Have you had a close encounter with your own death?

What were the events surrounding it?
Did it have any major life changing impact upon you?
Did you have a 'spiritual experience' if you reached the point of actual death?

I myself have nearly died 3 times, ... but I know all about them, and instead would love to hear anyone's elses stories



*Oh, and I'm glad you are still with us for those with something to share *

 

No. The closest thing was having a gun pressed against my stomach, which has happened more than once. The first time around I was 14, and I remember just letting go...I was surprisingly relaxed and accepting of the fact that "this may be it." I was never shot and fighting for my life, though.

 

I personally haven't, but would you care to share your experiences?

 

... it's weird isn't it? ..that feeling of being wrapped in a blanket of perfect peace despite what is going on.

I can't believe tho, I forgot about a 4th time too when writing the orig post , ... it's not that I have ever forgotten it, I guess I was just thinking along the lines of accidental things - whereas the 4th time my eldest 'psycho' brother strangled me unconscious.

Weird part is, I have always loathed him, yet for the first time in my life as I was blacking out (believing I was never coming to again) I was overwhelmed with compassion for him and recall thinking, 'you really are fucking crazy, how are you going to explain this to mum and dad, omg you're never going to be able to live with yourself'. No thought for myself at all, I was totally at peace with my own life ending, but was mortified with concern for what he was doing to himself and his own life by killing me.

I hate the prick again tho ..lol

 

A few times.

The last instance was at 21, when trying to eat thanksgiving with my estranged family. It ended with my being shot at by my father. I think he missed on purpose though.

 

yes... I was in a snowmobile accident a few years back. hit a car, got beat up real bad. The snowmobile crushed my leg. Tied off a tourniquet below my knee and pulled the plexiglass windshield out of my face. they mussel graphed my leg using stomach mussel and skin from my theigh. a year with my leg above my heart at 17-18 years old. all in all ive had 9 sugerys. Good times! And I woulden't trade it for the world!
crazy huh? well Im 26 now I see things alot more clearly, all the life question stuff. In short this is what I learned: Love your Family and friends. Second love your enemys as they simply don't know love. Be a teacher to those around you by setting a humble example. Dont complain, for someone has it alot worse than you. And if anyone learns anything from the humble example that I set, then what I went thru wasnt in vein. I just feel like I took one for the team as did you in the events in your life. share them!

 

1. When I was 4 y/o, and knee high to the grasshoppers, I once again (der) fell in to a 6ft deep swimming pool (an earlier incident was not life threatening) but this time I was screwed.

I kept pushing off the bottom, getting my head out for a breath, and then sinking again. Eventually I was too weak to reach the surface despite several failed push off attempts on the bottom. I can still see the images in my mind of looking up out of the water seeing only my hand had broken the surface and feeling a completely peaceful resignation to knowing I did not have the strength to surface and was going to die.

Then I saw a pinpoint of golden light in the water, and watched mesmerised as it spread out through the water in to a warm glow enveloping me in total peace.

Then some stranger, apparently glanced out his hotel window, saw nothing but my hand out of the water, and ran out and hauled me out. I was out of it for 5-10 seconds, whilst he did chest compression, and then came to hurling water everywhere.

The other times were less dramatic, both electrocutions, ... maybe later, but that's enough for now.

 

Wow Jeph, what an unimaginable ordeal, ... and certainly some wise words to live by there. Amen!

 

yessir

 

woooah thanks stranger guy!

 

You can even have some pos rep for the wisdom

 

Drag racing at 18. Going flat out at 120 with 28 feet of skidmarks before crashing into a flatbed truck and trailer loaded with lumber. The other car hit first=2 dead. Our car=one ruined for life---and me. Guy pulled a gun 3 feet from me -said OK gruwell-youve had it! Feet did their duty. Rolled two cars when young and drunk. No injuries. Kid jumped on my back in a swimming pool and hung on 'till I almost drowned. Probably other times when unbeknownst to me,fate was "kind". BIG-BIG operation. All and all ,pretty good for the amount of years covered.

 

next time just make skidmarks on your underwear. its a lot safer

 

^^^^ hehehehe, .. is everyone really that funny tonight, ... or am I just really stoned lol?

 

Sometimes when I log on to hipforums I long for death.

 

buzzkill

 

Hit by a 78' Lincoln town car, flipped over it, walked off without a scratch. Hit by a few more cars over the years but no make or model sticks to mind more than the 78' Lincoln for obvious reasons.

In a plane that almost crashed,

Almost killed myself with Nitrous once I think,

Been shot at,

Stepped between angry people and their targets when the angry fuckers were in the wrong and diffused things,

All mostly unscathed afterward.

It's taught me I'm one lucky motherfucker and some Kats have more than 9 lives but the extras are no reason to not appreciate the one I'm living to it's fullest. :cheers2:

As long as I'm not picking Corn out of Cow shit to make my dinner, life is ok by me.

True, it might be better, but it could just as easily be much much worse than it is at the moment.

 

I got alcohol poisoning when I was 17..which is not exactly the most romantic near death experience. I don't remember a lot of it, considering my extreme drunken state, but I do remember that I kept throwing up and I couldn't stop, and I realized that if someone didn't find me soon, I would die...so I started praying, not really praying so much as begging actually...I remember I just kept saying "please god, let me live, dont let me die," which is interesting to me because I had pretty much stopped believing in god at this point..then I woke up in the hospital later and broke down crying, I was so thankful to be alive and felt so bad for putting my family through that. And for weeks after that, the colors in the world seemed so much brighter and I was so grateful for every little thing.

 

not so much near death, but i've had that peaceful feeling that comes with the adrenaline rush of fight-or-flight

 

Peaceful? What you experienced may not have been "fight or flight", which is anything but peaceful.