During the past five years, there has been so much research into what has come to be called “After Death Communication” (ADC). Survey research reports that 30-80% of people encounter one, a few or many ADC messages in the days, weeks, months and years after a loved one dies. These include: visions, visitations, dreams, hugs and other tactile sensations, flickering lights and other electrical phenomena, wildlife sightings, rainbows, feathers, money, special numbers, uncanny coincidences, and many other spiritual experiences.
Researchers from psychology, death care and many different fields are now carefully studying people who have received messages from people who have died. They are now publishing articles about this research in academic and medical journals. The outcomes of this scholarly work are so heartening.
Clinicians and other professionals, leaders from many faith communities, and others who read this research are shifting away from pathologizing ADC experiences as harmful to viewing ADC as healing.
Western society is beginning to accept these spiritual experiences as…”helpful, reassuring, transformative, and positive …non-pathological experiences that are often supportive, meaningful, and affirming for the bereaved.” (Mark Shelvock, Psychology Today, 2024)
In our Monday, May 19 Story-Sharing circle, we found that sharing our ADC stories resulted in peace of mind and an openness to the reality of the potential all humans seem to have to develop our abilities to notice, sense, perceive, receive and interpret spiritual communication from people we love who have died.
One way of telling our stories and witnessing is through art. Thank you to artists Guida Atkinson (top image) and Catherine Fraser (feather painting and this image of visual note taking from May 19). To show that you don’t have to be an artist to do visual note-taking, here are my May 19 notes.
What we practice grows stronger. Some ways of developing our abilities to notice and receive spiritual communication are mindfulness training, meditating, and spending time in nature. Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favourite teachers.
With Thich Nhat Hanh’s help I have been learning to notice and receive spiritual communication from nature by practicing Mindful Walking and Mindful Photography for about 5 years now ever since my beloved spouse John died in 2020.
I made the video above after going on a rather miraculous Mindful Photography walk a few months into my grieving journey. Every nature photograph (including the video of two owls in love) is from that walk. The video is intentionally leisurely in building up to seeing the owls, so if you are in a hurry, simply go to 1 minute and 54 seconds and watch from there. In my memoir I wrote: “I walked home knowing that John, the owls, and probably a host of other angels were holding my grief in the light every step of the way. I bathed in the enlightened feelings of being spiritually united with John, the owls, the light, and all of nature.”
My name is Linda Hill. My memoir Together Still: Love Beyond Death is available as a paperback, e-book, and audio book. Now I am travelling the world virtually and in person sharing my story and listening to others’ stories about Continuing Loving Bonds.
My mission is to show ordinary people such as you and me how continuing our loving bonds helps transform our deep grief back into deep love. If you haven’t already done so, I hope you will subscribe to my blog by leaving your email below. And, you can click here for more information about how to sign up for our Monday Continuing Loving Bonds Story Sharing Circles.
CONTINUING LOVING BONDS 