In my first NDE, I saw a spinning vortex of light coming down to meet me. As I floated up into it, I noticed what looked like little white bird wings at first. The closer I got, the more I saw small bodies of light attached to them. I could hear the tinkling of bells and a kind of "singing". A brighter light greeted me when I neared the top of the tunnel. I was surprised it didn't hurt my eyes. It was so comforting. It filled me with so much love and peace that I wanted to stay in that light forever. But before I could go any further, I was yanked out of the water by my hair by a young man who saw me lifeless under the water. I had not died, but I had been so close.

My second NDE was different than the first. When my heart stopped beating on the surgical table, I floated up to the ceiling and could see the doctors and nurses working to save me. I didn't have any feelings about this. It was like watching a movie about someone else. I had a slight concern, but not much. I floated to the rooftop of the building and kept going. I went up through a similar vortex as during my first NDE, but with no angels or singing, just light and clouds. At the very top, the clouds turned to fog, and when the fog cleared, I found myself on a new, beautiful Earth. I remember thinking, "This must be heaven." I was walking up a grassy hill toward a beautiful "city" over the top of the ridge in the distance that glowed in gold light when three light beings floated toward me and telepathically told me to stop and wait. I asked why, and they said it wasn't my time. They turned in reverence to a light behind them. I looked up and saw the feet of a man walking toward us. He came right up to me. I knew this was Jesus. I couldn't see his face, but I could feel his presence and see his robe and the shadows around his beard. He motioned me to walk back down the hill and sit with him on a small boulder. As we sat with his right hand on my right shoulder and our feet in the grass, he parted the clouds with his left arm. I could see Earth at a left angle in the distance below us. It was then that I realized I was a child again. I instantly remembered my life, growing up, my children, the surgery, and bleeding to death. Jesus looked at me and asked me if I wanted to return. I said no, but I struggled with my answer a bit. I didn't want to leave my children. Who would take care of them? They would be separated and maybe never see each other again or worse. But I didn't want to leave the peace and love I felt either. Jesus knew. He told me it wasn't my time, but I had a choice. I could stay, or I could go back. He waited. So much patience. So much love. He told me my children needed me. I started to cry. He gave me a gentle squeeze, which made the tears roll down my cheeks, and then I realized I was my correct age again. I chose to go back. I couldn't leave my babies. And, then, there was blackness. I woke up sometime later back in my body, heavy, tired, weak, and in pain. And I remembered EVERYTHING.

The Negative After Effects of NDEs

You might experience emotional problems as a result of a near-death experience. As mentioned earlier, anger can be an after-effect of an NDE. Anxiety and depression (two sides of one coin) can also surface. Let's face it: an NDE is stressful. You have to die or be close to death to have one. How can you NOT stress? Furthermore, we all react differently to stress. Right? Some NDEs cause chronic stress. Sometimes, anger, anxiety, and depression are caused by the knowledge that the kind of peace and love you felt "there" can't be found "here". It can be challenging to be awakened to that kind of love and then be unable to experience it where you live. Hence, chronic stress, which is an HSV trigger.

If you remember being in a place of darkness and being fearful (in Hell) during an NDE, I suspect your critical brain (the part of your brain that has to make rational sense of everything) may have stepped in. Have you ever been highly stressed, gone to sleep, and had a nightmare? The nightmare was caused by your critical mind trying to make sense of intuitive information filtering through while asleep. In the same way, during an NDE, the critical brain can cause after-effects of nightmares, terrifying thoughts, or disturbing mental images by way of trying to create some order out of your NDE experience. Maybe you woke up in pain and had to continue living with the memory of what you went through before your body died. You could have PTSD. Many people who have PTSD suffer from nightmares and disturbing thoughts. If your NDE didn't end in "love and light," it can be helpful to talk to someone specializing in NDEs or read up on how others have handled their experiences. For starters, I suggest visiting https://www.iands.org/ndes/about-ndes/distressing-ndes.html.