Poll: your experiences with losing a loved one, sensing the dead, etc. etc?

Question

Hello!! So, I am writing a paper for a class (Anth 332, Shamanism and Healing) on people's experiences of losing a loved one, sensing the presence of those who have passed on, etc. etc. Please, answering even just ONE of these questions would help, as long as you don't mind possibly being quoted in a paper. Thank you soooooooo much!!!!!

1.Have you ever been close to someone who has died? If so, who? How close were you?
2.Have you ever felt a strong sense of the presence of someone who has died?
3.Have you ever had vivid memories of someone who has died?
4.Vivid dreams?
5.Do certain sights, sounds, smells, etc. bring back strong memories of a person?
6.Do certain places (specific or unspecific) give you a strong sense of the dead?
7.Have you ever felt the presence of a person/people that you did NOT personally know? (i.e. being in a place and sensing spirits of people who died long ago, sensing past unrest)

Answer 1

I have 4 people die that I have been close to and one not very long ago. my parents have both died , my sister who was my best friend and agreat sister has passed on, and a very good friend we were very close

Answer 2

I have had several very close friends who have passed several come in dreams and there are times I can feel them, however I have had a partner of 12 years whom I was and am in love with and I was present at the passing, at that time I felt his spirit leave first the shell and then the room, He has been gone just over 16 years now and I continue to have vivid dreams and feel presents, however there are times I can smell him, feel him and hear him speak to me, it is usually when I need it, like when I need to make a decision or when I am avoiding an issue, however he also comes while I am in an astral state and those times are when I am more than sure he is comforting and loving me just like when we were alive together. There is a strong sense on oneness at those times.
I think we all feel others, however I believe we don't necessarily feel someone who hasn't been part of our spiritual circle. I feel friends and can at times hear them and I often feel and see my Father and friends all gone from this plaine in astral state. It is a comfort to us all, It also helps us feel good about joining them again. I have had near death experiences, one of which I had to be resusitated and shocked back into this plaine, I remember warmth and brightness and a feel of knowledge and love that I cannot explain very well. Death is so natural and good and a new begining.

Answer 3

1. Yes, my mother. I was by her side when she passed.

2. No.

3. I have very vivid memories of her.

4. I have extremely vivid dreams about her -- when I awake, I feel like I have had a nice visit with her.

5. Many things -- the smell of holiday baking, a frigid day, wood smoke...

6. I am reminded strongly of her when I am in my sister's house; we all spent a great deal of time together there.

7. No.

I hope this helps you! :)

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Answer 4

2.) No, I have never felt the presence of someone who has died. I live in a wonderful, natural world that is free of magic and superstition. I do not allow myself to be swayed by unsubstantiated myths about ghosts and spirits and I have so far (in my adult life) managed to avoid being swayed by hysterical suggestibility.

I used to take for granted the existence of ghosts and spirits. Then I looked into it a bit further. I read about these things, did some research, investigated and have come to the conclusion there is no such thing as a haunted place, just haunted people.

6.) Cemeteries.

7.) See #2.

Answer 5

1. Yes; Both parents; they were my parents.
2. NO! That would be delusional.
3. Yes; My memory is not that bad.
4. No.
5. Yes
6. NO!
7. NO! That to would be delusional.

Answer 6

I have experiences all the time. The first one was with my mother's aunt. She was my grandmother's sister and after my grandmother died when I was three she stepped in to fill that role. She died of cancer and it was a really long and painful death. I was about 8 when she passed. She came back to me in a dream where it was raining when the dream began and she was packing to leave and i was crying. By the time she told me she was ok and happy now and left it was completely dry and sunny and I accepted it.
A friend of mine from highschool died (I hadn't seen him in about 8 years). I didn't know he died until I found the newspaper rolled up behind the tv with his obituary. The significance of this is I rarely buy newspapers and when I do I read them immediately and get rid of them. This one sat behind the tv for at least two weeks and I have no idea how it even got there. I started hearing songs that made me think of him Green Day or Tom Petty were on the radio EVERY time I turned it on. For weeks. Then I saw him in a car at 3 am waving at me out the passenger window (going the same direction as me on a 4 lane highway). I realized after going a block down the road that he was dead and slammed on the brakes. The car wasn't there.
When my dog just passed, my husband and I shared experiences of her. We were lying on her mattress on the floor after we got home from the vet and I put my hand on his heart because I saw her as a puppy in the shadow that fell there. He told me a few minutes later that I would probably think he was crazy but she was showing him pictures in his mind. Of her as a puppy. We would think the same things about her - like her running through a meadow or that we had to do something for the other dogs, like she was sending us messages. We saw a picture board of dogs for adoption from the shelter we got her from and he pointed to a picture of a dog that was sitting in a really strange position with a weird grin on his face. I pulled out my cell phone and showed him the picture of our baby girl in the same position with the same grin. Not normal for dogs to look that way at all.
These are my most profound experiences. I smell flowers that aren't there (so does my mother), I sense things about people who have passed and other unremarkable stuff like that too.
I don't sense it at cemeteries though. I have always found them peaceful places, especially the really old parts. I don't think the spirits hang around there often but they appreciate us looking at the headstones and remembering.

Answer 7

I used to get upset when the word death was mentionned...I now work in a palliative wing at a hospital...now it's the circumstances of the death that bother me, the suffering...
1. I have lost my grandparents...was very close to one grandmother and it actualy made me more upset just to see my mother cry...
I know this might sound corny but when I lost my 17 year old Lab, I felt like I lost part of myself, like a limb
2. I have felt my grandmother's presence
5. When I see a blue jay I feel my grandma (her fav. bird), when someone cooks butter tarts or chocolate cookies it brings me back...
6. I don't know why but an open field gives me a sense of death

Answer 8

1 - 4 people - my mother, my father, my brother, my father in law. Very close to all 4 of them
2 - No
3 - Memories of someone you were close to? Kind of a silly question don't you think?
4 - Again rather a silly question.
5 - No
6 - No
7 - No

Answer 9

Not sure if this helps you or not but this is a TRUE story...

Right before my Aunt passed away, she called out to my grandmother [who had died 15 years earlier] as she was looking upwards [as if she could see her].

It was very eery and it sent a chill down everyone's spine, as we were all sitting by her bed when she died.

We discussed it later & everyone thought she could "see" my grandmother waiting for her from the "other side"....
Strange, but a TRUE story : )

Hope this helps you out!
:) Nicole

Answer 10

1.Yes. My mother, best friend, and my father. I was close to my mother and my best friend.
2.Yes. Only my mother, though
3.Yes. My mother more than my friend, though
4.I've woke up in tears, the dream was so real. Again, my mom
5.Yes, to long to list
6.Yes, her home, car and unspecific
7. No, not that have ever noticed
If possible, could you give me feedback on this, if you get any. Thanks