In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes, as Benjamin Franklin famously wrote. Few of us find taxes exciting, but death – even just thinking about it – affects us profoundly in many different ways. This is why researchers across so many different fields study it from their perspectives.

It was midnight, nearly a thousand midnights since Lucky had died, and all at once I felt his weight on my hospital bed. I had heard of it time and again, in accounts of dear animals once gone, come to touch us again. There was no body there just the belief of his weight, but I knew who it was.

You don't have to like your losses, but the path to healing is through acceptance — a learned skill that comes only from doing. The more you courageously face your losses and accept what is, the more you will heal and the happier you will be.

There’s an odd thing that happens to most near-death­-experiencers . . . they come back from dying and they’re no longer frightened of it. Maybe the definition of Death has changed for them. It has for me! It changed because there was nothing painful, waiting for me, I didn’t even realize I had died.

 Many years after my tragedies were over and done with, and after I was happy beyond my dreams, the idea came to me to make mosaic artwork. A mosaic artist can take bits and pieces of trash and treasure and create something beautiful.

When you return from death or near-death, a new commandment courses throughout your veins and in rhythm with your heartbeat . . . love one another. Experiencers of every stripe, tongue, culture, religion, and mindset find themselves beginning to behave in a manner as if life itself is all about love.

At some point in our lives, we all may have to inhabit that peculiar bubble of time where we’re called upon to witness the passage of a life. It’s possibly the most difficult, but most essential, thing we have to do—showing up for an event we dread and knowing how to conduct ourselves through this unmistakably sacred time.

Merely filling out the form is not enough. The patient’s wishes can be truly honored only if the patient and family understand the options, have the opportunity to pose questions, and trust that their wishes will be followed. In other words, POST achieves its purpose only if it is based on open and trusting relationship...

When I was three years old my brother was born. He had a heart condition, and after being in and out of hospital for the whole of his little life, he died when I was five. The time after he was gone was a long and empty period of terrible loneliness and the hollow aching of grief.

We all deal with grief in our own way. Many turn to addictions like shopping, gambling, hoarding, alcohol, drugs, eating, and even bingo. Many people I know who had been smoke-free for years started smoking again when they lost a loved one. We try to find ways to dull the pain, but they are all just temporary fixes, if even that...

The day before Billy died, a bitterly cold January morning, I ventured into the raw air. I never ask God for favors, but that morning I looked up at the silvery sky, raised my arms, and imagined pushing Billy into the hands of the great Divine. “Take care of him for me,” I whispered. Hours later, Billy was dead.

What do I think happens after we die? I think about this question every day as an exercise of the imagination, and I frequently change my mind about it. Death is something that many people try to avoid thinking about, but I haven’t been able to stop wondering about it since I was a child...

Departing visions occur every day, all around the world, and modern-day researchers are beginning to take such reports more seriously. One area of the departing vision experience in need of more research involves the dreamtime encounter...

Many physicists believe numerous universes exist right alongside ours, and parallel universes are lighter and vibrate faster. People preparing to physically die begin to shake off the anchors binding them to their earthly bodies. With this release, spiritual vibration begins to increase...

If you’ve had a quick peek at the next dimension or been visited by your deceased loved ones you might be asking, “How do I integrate these afterlife encounters into my daily living?” Such experiences can rock us to our core, challenging everything we...

We need no external demonstration to prove to us that those that have gone before are still alive; we now know that no soul can possibly cease to exist, and we spiritually discern the immortal existence of...

When I do presentations, I ask if anyone has been present at the moment of someone’s death; those who have, I ask what they experienced. Nobody felt they could put into words their emotions. Many spoke about a sense of...

Now that the weather had started to warm, I began thinking I should do something with Billy's remains. His ashes had been sitting in a rosewood box by my fireplace for almost three months. When Billy was alive, he always said he wanted to be cremated and scattered in the sea. I suddenly had the impulse to...

The best information I've ever heard on the topic of grieving and what happens when we don't do it comes from a retired cop turned public speaker and therapist for police officers, Bobby Smith, PhD. Bobby knows more about grief than per­haps...

Several years ago my beloved husband of 40 years came very close to death. Yes, we are very grateful that he survived. Also I am very grateful for the inner changes that have occurred in me as a result. This experience has changed my life...

Mortality nudges into our awareness at different points in our lives. Sometimes it strikes like a fist, and at other times it brushes alongside with the merest touch. It tapped me on the shoulder several years ago, about the time my wife and I were trying to have children.

I’ve worked with many people whose beloved family members have died and left them with inheritance clutter. This can be anything the relative once owned. I call it clutter because my clients often don’t...

One afternoon I received a somewhat desperate call... My friend called to see if there was anything that I could do to assist her dad. She felt as if her dad was going to die. She knew from our conversations that sometimes healing work isn’t about fixing a problem but can also be...