Write and speak about your experience.

People want to hear your story.  Go to local IANDS groups and get to know other experiencers sooner not later.  Hearing from other experiencers will make you feel less alone in your travels outside of form.   (Also, if you have a friend or family member who has had a NDE, encourage this person to get involved and talk more about their experience.)

I always feel like I’ve found a brother or sister when I meet another experiencer because we immediately share a certain knowing, a knowing that is difficult to put into words.

First, we know what it is like to be outside of form.

We know what it is like to shake off this body and look down at our physical body and realize that we are more than form.  We know what it is like to be only our soul, without the body.

Though people talk about spiritual experiences while in form, a near-death experience is unlike any other spiritual experience.  Since my NDE, I’ve felt the presence of masters, guides, angels, and archangels while in form, but nothing has ever compared to my near-death experience.  When the veil is lifted and form is shrugged off, that environment is a clear reality.  I’ve had amazing meditations, lucid dreams, intense relationships, paranormal experiences, and instant healings, but nothing comes close to the experience of leaving this body behind and realizing that our journey is never-ending.

This experience cannot be exactly duplicated without physically dying, and the physical pain that accompanies this is NOT something NDErs are excited to replicate. However, we don’t fear death because we know our eternal nature.

I’ve heard that some people have used Ketamine to induce experiences similar to a NDE and Ayahuasca for healings and spiritual experiences.   Here is an example of someone who compared a drug induced experience to his NDE.  Personally, I am not open to experimenting with these substances to compare them to my near-death experience.  I am more interested in focusing on health, healing, and deepening connection to the divine.

Though these drug induced experiences might allow some people to transcend their senses and come to many of the same conclusions as NDErs, I can’t help but think that the actual physical trauma of a real death induces something more intense.   What is interesting about these drug-induced experiences is that most people believe that they have accessed a portal to the other side.  Like NDErs, they are filled with certainty that this is not the chemistry in their brain but their brain simply allowing them to perceive reality that they were not able to sense before.

Secondly, many NDErs have met with angels or guides while outside of form.

We know what it is like to communicate telepathically and receive information quickly.  Information can be many things at once—it can be healing, comforting, uplifting, upgrading, and transformative.   We might be healed by these guides or prepared for the next part of our near-death experience.  Sometimes, they help prepare us to return to our bodies and remind us of certain truths.

I continue to communicate with angels, guides, masters, and loved ones on the other side, but my communications with angels during my surgery and NDE were particularly powerful. These angels were large, intelligent, focused, and glowing.  I couldn’t stop staring at them.  When I communicate with angels now, the communication feels different from that moment.  I might hear messages or feel as softening or healing of something.   I might find an answer to a problem in an unusual way because of an angelic message.  The NDE placed me literally in a life or death situation, so the stakes were higher; the drama was intensified, to put it mildly.

Some mediums and psychics have communicated with the other realm for most of their lives.  NDErs were often not interested in gaining this ability, but the NDE can open people to these gifts after their experience.  Aftereffects can be disorienting.  I made a video about some of my aftereffects.

Thirdly, many of us have seen loved ones on the other side, and these loved ones usually appear in peak condition, younger and healthier than they might have been in life. 

My grandfather died when I was ten years old, so I hardly recognized the younger version of him in the afterlife.  His essence comforted me though, and upon later reflection when I looked at a picture of him as a younger man I realized that the man asking me if I wanted to continue toward the light of God was my grandfather.

A friend of mine recently pointed out that seeing our relatives in their younger states is a common trait among NDErs.  For those who still worry that NDEs are only a function of the brain shutting down, it might be worth noting that these commonalities during NDEs probably can’t be explained as a function of the brain shutting down.  And, on a logical level, if you had to pick a spiritual form after death, wouldn’t you pick a form when you felt healthy, happy, and vital?

Fourthly, I’ve never met ANYONE who had a NDE who thought that what they experienced was a dream or their brain shutting down. 

For us, these experiences are usually more real than this reality.  I explain it as adding several more dimensions to this reality.   Although I was initially afraid that all the morphine I had to take after surgery might wash away my memory of the other side, I quickly realized that I was changed as a person.  My insights were deeper and more layered.  I was much more sensitive to sights, sounds, and experiences.  I was not the same person after my NDE.   However, NDErs do return to our lives, our psychological wounds, and our proclivities.  My up-coming book examines the journey back to a place where I could fully incorporate the truths of the NDE.

Last of all, for those of us with NDEs that included being in the presence of a  powerful, divine light of God we often feel great wonder and amazement at how good we felt in the presence of God.

I had never felt that loved, that alive, that healed, that joyful, that peaceful all at once.  I was whole, complete, and connected to the most amazing force imaginable.  God wanted me to know that I am a part of God and should remind others of their light and connection to source.  Life is much better when we focus on the light of God and not all that is at odds with perfection.

Get Involved:  I’m writing this piece to encourage all NDErs to communicate their experiences.  If family members are not interested in your experience, find friends who are open.  Find IANDS groups and other supportive communities.   Even though it might prove difficult to translate these experiences into descriptions that make sense to others—keep trying.  When you have transcended the senses and experienced life beyond the body, language sometimes seems inaccurate.  Use analogies.  Make up terms that make sense to you.  We will follow where you go.

Skeptics and Others:  Don’t fear that others will think you are crazy.  Some of them will.  Who cares?  There is a big tribe of people who are believers, and there are plenty of experiencers themselves who will talk with you.  These experiences are becoming more common.  It gets harder to deny them the more of us who speak openly.

Just as I have enjoyed meeting other experiencers, it is a great pleasure to meet others who have read widely about this subject or who have had paranormal or transformative spiritual experiences themselves. You will find people who understand your experience, so don’t be afraid to get involved.

Certainly, some people will attack you, mainly evangelicals if you didn’t see Jesus, or people who would prefer to believe that there is a scientific explanation for our spiritual reality.   You might lose some friends, but you will enlighten others and gain plenty more friends.  You will comfort countless others who have lost loved ones and long to know that they are safe and loved.

Some skeptics might simply ask you more questions.  I had a fellow writer ask me to describe with more detail the healing light the angels sent into my body during surgery. He asked if the light was like a laser beam or a headlight.  How can I describe a light that is both intelligent and healing?  It was both like a laser like and like headlight.  It entered my body and healed my body while it communicated to me what was occurring.  Simply put, this is not like any other light we have experienced on this plane of existence.

Uncommon Elements:  Don’t be afraid if your story contains elements that are not common to NDEs.  We are all individuals, and I believe that the other side meets us where we need to be met and teaches us the lessons that we need.  Even those who have had disturbing NDEs or hellish experiences, have gained a lot from these experiences and returned to life full of greater resolve and optimism.

I was happy to feature a story on my blog about Ethan Michael Carter’s eight deaths.  I’m not certain that I’ve heard of anyone who has had more than three NDEs.  Ed Salisbury and Dannion Brinkley have both had three NDEs.  I feel like I’ve discovered someone who has traveled frequently to the Other Realms, as he calls it. Though Ethan Carter’s NDEs were recent, I hope that he continues to unpack and write about his experiences and the lessons learned in these Other Realms.

My NDE:  When I had my NDE, I was young, wild, and lost.  It was amusing to write about all my friends reactions to my experience, and I was never the same after that moment.  Even when I tried to forget my travels to the other side, I couldn’t forget.  Even when I was angry with my life experiences and challenges, I couldn’t deny that healing of these experiences could happen quicker because of my connection to the other side.

Awakening accelerates when we walk through challenges because we are connected to more people and capable of helping many others both for overcoming our challenges and for our ability to manifest beauty, peace, compassion, and freedom in our lives.

When we all remember our connection to God, we allow ourselves to let go of all that we don’t need and embrace all that we want to experience on this journey.  On the other side, pain and darkness immediately washed away.  Love is what remains and what matters.

I wish I had written about my NDE sooner.  I wish I had been more involved in IANDS throughout my life.  However, I am involved now, and this involvement had enriched my life.  Writing about my NDE has kept the light of God in the forefront of my consciousness and that is a beautiful gift.  I hope you embrace that gift.

If you are interested in a book that comprehensively covers the various types of NDEs, I wrote a review of Dr. Jeffrey Long’s book God and the Afterlife.  

Most of all, if you are an experiencer, I hope that you find local groups and online communities that support you on your journey.

My memoir, Angels in the OR: What Dying Taught Me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation, can be pre-ordered.  It is a #1 new release in several categories.  I would love your support.  My aim is to help make near-death experiences more mainstream and to bring more healing to this world.