Theresa C NDE

Experience Description

I was 7 years old. I remember that it was a overcast day. My mother fought with me about going swimming, but I just had to go swimming that day. I can remember what colors and material my one-piece suit was. It was too small and too tight. I loved my swimsuit and refused to wear my new one. There was a pool at a complex. I was told to stay on the shallow end of the pool as my mother chatted with her friend while sitting on a lawn chair.

Of course, I didn't listen to her. As I grabbed for a pool noodle (floatation device), it slipped away from me. I panicked, wailed, and splashed around. I tried three times to reach the surface. The water in my mouth and throat kept me from screaming, 'Help me!' I felt aA fear like nothing I had ever known. Pure terror took hold of me as a million thoughts rushed my mind.

I saw my mother one last time laughing with her friend and paying no attention to what I was doing. I felt regret or maybe it was hate. I know for sure that I felt it and it was strong enough for me to remember it vividly.

I watched the sky from underwater as it slipped away from me. Then I saw nothing at all. It was like I was asleep and not dreaming. Then I saw myself. I was floating at the bottom corner of the pool. My hair covered my face and my arms where limp as they were suspended in front of me. The rainbow colors of my suit were brighter than ever before. I immediately knew it was me. Yet, I was not her anymore because I was watching me. I felt so peaceful, everything was ok, and a certainty came over me like I had never felt in my young life.

It felt like I was being pulled up, away from my body and that was fine. It didn't matter. Then, I noticed the water was not water anymore. I was in warm, pure LIGHT. It felt like a hug from a true mother. It was beautiful serenity.

Then I felt pain in my arm as I saw beautiful blue eyes looking down at me. At first, I thought he was an angel. Then I realized that he was an emergency medical technician (EMT). He tried to keep my attention on him but I remember turning my head to the side. I saw my mother and step-father fighting again. I heard the police officer saying that he would take one of them to jail if they didn't calm down.

My second coherent thought was, 'Why did you do this to me? Why did you bring me back? It was all ok.' I felt so much anguish in that moment.

That memory has never changed for me. People brush me off when I tell them about my experience. They tell me it was DMT or that because I was a child at the time, my memories are unreliable. I do not care what they tell me because I could never forget. These are some of the most vivid memories I have ever had.

One more thing, I never feared the water after that. I loved water, rain storms and swimming. It is calming for me still to this day.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 1997

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes. Drowning. CPR given. Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function)

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes. I clearly left my body and existed outside it

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal. The colors where all brighter than normal. The water was light. The light was almost a living thing.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? It was after the blackness of sleep without dreams.

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning. Time had no meaning in those moments. It felt like everything happened in an instant, yet it felt like no time at all had passed.

Were your senses More vivid than usual? Incredibly more vivid

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. My vision was sharper and color was more vivid.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I do not remember hearing anything after going under water.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere, as if by ESP? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? An unusually bright light

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was pure light. I was floating in the light above my body. The water wasn't wet or cold anymore. Everything around me WAS the light; bright, warm, and physical light.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt calming peace, like nothing would ever be wrong again. All was as it should be and it felt right.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt no longer in conflict with nature

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? No

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated- Nothing in particular- Religious unaffiliated. I was never taken to church at this time in my life.

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated- Nothing in particular- Religious unaffiliated. I believe we are only energy.

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. This question is a hard one for me as I had no real beliefs at this time. I watched 'The Lion King' every day for years and I thought we were all one with each other and the world. I was only 7 years old.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Uncertain. I knew with my whole being that it was all meant to be the way it was. I do not know how else to describe how impulses change so dramatically. I don't know how, one moment, I was clawing the surface to survive and the next completely at ease with the situation I was in. I knew it was all right like I know a chair will hold my weight.

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? An afterlife definitely exists. I saw my own body. I was me and she was not me. I existed without the 'shell' of a body.

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? Uncertain. I remember feeling like the fear I had just had was distant from me, it had no place in my mind anymore. Earthly life was meaningless and unattached from who I was in that moment.

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Uncertain. Love is the same as the light I was in. I had no afterthought for my family or friends. I was ready to leave. Peace was my entire existence. Nothing had great importance to me anymore, not as it had in the body. Love is a very human feeling. I questioned if I was still human in that space. Yet, it felt as if the light loved me completely.

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Moderate changes in my life. I feel like I was a different person. Afterwards, I was calmer and less worried about life and the little things. My life slowly faded back to normal.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes How can you have a real and healthy relationship with a person who insist you arer crazy or wrong about the things you know you saw and felt? It is hard to open up about these things, yet the need to share is always present.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes I was 7 and I knew somehow that talking about this experience would confuse and upset my mother. I tried later on maybe a week afterwards. I was right. She brushed it off and said it was a dream.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience. It is the most vivid memory I have ever had. In 29 years, it is still as sharp as the day the experience occurred.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes I use to have dreams that came true sometimes when I was younger. These dreams were horrible and I hated them because they frightened me.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? Everything about my experience was special, even the scary parts. It shaped me and made me stronger.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes About a week afterwards, I tried to tell my mother. She told me ot was only a dream. I have told others too. Almost all of them think I made my experience up or that I am crazy.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real. Everything I saw, I knew was real. I knew it was not a dream. Nothing changed my mind on that.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real. I believe 100% that what I experienced was real; as real as my first kiss, as real as the birth of my son, and as real as my first heart break. It is more vivid then anything I had and have ever experienced. It is the foundation of my life from that moment it was the only true reality I had known to that point.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? When I first started this questionnaire, I was asked about my job. It is an unfair question that I feel biases me. The professions listed are for well-off people. Not everyone is a doctor or has a high-level job. Some people are stay at home mothers/fathers. Some people are cooks and waiters. Most people are the help in the food service industry. My NDE has little to do with what I do for a living.

Note: Theresa is correct that we do ask demographic questions in the beginning of the NDE survey. As a scientific survey, it is normal to ask demographic questions. This is not a biased question, but rather has to do with science. Based on Theresa's answer and thousands of other responses to this question, we can say that there is no correlation or predictability between what a person does and whether they will have a NDE. Her answer strengthens the reliability of the hypothesis that a NDE is not explained by what job a person chooses to do, or by income earned by that job, or education level attained to perform that job.