Welcome to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast DAM paranormal podcast network. Now get ready for another episode of Shades of the Afterlife with Sandra Champlain.
Welcome to our podcast. Please be aware the thoughts and opinions expressed by the host are their thoughts and opinions only and do not reflect those of iHeartMedia, iHeartRadio, Coast to Coast AM, employees of Premiere Networks, or their sponsors and associates. We would like to encourage you to do your own research and discover the subject matter for yourself. Hi. I'm Sandra Champlain. For over twenty five years, I've been on a journey to prove the existence of life after death.
On each episode, we'll discuss the reasons we now know that our loved ones have survived physical debt, and so will we. Welcome to Shades of the Afterlife. Row Row, row your boat gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a dream. Do you remember singing that song when you were a child. I sure do. Today we're going to talk about lucidity, those extra clear moments that happen in different ways around dying near death experiences.
Life reviews and more. I've told you this story before, but a friend of mine, retired race car driver, had a crash that led him into being in a coma. He remembers a world clearer than this one, with his deceased grandmother and grandfather being right there to greet him and giving him the opportunity to either go with them or return to Earth. He hovered above the hospital room and saw his mom and dad and his brother praying
by the bedside, and knew he wanted to return. Of course, he came back in a body filled with pain, but he had no fear of dying. After that, he said, Sandra, my experience with my grandparents made this life feel like it was the dream. It was so clear, without the
fear of dying. This man went on to winning great championships and automobile racing, and I think, ultimately sharing these stories on shades of the Afterlife, I want to help all of us live great lives, delve into our fears, make things happen, and get our money's worth out of life. It is said that there are moments of crystal clarity in near death experiences in deathbed visions, but there is also this phenomenon called terminal lucidity. Hospice workers can call
it rallying that may occur just before someone dies. Last night, I finished reading a brand new book called Threshold, Terminal Lucidity and the Border of Life and Death, written by Alexander Battiani. Here's the description of the book. Terminal lucidity is a relatively common but poorly understood phenomena near the end of life. Many people, including those who have suffered brain injuries or strokes, have been silenced by mental illness or deep dementia, and then they experience what seems to
be a miraculous return. They regain their clarity and energy, are able to speak with families and caregivers recalling their lives, and often appear to be aware of their nearing death.
In this remarkable book, cognitive scientist and director of the Victor Frankel Institute, doctor Alexander Battiani offers the first major account of terminal lucidity, including hundreds of cases and his research in the related field of near death studies to explore the mind, the body, the nature of consciousness, and what the living can learn from those who are crossing the border from life to death. Astonishing, authoritative, and deeply moving.
Threshold opens a doorway into one of life's and death's most provocative mysteries. So I have to say I completely agree with that description. The author doesn't tell us what to believe, but I am left with awe of the power and magic of my soul and what is possible. I listened to an interview doctor Battiani gave I. I'd
like to paraphrase some of his words here. He says, in two thousand and nine, a few articles appeared in scientific journals on the phenomena of terminal lucidity, and these were all historical cases written by Victorian doctors in Victorian times. Those stories frankly seemed too good to be true, and I thought, we need to know if this happens today.
In autumn, at the end of the term, my students are usually overburdened with what they have to learn for their exams, so I usually use the last two or three sessions in my lecture to talk about findings where they don't have to do too much work. In I've presented my interest in terminal lucidity and asked for volunteers to collect modern day cases. My students were excited and the first large scale European study on contemporary cases of
terminal lucidity began. We sent questionnaires to about six hundred hospices, hospitals and nursing homes and thought we'd have to wait a while, but in fact, the very next day we received the first reports on terminal lucidity and ever since my database has been growing. My book presents the basic findings of around three hundred cases. These cases are extraordinary. The scientific community is at a loss on how to explain this phenomena because a brain struck by dementia is
not able to recover. The neurons don't grow back in such a short time to have this spontaneous and lucid communication happen. It's like a hard boiled egg. We cannot uncook it and bring it back to the unboiled state. Yet nevertheless the person comes back briefly but in full memory. Again, I highly recommend you picking up a copy of the book Threshold, Terminal Lucidity and the Border of Life and
Death by Alexander Battiani. But on our episode today, I want to tell you some different stories of terminal lucidity from inside his book. Here's the first story. My grandmother had suffered from Alzheimer's dementia for several years. Putting her under the care of a nursing home was a difficult decision for all of us, especially for the man of her life, whom she'd been married to for more than
sixty years. But at some point looking after her at home simply exceeded the strength of this old man who was devoted to his wife. In the final stages of her illness, nothing much seemed to remain of the grandmother I knew and loved. At first, she could no longer recognize us. She stopped speaking all together, and had to be fed because she was no longer capable of eating unaided. My grandfather nonetheless called on her every day, one visit in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our family
went to see my grandmother every Sunday. Truth be told, we didn't so much visit my grandmother as support my grandfather those Sundays. On the day the miracle happened, we reached the door, knocked, entered the room, and saw how my grandfather lovingly held my grandmother's hand and yes, spoke to her. At first, we didn't trust our eyes and ears But then my grandmother looked at us, one by one,
all five of us. Her large, beautiful eyes were perfectly clear the haze of oblivion, the dead gaze, had given way to an expression of vitality, like bright water. I cannot think of a better image. She who hadn't recognized us for a year, who hadn't even reacted when we visited her, addressed every one of us by name. She who'd removed her hand when we wanted to take it, presumably on reflex. However, on that day my grandmother said in plain, clear German that she was glad to be
back and to see us. Then she looked lovingly at her husband, my grandfather, and asked us to take good care of him. She said it was no good him being alone in the big house. My grandfather then lived in a large house that was my mother's childhood home, and that he needed domestic help. When we said that he had recently hired a housekeeper, she simply said, yes, But you could have told me we hadn't done so, because talking to let alone with her a day prior
would have been unthinkable. However, now she clearly understood and was reassured. She took his hand, I saw my grandfather's face. Thick tears were running down his cheeks. Between sobs. He barely managed to say I love you, and she answered I love you, and her gaze I myself weep as I write this down, because I can see the clarity, urgency, and love her eyes expressed that day as clearly as if I could see them now. This conversation lasted some
twenty or thirty minutes. Then my grandmother lay back and soon fell asleep. We stayed at her bedside for another half hour or so until the end of visiting time. None of us talked. When we left. My grandfather linked arms with me as we walked out, but he tore away from me after a few meters and turned back in the corridor of the nursing home because he wanted to kiss his wife once more. It was to be
for the last time. When the phone rang the next morning, I knew before picking up what the wared nurse was going to tell us. My grandmother had died peacefully in her sleep at the age of eighty six. It was one of the most beautiful and wondrous and moving things that I have ever witnessed to this day. Here's another story. My mother had advanced Alzheimer's. She no longer recognized us, and she didn't even seem to care who these strangers were visiting her once or twice a week. On the
day before her passing, however, everything was different. Not only did she recognize us, she wanted to know what had happened in the course of the past year for every one of us delighting in the news. She even shed the odd tear over bad news. When she heard that my younger daughter had recently broken off her engagement and descended into a deep depression, she asked her to stay with her for a while. Afterward. My daughter never told me what she discussed with my mother, but it was
a turning point for her. When we took our leave, we didn't know what to expect next. Was she miraculously healed of her dementia With hindsight, However, I believe that my siblings and me understood that she knew exactly that she didn't have long to live. She said goodbye to every one of us, held our hands, stroking them with her thumb, just as she had done when we were children. She was and I can't think of another way to say this simply her old self again. Sadly, it wasn't
meant to last. She died the very same night. It is time for our first break and we'll be back with more stories from the book Threshold. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Keep it here on the iHeart Radio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Sanders Champlain will be right back.
The Internet is an extraordinary resource that links our children to a world of information, experiences, and ideas. It also can expose them to risk. Teach your children the basic safety rules of the virtual world.
Our children are everything. Do everything for them.
Hi, It's doctr Sky. Keep it right here on the iHeart Radio and Coast to Coast AM Pronormal Podcast Network.
Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and this is our Shades book Club, reading from the book Threshold, Terminal Lucidity and the Border of Life and
Death by doctor and professor Alexander Battiani. Over the course of history, I am sure that there's been many people who have witnessed such terminal lucidity at the bedside, and Batiani says in his book, more than a few of the relatives and friends who witnessed terminal lucidity tell us they feel lonely and isolated with the memory of this experience, or worse that they feel misunderstood by most people when they try to relate to others what they we have witnessed.
After all, until just a few years ago, there wasn't even a term terminal lucidity. Nurses can call this rallying or in this case, the last glow. Here's a quick story. My father's brother had, before our very eyes, experienced a full reawakening from his advanced dementia. Hours before his death. We were all speechless. He looked at us with a clear gaze, called each of us by names, and bade us farewell, and died the same night. Us nurses we know this. We always say the last glow has begun.
Another nurse says, my colleagues, and I want to thank you for doing this research. We call terminal lucidity the last hooray or the second wind. I have myself observed this many many times. Patients come back and then they die. I first witnessed this at nursing school. How confused I was until an older nurse told me that there were things that really characterized the daily experience of nursing, but that we wouldn't learn about in our normal training. How
right she was. In five years of working as a nurse, I witnessed terminal lucidity several times. A colleague of mine was the only person I could openly talk with about these experiences. I am glad and grateful that science has finally taken notice of this. And here's a story by a nun. As a nun, I have been nursing and attending to our older sisters from the convent for years. We pray and we keep watch. We are there for our sisters. The first time I witnessed this was when
our Venerable Mother Superior died. She had been suffering from advanced dementia for several years, but for the last two days before her death, she came back fully to us. Her old self was restored with all of her spiritual and intellectual brilliance. She positively radiated. That was my first
encounter with what you are investigating. Our priest, however, had little use for any of this, and the physician in charge of our convent didn't hide the fact that he considered our report of the revived Mother Superior to be nothing more than a pious tale. Such a thing was impossible, he said. Even if dementia patients did occasionally engage in behavior that resembled meaningful action, spontaneous healing was out of
the question. And yet our Mother Superior had recognized all eight of us sisters, recalled our names, as well as numerous details from the spiritual education she had given us. Then only a few years later, something very similar happened to our oldest sister at the convent. We didn't even try to talk to the doctor. He wasn't going to believe us anyway. I hope that this will change as a result of you and your colleague's work. Again, this
is from the book Threshold by Alexander Battiani. To me, all of these stories show us that we are so much more than our physical bodies, and our minds are not in our brains. Here's another story. My mother was the center of our family. She was my warm and loving mother. But as her dementia progressed, she became increasingly aloof cold, absent. It was very painful to watch her transformation. I will never forget the day when she no longer recognized me and I had to introduced myself to her.
It was so incredibly painful. Here was my mother, and yet she was no more. On her last day, however, everything was different. When I entered the room, she looked at me and called out my name. She recognized me. She radiated the very motherly love I had missed for so many months after that fateful day when she no longer recognized me, but now she did. And when I started to cry, she said, no, no, that is not the way. Come here. I sat down next to her and she took my hand and we had the most
wonderful last conversation. We talked about my childhood, my daughters, my plans for our new house, and about her illness. I had my mother back, and I relished every moment, drinking in her motherly energy and kindness. It was simply wonderful. After an hour, she told me that she was tired. She looked at me, literally pouring out love. Everything was good, everything was right, Everything that needed to be said had been said. Now there was only motherly love and my
love for her. I knew somehow intuitively that this would not last. But with this farewell, even if it was painful, I was okay. I had my mother back, and I was ready for whatever was to come now. She then slowly shook her head and nodded softly. I nodded too, and then she closed her eyes. I left the room, and as soon as I closed the door, I broke out in tears, both of joy and of sadness. I somehow knew that this would be our last time together.
She died the very same evening. Here's another I am a retired PA palliative care physician and have witnessed or was told about many examples of terminal lucidity during my twenty five years of practice. The most striking was a sixty year old woman dying as a result of metastatic brain cancer. She was cared for at her family home and was supported by the general practitioner and community nurses.
She ultimately became unresponsive and unconscious. An indwelling urinary catheter was inserted and a subcutaneous infusion of morphine and midazolamb was instituted. Because she was comfortable, I arranged for her general practitioner to supervise this lady's ongoing care and promise the family I would ring each morning. On the first two mornings, I was told that she was peaceful and had not stirred. She hadn't opened her eyes or given
any sign that she was conscious. On the third morning, I was told she was sitting up in the kitchen drinking champagne. My stunned silence was noted by the daughter, who said, oh, doctor, you aren't aware, but today is my mother's birthday and she is sitting up with all the family and partying. This lady went to bed later that morning and lapsed back into her unconscious state and died twenty four hours later. That reminds me of a story.
While I was cooking for the race car teams, the racing chaplain Steve Kearney, who is now in the spirit world, he told me about his dad. He had been lying in coma for months, and one day, with his adult children around, he opened his eyes. He lifted himself out of bed, swung his legs around. The kids all trying to stop him because he was connect to all kinds
of tubes and breathing apparatus. And he looked out and he said, it is so beautiful there, and they asked him to describe what he saw, and he described the most beautiful scenery and spoke about deceased loved ones that were talking to him, and he even mentioned a friend of his. Now, the thing is, they never told this man that his friend had died, because you see, he
was in the coma, but he saw him there. Steve's dad then said that he could hear Jesus's voice and said he had a very short time left to live and that he was to do what he wanted. So Steve's dad asked the family for some cherry pie an ice cream Sunday, to be dressed in his best Sunday suit, and he wanted the family together to watch a football game on TV. They did all of those things with the dad, and on Christmas Eve, Steve's dad went to
sleep and he never woke up. As in Steve Kearney's story of his dad who heard Jesus's voice, often people see their deceased loved ones in these moments of lucidity. I've spoken about this many times and highly recommend doctor Christopher Kerr's book Death Is But a Dream. But here's another story. My dad was in a nursing home for half a year. He had severe dementia and could no longer formulate a sentence. He didn't recognize any of us. On the day he died, however, he knew exactly who
I was. He looked at me and he started speaking. He said that he knew that he would not be here much longer. I was not sure what he meant or whether he was healed, and wanted to move back to his flat again, but he shook his head. Last night David came and said he would take me home. David was his older brother. He had died four weeks before. When Dad talked about his beloved David, I bit my lip so that I didn't cry right there and then. But Dad looked so happy, so joyous. He really looked
forward to leaving the nursing home with David. Dad died that very night. Here's a quick one, someone wrote. As my father breathed his last he suddenly opened his eyes and asked, did you see that this is breath takingly beautiful wow? Without sounding too woo woo. I am certain that what we saw was his soul departing that worn out meat suit, finally free. This is not from the book.
But this is a great quote. The late missus Thomas A. Edison told me that when her husband was dying, he whispered to his physician, it is very beautiful over there. Edison was a scientist with a factual cast of mind. He never reported anything as fact until he saw it work. He would have never reported it is very beautiful over there, unless having seen he knew it to be true. We'll
be back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM, Aaronormal podcast network.
Hey folks, we need your music. Hey, it's producer Tom at Coast to Coast AM and every first Sunday of the month, we play music from emerging artists just like you. If you're a musician or a singer and have recorded music you'd like to submit, it's very easy. Just go to Coast tocoastam dot com, click the emerging artist banner in the carousel, follow the instructions, and we just might play your music on the air. Go now to Coast
tocoastam dot com to send us your recording. That's Coast to coastam dot com.
The art Belvault never disappoints classic audio at your fingertips. Go now to Coast tocoastam dot com for full details.
This is Afterlife expert Daniel Braakley, and you're listening to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Aaronormal podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain. We're discussing terminal lucidity and that people say is being more clear than even our lives here on Earth. The next part with author Alexander Battiani from his book Threshold.
He talks about the last conversation. He says, further analysis of these reports shows a result I hadn't initially anticipated. Many indicated that the patient was aware that he or she had been in a cognitively impaired state before the lucid episode, and that a significant number of patients seemed to know that their lucid time window was not going to last. Some even spoke about their impending death and used the remaining time to bid farewell to their family, friends,
and caregivers. Altogether, there were five recurring conversation topics reported reminiscing with family members, awareness of impending death, preparations, and last wishes or unfinished business, and occasionally bodily concerns such as hunger or thirst. In the majority of cases, more than one of these topics was discussed during the Lucid episode. Here's the story. Had a wonderful conversation, talked about her last wishes, about family members, told us that we should
not argue with one another and respect her wishes. Talked about each of her children and their future. It was all very clear and urgent. My mother said that she felt so much better. In fact, she had severe dementia for months and did not speak for the last month. She wanted to sit by the open window. It was a beautiful summer, and she even asked for chocolate. I went to the vending machine in the entrance hall and bought her favorite chocolate. She devoured it with intense joy.
I think I never saw someone celebrating chocolate as much as she did. Another story, his grandfather had advanced dementia. When the nursing staff told us his health declined and that there was little more they could do, I began visiting him more frequently. I often sat next to his bed and told him I was there, not sure whether he understood me. At all one day. However, it turned out to be his last day. I was totally shocked when he greeted me and inquired about the family, especially
about his sister, who also had advanced dementia. When I told him that we were supporting her in so many ways and that she was forgetful, but peaceful and happy, he was very relieved. He looked very peaceful and relaxed himself. He thanked me and said, tell her I love her and that I will be waiting for her. Shortly thereafter, he fell asleep and he died a few hours later.
I find this interesting. Author bet Tiani says, in our case collection, about a third of the patients died within less than two hours after the lucid episode, another third died within two hours and a day, and a fifth died within two or three days, Whereas in less than ten percent of the cases the patient died within four to seven days, and in about five percent the patient died after more than eight days or not at all near the lucid episode. Hence, in our samples, lucid episodes
were indeed strongly death related. Over ninety percent died within days or hours. Author Bettiani says a sizeable number of our respondents felt overwhelmingly grateful for being granted an unexpected last opportunity to say goodbye to their beloved relative or friend. I'm going to put a little bell like this between stories. My mother's lucidity before dying was a wonderful gift which made her passing so much easier to accept. I also saw her old, loving self in the conversation we had.
After so much emotional hardship with the dementia, it was really good to know she was leaving our reality as herself. It was wonderful to have those final moments and hours with them, to have all the pain and suffering they endured disappear, if only for that brief moment in time. It helped so much with the grieving process. At first surprise, with the enlightening feeling and opportunity to say and hear
something important, very emotional and rewarding experience. The last bit of communication brought all of us a lot of peace and acceptance of our life conditions. I definitely cherish those moments when I remember that I was the last person to interact with her. My name was the last word she spoke, and the way I was able to be with her throughout her illness. No regrets. This was so wonderful moving. I was so happy and grateful. It was a gift and blessing to me, as I had things
I needed to say to him. Some people, however, also mentioned being shocked or confused by the lucid episode. Even though he had been unresponsive all day, I spoke to him and told him I was there. To my surprise, he woke up and started asking about family members. For a moment, I had hoped that she would get better, but she quickly declined and passed away just six days later. Everyone was shocked. We thought it was the end. Then she just sat up and started talking to everyone like
nothing was happening. She was smiling and engaging in conversation like she would normally. Everyone was so confused but happy to have that time with her. Unfortunately it did not last long. I am very bewildered. I have no idea what happened. I know that I should be happy, and I am, but I'm also very confused. Just so you know, I'm skipping around in different chapters within the book threshold.
There really is so much in here I'm trying to pull together the pieces that really relate to stories of the afterlife. Next, he gets into near death experiences, and I'm just going to read to you a few things that he writes, and I found very very interesting. I know, we recently talked about verifiable evidence, that is people seeing themselves from outside of their bodies while their bodies maybe
lying on an operating table. He says forty eight percent of near death experiencers reported seeing their physical bodies from a different visual perspective. Many of them also reported witnessing events going on in the vicinity of their body, such as the attempts of medical personnel to resuscitate them at the scene of an accident or in an emergency room. American researcher Janis Holden further examined ninety three similar reports
of potentially verifiable perceptions during a near death experience. About forty three percent of these reports could be confirmed by an independent witness. Another forty three percent had an independent witness, who, however, could not be contacted for further corroboration. Only in the remaining fourteen percent of cases were there are no witnesses who would have been able to confirm the perceptions of
the near death experiencer. A full eighty eight percent of the cases confirmed by an independent witness were completely accurate, ten percent contained some often minor error, and only two percent were completely erroneous. If you go back to episode one sixty nine, I have several verifiable near death experiences that you'll hear about. But here's some stories. I was in the midst of utter warm darkness, nothing only nothing. I was unafraid, but it was total darkness and warmth.
After a while, I saw a tiny little ray of light piercing the darkness, then two, then dozens of them, and soon found myself bathing in multi colored light rays. It was the most extra ordinary thing I ever saw, not only seeing it, but living it. It is reported that people who have near death experiences say, just like my friend the beginning of the episode, the race car driver, that their experiences make this life seem like just the dream,
that they are so clear. Here's another story. In the beginning, I saw nothing. It was very dark, but it was not frightening, the most beautiful black I ever saw. Then suddenly it was as if someone had switched on the lights. And what lights. They were warm, peaceful, heart rendering beautiful light that I saw with my heart, not with my eyes. I long for that light every day. He also reports that people's vision improves during these lucid near death experiences.
This person says no need for glasses anymore. I saw perfectly well without them. I sat up, and I was in awe at how clear everything appeared. I had worn glasses or contacts my entire life, so I was amazed at the sharpness of the room around me and the vividness of the colors. I could perceive an energy surrounding everything. The books, desk, furniture of the room all seemed to have a slight glow that radiated from them. No sooner I noticed this than I realized I could see three
hundred and sixty degrees around me. I didn't need to turn my head. I just looked, and I saw there behind me lay my body. And at that moment I realized I had died. I could clearly see my environment there, which is normally totally impossible for me to do without glasses. The colors were so much more intense and clear than on Earth. My seeing had become very different. It was not normal seeing. It was more like sensing. I could perceive and understand every detail of the emergency room and
all at once. This was four dimensional seeing, one added dimension of color, clarity, substance, and vibration. It's time for the break. We'll be back with more stories and lucid seeing during a life review. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast a m Hairinormal Podcast Network.
Stay there, Sandra will be right back.
Hey, it's the Wizard of Weird Joshua P.
Warren.
Don't forget to check out my show Strange Things each week as I bring you the world of the truly amazing and bizarre right here on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Hi, this is your fologist Kevin Randall, and you're listening to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network.
Welcome back to our Shades of the Afterlife book club. I'm Sandra Champlain and we're discussing the book Threshold, Terminal, Loose, and the Border of Life and Death by professor and doctor Alexander Battiani. Earlier, I said that people in near death experiences feel much more lucid much more clear in the afterlife than in life, so I want to read some of those stories. I felt extremely aware, totally present, sharp and focused. In hindsight, it's like being half asleep
when I was alive and totally awake. After I was pronounced dead, my mind felt cleared and my thoughts seemed quick and decisive. I felt a great sense of freedom and was quite content to be rid of my body. I felt a connection with everything around me in a way that I cannot describe. I felt as if I was thinking faster, or that time had slowed down considerably. During this I remembered everything in my life with all the details, and very accurately, everything since my birth till
the time of the accident. I remembered all of the people I knew, even the ones whom I met only once or twice. I remembered all of the events, the important and non important ones. When my age was less than a year old, I remembered it with all of its details. It passed in front of me, and I saw it as a cinema show in just fifteen minutes, it felt. When I got out of the car, I
was in full consciousness. I felt that I wasn't in the car, or in other words, I was existing and not existing, a feeling that is very difficult to describe. While I was unconscious at the accident scene, I was hovering over the entire scene below, and looking down, I saw the car against the tree and the ambulance, as well as the onlookers from the neighborhood and stopped cars. I was in no danger and no pain. I was perfectly aware of what was going on below me, in
a state of complete tranquility. There was no discomfort, no judgment, and no concerns. My soul left my body, and I was in a heightened sense of consciousness. Ironically, even though I was unconscious, my soul was even more alert and more aware than it could have been merged with my body and mind. They put me in the ambulance and we were off. My husband followed the ambulance. He later told me he was crying so hard while driving he
didn't know how he did it. I was losing consciousness in the ambulance, but I thought hold on with all of my strength. I felt I was slipping away fast. The next thing I noticed, I was without pain, more alert. My mind had never been clearer or more alive than At that moment. I was expanded, both in my feeling and in my thinking. It was not head versus heart, both being high functional, higher than I ever experienced during
my normal life. And I remembered everything every day of my life, every conversation and every word, yes, every word of books I had read, and I had read a lot, though I had not read anything that would have prepared me for my near death experience. I remembered poems that I had not thought about for twenty or thirty years. When I later checked whether I had remembered them correctly, it turned out I had. There must be a second memory store somewhere in the universe, and I was accessing
it without the slightest effort. I was totally clear, totally aware, and totally calm. Knowledge was given. I guessed that it is why I felt more alert. It was like a flash drive and my entire life and family were plugged into me and downloaded. The knowledge I gained held answers to everything. So in that sense I was enlightened. I was very alert, sharp, focused, and clear. My thought was
much faster than usual and more logical. Thinking was a bit like observing an immensely fine tuned and complex machine processing an immense amount of data and providing me with the answer. It was as if my brain had changed into a super computer. I know it sounds crazy, but I was a genius when I was dead, and I never was as awake as on the day I died. You might have figured out by now that I absolutely love, love, love these stories. There is so much more to us
than meets the eye. And I love the person who said there must be a second memory store somewhere in the universe, and I was accessing it without the slightest effort. Next, let's talk about Lucid Life Reviews author Alexander Battiani says, we still don't know much yet about the mystery of our conscious self. All that we have found are traces
of its transcending the biological or the materialist rationale. We encountered a sheltered individual and irreplaceable and unique self, a self that, precisely through the return of its unique memories, an individuality makes it known to those gathering around them that it again has access to its very own private memories and experiences that were previously thought to be lost,
and with it personal identity. And individuality. Many of our near death experiencers corroborate this, and they also bear witness to the relevance of our life stories, each chapter, each moment. They tell us, for example, that no detail, no encounter, no experience in this selfs by a biography seems too insignificant not to be included in their life reviews. No decision is too trivial, no word too casual not to have had an influence on the lives of others in
one way or another. Here's some stories. Then my whole life. Every single second flashed before my eyes at what seemed to be light speed, but I still was able to comprehend everything, not just every event, but every interaction I've ever had. I saw how my words and actions had affected the recipients and what they had thought of me, good or bad. The next thing I knew, I was in darkness, watching a detailed review of my life up
to that point. It was like watching a huge cinema screen in three D, and it was incredibly detailed in that it literally covered every event in my life. I remembered events, people, and places that I had long forgotten. It was as if I was effectively reliving my entire life. Although it was done at very high speed. I could see every part of my life, every event and incident, all at once. Although it seemed instantaneous, I knew that every moment was there. These days, I might say that
I downloaded my whole hard drive. At the time, I think I tried to compare it to a replay of a cassette tape and fast forward. At that point, I was totally unconcerned with whether I was alive or not. My focus was on what was being shown to me. A sort of film reel was directly in front of me, but up just a bit. It was like watching an immense, very clear TV. I was watching images of every event that had taken place in my life, my entire life,
all in pictures. The most interesting part of it was that with each picture, with all the pictures there were many more than I could count, I re experienced the original feelings that had accompanied each one. And this was happening all at the same time. I could actually see my life in picture form and feel the emotion or lesson in each one, all together and in complete unison. It was the most phenomenal experience, not at all like we experience here here you see a picture, for example,
a photograph, and you have a memory. Then you pick up another picture and have another memory. But in this experience I received complete knowledge of all of my life events in picture form, reliving each picture's memory at the very same moment. I have never forgotten what it was like to have the ability to relate to my life
that way. Everything was so clear, so vivid. I had learned so much, how big an impact my seemingly small actions had on a large scale, how my choices and behavior rippled through the lives of countless others, how the love I showed spread like wildfire, how the way I mistreated others deeply hurt and affected them, And also how that pain, fear, and confusion would then impact the lives of others too. In the time I spent in this reliving,
I developed a deep groth attitude for many things. The experience of life on earth, for one, the people and the hearts that had touched my soul in beautiful ways, and the fragility of being human. It is so clear to me that life on earth has a purpose, love, share, make a difference all those good things. But death is going to be extraordinary. I invite you to pick up a copy of Alexander Batanyani's book Threshold, Terminal Lucidity, and the Border of Life and Death. Also, please come visit
me at We Don't Die dot com. Always lots of good things coming up, including our free Sunday gathering with medium demonstration until our next episode together. I'm Sandra Champlain. You've been listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast, a paranormal podcast network.
And if you like this episode of Shades of the Afterlife, wait until you hear the next one. Thank you for listening to the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast am paranormal podcast Network.