Frannie --
I can't really comment on NDE or OBE, since that would require me to put into words the pictures I saw and the feelings my body experienced... I am unable to do that...
My point really is... Thoughts don't require language... we seem to think that they do, because of our social nature and our desire to share and be validated as individuals... In the end, however, it becomes the language we use that really describes externally how we think and feel...
I could tell you that my healing path has taken me down some pretty windy roads recently... quite a few lefts and rights, feeling like I was steering through pylons, then a couple of large NASCAR style turns and headed the other direction for a while... at one point I came to a hair-pin curve at maybe 90 miles an hour, slammed on my emotional brakes as hard as I could, and still crashed head in to the wall... I got up, finished navigating the turn, and proceeded to ramp my speed back up to the desired 90 miles per hour... I haven't crashed again lately, but now I watch just a little further out then when I go just 10 miles an hour...
Or, I could tell you that I am depressed and can't find a place in the world. Everytime I turn around, something hits me upside the head and I don't know what to do, other than try again. The emotional pain is killing me. I just want to run as fast as I can and escape it all. I keep watching for the signs that something is going to go wrong, but I never see them in time. I'm really, really tired of all this crap but I know I will make it through it.
They both describe where I am in life... which version of this story allowed you to process your own feelings and which version was asking for advice or sympathy?
After taking the walks I have taken, I would recommend studying your primary language and the models of communication you use... By looking closely, consciously at your own THOUGHT process... which for me usually occurs after I open my mouth... you can begin changing... your thought process will change your interaction with others (as you will begin to eliminate negative reactions, just because they are not in your nature), which in turn will change behaviors... you soon discover all those wonder paths you want to go down, just to see whats down there... you can always turn around and go another direction...
It's a path I find rewarding. More rewarding everyday.
ugly