Sunday, February 19, 2012

Dreaming of the Dead: Messages from Beyond


Have you ever had a dream about someone who is no longer in this world? A relative, a friend, someone famous?

A couple of weeks after my dad passed away I had an interesting dream right before I woke up in the morning. I dreamt that I was looking at a computer screen. My dad's full name was printed in the middle of the screen and flashing.That was it. But when I woke up, I knew that I had to check my computer. When I checked my inbox I was excited but not surprised to see that I had a new message from dad! With a little bit of trepidation, I clicked on it. What would it say? Well, it turned out to be a form letter, which was still being sent out to all his life insurance clients, of which I was one. But still, spooky?

I figure this experience could have one of three explanations. First, it was a coincidence that I dreamt about a message from my dad the same morning that I got the form letter on the computer. Second, I could somehow sense that the message would be on the computer, the same way you are thinking about a person and then that person calls. Or third, my dad sent me a message from beyond.

I prefer to think it was the third option and here's why. Before my dad died, he was very sick for a few months during which time we had lots of conversations about life after death. We agreed that if he was somehow able to communicate something to me after he passed on he would. I felt like it was a simple but clear message from him that he had arrived (somewhere)and he was just letting me know. (Like you'd text someone when you arrived at your destination to let them know you're alright.)

Since then, I have had one other "message giving" dream. In it, I saw an image of a Manulife duffel bag (the company he worked for). On the bag was a handwritten message: I love you.
Now, it could be that I was just thinking about my dad and conjuring up words of comfort that I wanted to hear, but I think the Manulife duffel bag was a carefully chosen symbol (by my dad) so I could clearly identify who he was.

Apparently, it's not unusual for deceased family members or friends to visit us in our dreams. Some believe that this is direct communication with the dead. Others believe that the dream images are created by us to allow ourselves to resolve feelings that we have about those people or their death.(I would place my second dream about my dad into this category.) Additionally, as in all dream images, things are not always what they seem, and these people could actually represent an aspect of ourselves.

Anyways, I can't discount the experience I had with the dream and the computer. It left me with a feeling of confidence that there is some kind of "life after death". I also feel a great sense of gratitude to my dad for reaching out to me.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has had a similar dream experience. Please comment below.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Lisa,

    My mom had a similar experience after my Gran died. She didn't know where her mom was at with God and really prayed God would give her a sign of some sort that she was with Him. We were on a flight to Hong Kong and mom was sleeping and was crying in her sleep. The flight attendant had to wake her to make sure she was okay. It turns out that in her dream - which she believes was a God given dream - she saw her mom walking in a crowd of people, wearing her trademark green ski jacket. She looked lost and not sure where she was. But when she saw my mom, she smiled and raised her hands and said, "Praise God, I know where I am going. It's all true".

    It's one of those things that you never really know for sure if it's a message or something you just wish was true, but I think the mystery of faith is that there is room for some of these hopeful messages. . .

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  2. Hi Lisa, I have had dreams,over the years (27 years), about my Grandpa. When he died, I didn't get to go to the funeral. I missed him terribly and never had a chance to say my "goodbye" to him. Over the years I've been able to "smell" him, (he smelled of freshly cut wood, either juniper or cedar from his workshop; and scotch mints). I also remembered a nickname that only he had for me, as he called me that in a dream. I hadn't thought about that nickname for about 25 years...

    I have other "family that have passed away" dreams, a couple of them are extremely significant to my grieving process through their death. It would take too much to write those down. I will share them with you sometime in person! :)

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  3. That's cool Heather. Thanks for sharing:)

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