Personal Experiences

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by Indian

My experience of usual skeptics - the one's we're meeting around us, is that they're feeling uneasy about this paranormal stuff & wants it to go away, everything should be taboo & any explanation is good enough to brush off most experiences - they're just not interested & soon forgets experiences they might have shared.

I think this is true in many cases, but there are also other reasons. Some are reacting to negative experiences with organized religion. Some just aren't aware of the evidence and accept the conventional scientific/academic point of view without question.

...To force feed them with more info about interesting historic paranormal research may just further alienate them.

At one time I was dismissive of the afterlife but when I looked at the evidence I changed my mind. So I know from personal experience that there are some open minded skeptics.

Some emotional experience must humble them, so they start asking questions themselves.

Yes. I agree 100%. There are no athiests in a foxhole.

....Then, but first then, they might accept suggested reading lists, etc.



(The internet debating type skeptic is similar - but less likely to ever change his mind, since they're less likely to run into some experience that'll humble them without any experiencers in their daily lives.)

Any type of skeptic can have an experience that can open them to a sincere investigation of the afterlife. It isn't necessarily an "ordinary" paranormal experience. It can be an illness, accident, an NDE, or the death of a loved one. What one considers convincing evidence is subjective. Anything that can change their subjective bias can allow them to look at the evidence differently. When you are facing death yourself or you have lost someone you dearly love your perspective on the importance of the question changes and you begin to look at the evidence differently.

[Sandy B]

Originally Posted by anonymous

It might help to educate your husband about what other people believe about psychic phenomena. It might not change his mind, but it might make him more accepting of your beliefs.

I don't even know what my beliefs are!

I know what I see and experience and what that seems to suggest, but I still wish I could go back to not knowing about such things. I can't blame him for believing in what he does. I wish I could too...

[Sandy B]

Originally Posted by Indian

When you want's to be alone & be closed - I suppose you've tried all the usual technniques like imagining a shield around you bouncing off all uninvited influence?

I’ve done that with varying degrees of success. I think the biggest obstacle I have is that part of me still wants to deny what is happening to me. Actually using such techniques is akin to admitting that I need to use them.

[Sandy B]

Marion (my latest ghost) is a difficult individual. She is causing me a lot of physical pain. I've tried the whole imagining a barrier between her and me thing, and that is helping. But she really scared me. She got way too close for comfort, and I thought she was gong to walk through me to make me pay attention to her. But she tried to stay inside, which hurt like hell, giving me a bad headache and a searing pain in my side. I almost passed out.

I imagined a bright light pushing her away. That worked pretty well. I don't feel dizzy now and my head has cleared. I was cold and queasy for a while, but now she seems to be gone and I feel much better.

I tried talking to her, but she doesn’t want to talk. Marion is angry and feels like everything is unfair. From the images I got when she was around, she is angry with her husband for having a girlfriend. Marion doesn’t accept her own death. I’m trying to ask for a relative to come and help her. So far, no one has shown up.

[Sandy B]

I saw Marion while I was out walking to the park today. She was so frustrated and angry that she let out a terrible wail that frightened quite a number of dogs in the neighborhood. One of my neighbors who was walking her kids home from school commented on how weird it was that so many dogs started barking exactly at the same time.

I waited until I got to the far end of the park, where there were fewer people, before I tried talking to her. She effortlessly walked over to the park bench and sat down as I pushed my way through the snow to get to the same place. She didn't leave footprints. She was very detailed. She had jeans, winter boots and a heavy sweater jacket with very pretty knit details in different colors. I didn’t try touching her because I still don’t trust her that much.

Marion said she had never realized that there was such a pretty park in our neighborhood. She never went out to the park on her own. Marion spent her whole life doing everything for her family. No wonder she felt so betrayed and angry with them when they stopped responding to her after she died.

No relatives ever came forward to help Marion. She said there was no one she really felt close to except her husband and kids, and they didn’t love her anymore. I told her that wasn’t true. I also suggested that when most kids grow up they stop noticing mom and dad anyway, even if you are still alive .

Marion is still pretty angry about her circumstances. I suggested that she could travel and see things that she might enjoy. I also suggested that she could talk to other ghosts. I mentioned Jack, the engineer I met before, since they both seem to have a strong sense of commitment to their respective families and they both hang out in the same neighborhood. I figure they could try making some new connections with people even if they are dead.

Marion said she would think things over. I don’t think she has really moved on as such. But at least she isn’t tormenting me any more. Maybe she will make friends with Jack.

[Sandy B]

It’s been a while since I’ve added to this thread. I haven’t stopped having experiences, although I’ve certainly tried to stop having them. I thought some people might enjoy this one.

On Saturday I had to supervise a make-up midterm, and before it started one of the proctors came over and started talking to me about her father who had recently passed away. She mentioned about how since he passed away she keeps finding coins everywhere; She believes that is a sign he is OK. After she mentioned about the coins, she looked down and there was a penny on the floor. She picked it up and was very happy about the sign from dad.

Big deal. Coins end up on the floor all the time. But then another coin showed up. This time it was in the middle of the floor, and I know it wasn't there just a minute before we both saw it. She ran over and picked that one up too. I still thought it was just a coincidence. Or that maybe she was playing a trick on me. Then I saw the ghost. Not a stuck ghost that needs to be moved on, but a happy, glowing older gentleman.

This time the ghost pointed at the floor, and I saw the coin appear out of thin air. No one was near that spot, and the room was still empty except for two proctors and myself. I was looking right at that spot when the coin appeared. The lady picked it up, and it was really neat because it was a foreign coin, not a local one. The ghost was laughing and then he just disappeared.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by Sandy B

The ghost was laughing and then he just disappeared.

That's amazing.

A few years ago I made a decision to take time off from my career and it was something I gave a lot of thought to. Around the time I made the decision I found $5 or $10 on three separate occasions. The obvious spiritual interpretation is that I didn't need to worry, money would be provided.

I often tell people not to do anything because you think a spirit is telling you to that you wouldn't otherwise do. But it's still nice to get their input anyway.

[Sandy B]

Originally Posted by anonymous

I often tell people not to do anything because you think a spirit is telling you to that you wouldn't otherwise do. But it's still nice to get their input anyway.

I agree.

This was such an odd experience. The coins were obviously a message to the ghosts daughter that he was OK, but I think there was a message in there for me too.

This past week I've really been fighting these experiences. I even went so far as to tell a ghost that I couldn't help her because I wasn't psychic and there is no such thing as ghosts anyway. (I felt guilty afterwards, and helped her out.) I thought I could talk myself out of being the way I am. It didn't work.

I think the message for me was that seeing ghosts isn't all bad. There is a need for people to get messages from loved ones who have passed. There is a need to understand what happens to us after our bodies die.

I can accept that those things may be true. I'm just not convinced that I'm the one who needs to be passing along this sort of information.