Before you hear about my personal Near Death Experience (NDE), I want to tell you what a Near Death Experience is. A Near Death Experience occurs when someone is at the brink of death. Heart cessation often occurs and breathing into the physical body stops. The spirit exits the body and often travels to a tunnel with a beautiful bright light at the end of it. Feelings of euphoria, feeling really loved and accepted accompany the spirit to the tunnel. A Near Death Experience can be triggered when the body is injured almost to its fatal conclusion. The experience can involve a panoramic review of one’s life and a recognition of the non-temporal dimension of existence.Upon return to the physical body post- Near Death Experience reminds us of the fragility and the precariousness of life. People who have gone through Near Death Experiences often report a loss of fear of death, a belief in life after death, a renewed recognition of a higher consciousness, a recognition of their purpose during the current lifetime along with more compassion , forgiveness and love of others.
My NDE (Near Death Experience)
When I was 20, I decided to hitchhike across the country. This is something I would never allow our children to even think about doing now, but times were different, and my parents were permissive with me.
Two days before I left, I called my best friend, Stephen and let him know my plans. He was upset that I was going and told me he was worried that something would happen to me. At the age of 20 did I even consider that? I did not and I told him we would see each other in college in the fall and I had a place closer to where he was living. He then told me his girlfriend and he had broken up. I told him he would find someone else and be happier than he had been with his recent girlfriend. Off I went against his advice.
I hitchhiked quite uneventfully to Boulder, Colorado. That day I got into a car with a Black Navy Seal who was driving to New Orleans to ship out. By the time night rolled around he had asked me to stay in the car and call my parents to get a flight home. He was kind of incredulous that a young girl was out alone hitchhiking. So I agreed. We stopped at a gas station, and I called my mom who arranged an open ended ticket at Dallas airport. I anticipated arriving back in NY the next afternoon. The drive through Oklahoma was a clear night with a full moon, and the tumbleweeds were tumbling. It was stunning to look at. Then a voice came into my head and said to me, “You are going to die tonight. It will be fine.” And a sense of peace came over me immediately and I was fine with what was going to happen.
The year was 1972 and no one wore seat belts. I fell asleep in the front seat and so did my driver Navy Seal. At 4 AM we hit a cement pole at 60 mph. The engine was in the front seat, and I was covered in blood when I was pulled from the car. I apologized to the EMT guys that my feet were dirty and one of them told me –” that is the least of your worries.”.
Leaving the Physical Body Behind
I have very little memory of the ambulance ride to a small local hospital in Bowie, Texas. In the ER I left my body and ascended to a tunnel. What I felt as I was traveling to the tunnel was that I was like a baby floating in amniotic fluid in my mother’s belly. I was loved and wanted, and I cannot even find the words to tell you how good it felt to be there. The tunnel was darkish and along the sides I felt spirits that knew me. They were foggy and ill- defined. In the distance ahead was a powerful light but it seemed extremely far away. I started moving toward the light when out of the tunnel stepped my friend, Stephen. I had no understanding that I was dead and certainly did not know he was dead too. He and I started talking and he said I could not stay. He said I had a long life ahead of me and a lot of work I was supposed to do before I was allowed to come back.
I argued that I wanted and would stay with him. He then told me I would see him again in my first child and to go back. No way! I would stay. And I will tell you all that each day since then when I think about Stephen or my Near Death Experience,also referred to as an NDE, especially if I am speaking about it, I feel a deep longing and desire to go there again. I am feeling its powerful draw as I write this story for all of you. I crave the love, compassion and acceptance that was there in the energy and I would leave in a second if the offer was made to me.
Back From My Journey and Into My Body
There I was back in the ER room watching my body being worked on, then I was inside it and in a coma for a month. My injuries were a hole in the front of my head, the scar is visible if you look. And I broke my L1 Vertebrae in half. Still there was a belief on the medical team that I may not survive this.There must have been additional injuries I was not aware of. I woke up after about a month and wanted to go home. The surgeons offered me spinal fusion and I declined. I walk around to this day with ½ of an L1 vertebrae. Until very recently I did not have any issues with it and even now it is minor. The driver, the wonderful Black Navy Seal, lost only his eyelid and the hospital refused to treat him because he was Black. He got another car and drove off to New Orleans to get treated and ship out. I never heard from him again.
I flew back to NY loaded with painkillers which I really did not seem to need and my first call was to Stephen to tell him I was home. His mother picked up the phone and told me two days after I had left Stephen shot himself in the head and died. That meant in the tunnel Stephen was with me already dead. I told his mother what had happened and that I had seen Stephen. I told her he looked great, happy and smiling. She was grateful for that information.
Life Post Near Death Experience Goes On
I went back to school, deferred graduate school and went to work at Einstein College of Medicine in the Alzheimer lab, then moved onto Mt Sinai working in brain laterality. I burned out very badly and decided I needed a career change- something very far from medical research. I got a job working as a Voice-over assistant in a talent agency. During that time, I met a woman who worked as a police psychic in NYC locating lost children. She and I became friends and she wanted to give me a reading, so I let her. In the reading she said I would have two sons (true) and that the first one would be the reincarnation of my friend who had committed suicide. She also told me that the second son was a reincarnation of someone I had not met yet, but who was in finance.
Our oldest son, Josh was born in 1989 and when he was almost 3 years old, he turned to me and said he knew who he was and so did I. I asked him what he meant, and he said he was an artist, a poet and a musician and that I already knew this. There was Stepehen returned as he said he would. Josh is an extremely old soul, and we have many deep conversations. He is an accomplished artist, can pick up instruments and play them and writes some pretty poetic dark songs. Our second son does work in finance.
Meeting the Real Linda
The Near Death Experience worked its magic on me without me being totally aware. I have always heard that voice, even before I was told about my pending death and I followed the advice of that voice all the time. I still do. After my Near Death Experience I became more able to know things before they happened and my acuity to read people grew. It was not until I was in my 60’s that the voice told me that I needed to move to Sedona. I would sell my business, study metaphysics and live in Sedona. I did follow those directions. Additionally, I got End of Life Doula training, a BA, MA and PhD in Metaphysics with specialties in Death and Grief. I continue training in Grief through INELDA.
Lasting Effect
The Near Death Experience changed me forever. I know without a shred of doubt that there is an amazing place we will go to once we leave this earthly world and our physical vessel behind. I know there is a Universal Consciousness who loves me, no matter what. I also know that the story of my Near Death Expreience is meant to be told to people so when they face their transition, they will not face it with fear and trepidation. I truly know that the work I am meant to do for the last however many years I have left, is the work in assisting people who are transitioning, assisting those who remain behind in grief and generating as much compassion and kindness that I can for anyone who needs it. I want to earn the right to go home, and all of my hard work will get me there. I believe that in the deepest part of my heart.
I am very grateful for each person I meet who wants to hear this story and I am willing to discuss it with anyone interested in doing so.