Articles
Life on the Other Side
by Lily
Many years ago I experienced something incredible, bordering on mind-boggling. I glimpsed and felt what it was like to die and cross over to the other side. In essence, I experienced what mirrored a near death experience (NDE) without any of the trauma or crisis that typically accompanies such an adventure. In a trance state, I literally found myself moving through the tunnel that separates life as we know it from ‘death’, or more accurately, the ‘other side’.
Thanks to the urging of dear friends and interested clients, I am sharing what I recall from that extraordinary experience, amplified by years of channeling beautiful souls who have left the earth plane through the natural death process and are now in spirit.
Life on the other side is beautiful and easy going, characterized by indescribable feelings of freedom and lightness. There is no illness, discomfort, despair, animosity, scarcity or hopelessness. Abundance and upliftment are transcendent themes – delightful feelings abound, goodness is everywhere, love is pervasive. And the light, colors and vibrant experience of aliveness are nothing short of breathtaking. Some of the most positive and picturesque scenes from the film, What Dreams May Come, starring Robin Williams, resemble personal experiences I’ve been privileged to have on the other side.
In describing what it’s like on the other side, it’s important to touch upon time, since this is one of many things that is very different over there. Time, as we know it on this side of the ‘veil’, runs in a linear fashion, from left to right. The past is sometimes envisioned on the left side of a straight continuum, where the present, or now, is in front of us in the center of the line, and the future is off to the right. Time tends to be a measure of how fast or slow things happen. A week feels a lot longer than an hour, and a year or two can feel like an eternity, depending on what we’re going through on the earth plane.
As I’ve come to understand it, time doesn’t exist on the other side, at least not the way we’ve come to know or experience time here. What feels like a few minutes to a soul there may, in fact, be several months, or even years here. This has been confirmed over and over again by individuals who have crossed over and are having a conversation with their loved ones who are still alive on this side.
Take, for example, a loving mother, Jayne, who was grieving the loss of her five year old daughter, Melissa, three years after her daughter’s untimely death from leukemia. When making contact with her daughter on the other side, Jayne asked Melissa what she had been doing all this time, while her mom had been thinking of her and doing her best to deal with the pain of her loss.
Much to the Jayne’s surprise, Melissa appeared to have matured into a teenager, as if magically transformed overnight. And her daughter was alive with information and updates on what she’d been doing. Melissa talked of having met with relatives who died years earlier and were there to welcome her when she crossed over. She mentioned having attended some classes on the other side, and that she had a main teacher who guided her and was there to comfort her when she first ‘arrived’. Melissa also talked of having made friends with other young people who had recently crossed over – not just from the USA, but from different parts of the world – and reiterated that she was enjoying ‘life’.
But to Melissa, it did not feel like a long time since she’d crossed over. In fact, it felt like only a few weeks to her, in earth time. While her mother, Jayne, had anguished for years, feeling sadness and deep regret over the passing of her daughter, Melissa tried to comfort her mom by sharing what had happened in the last few ‘months’ over there, where months to Melissa equated to years on our earth calendar. The blink of an eye on the other side may be weeks or months of time on this side.
Another telling point is that Melissa had apparently grown far more than three earth years since she had crossed over, at least it seemed that way to her mother. At the age of eight, which her daughter would have been had she not died, Melissa revealed herself as a budding young woman who was growing by leaps and bounds on the other side. In fact, depending on who contacted Melissa at any given time, Melissa showed herself to be of varying ages – a teenager to her mother, a 20-something woman to her uncle who was an esteemed professor at a prestigious university, and a young girl to her grandmother who fondly recalled her as a sweet, young kindergartner.
I have experienced this phenomenon countless times. Individuals who have crossed over are able to choose any age or life stage they wish to portray themselves, at any given time. Their physical or ‘body’ appearance often morphs from one conversation to the next, and sometimes alters within a single conversation – from younger to older, or vice versa.
For example, one time – when making contact and facilitating a connection between a middle-aged client of mine, Diego, and his elderly mom, Maria, on the other side – at the start of the conversation his mother showed herself to be in her late 70s, just as Diego remembered her before she died. Maria demurely showed her gray hair neatly pulled back in a bun and made sure to show me that she was wearing a simple cotton housedress that fell conservatively below her knees, as was befitting her age and station in life. Maria’s well-worn outfit was finished off with a pair of sensible (old fashioned) shoes that Diego fondly remembered.
But as the conversation progressed, Diego’s adoring mom recalled a heart-warming experience she had had in the 1950s with her beloved husband. As she described that memorable evening at a nightclub in Madrid, Maria rejuvenated before my (inner) eyes, becoming the youthfully attractive woman she was in her late 20s, passionately in love with her new husband, Alonso. As Maria merged into a younger version of herself, so did her clothing. Her housedress transformed into a tasteful, ruby red cocktail dress that was cinched at the waist to show off her slim, stylish figure, with a hemline that showed off her shapely legs.
Diego confirmed that his mother had taken pride in her appearance and that over the years she and his father had enjoyed ballroom dancing in Spain. Both images that Maria showed me of herself turned out to be accurate. Diego shed tears of joy reminiscing about his mom’s most recent life – from the beautiful young woman who loved to dance, to a mature mother and grandmother whose primary focus was making her home warm and welcoming to all.
Another important theme that comes through from individuals on the other side is an openness, receptivity and forgiveness, especially when it comes to relationships. On occasion a client will ask to connect with a close friend or loved one who has recently crossed over, but is reticent about having a conversation with that person because of an unresolved issue or situation from the past that still weighs heavily on them.
The good news is that I have rarely come across a soul on the other side who is hard to reach, much less someone who holds a grudge after he or she has crossed over. For individuals who had a rocky relationship with someone on this side, making contact with that same person on the other side almost always feels liberating, if not peaceful and joyful. In part, this noticeable improvement in the relationship can be traced to the individual’s personality or human side either evaporating, or expanding in a divine way after crossing over. What is dominant for souls on the other side is their essence self, not their personality self.
People who were characteristically cold, greedy or uncommunicative when alive on this side are often warm, agreeable, generous in spirit and open to talking on the other side – sometimes surprisingly so. Clients’ apprehension about making contact with someone with whom they had personal difficulties quickly dissolves into acceptance once the conversation gets underway – the healing changes that have taken place in their friend’s or loved one’s demeanor on the other side are not only obvious, but also soothing to experience.
So, there is no need to be apprehensive about reaching out and making contact with someone on the other side, despite past experiences that may have been less than ideal. Love is the overarching energy that heals just about all wounds.
Several people have asked me if there is hell, and, if so, what it’s like. I’m more than delighted to report that in over 14 years of making contact with individuals who have crossed over, I have never seen or experienced anything that even remotely resembles hell there. In fact, it is quite the opposite. More than a few individuals who have crossed over refer to the 3D earth plane – here – as the real hell. One true story captures this very well.
About 30 years ago, a client’s father, Karl, died of stomach perforation after one year on heavy doses of antibiotics at the young age of 54. But before permanently crossing over, Karl experienced two bona fide NDEs. In the early 1970s, and in Germany, this was far from a well-known phenomenon, much less something you would discuss with anyone, lest they think you had lost your mind. But Karl, a prominent architect and devout Catholic, felt compelled to share the miraculous experience he had with his wife and teenage sons.
Upon coming back into his ailing body from the NDE, Karl clearly described what had happened, as best he could. He explained how light and free he felt when he floated above his physical body and went into the tunnel of light. For the first time in longer than he could remember, Karl was pain-free, felt truly alive and was joyful again. But as he approached the other side, Karl understood that it was not yet his time to fully cross over. Disappointed, he came zooming back into his body, back onto the hospital bed. The agony of returning was devastating to him.
As clearly and articulately as he could, Karl described how beautiful and loving it was on the other side, and asked his family to feel at peace when the time did come for him to fully cross over because, in his words, “there’s no hell over there; being back in this ailing body is the real hell.” Coming from a religious man who was convinced that hell did exist and expected to see or sense it, even from afar, this perspective was, and is, very significant, confirming hundreds of experiences I’ve had with souls who have crossed over.
On the flip side, many ask, is there a heaven? In none of the many readings that I’ve conducted with individuals who have crossed over have I ever ‘seen’ anything that resembles the storybook portrayal of heaven. No puffy clouds creating a ‘floaty’ environment, no pearly gates, no winged angels – although there is an abundance of angels…they simply look like loving individuals without the telltale wings.
Time and again souls on the other side tell us how ‘heavenly’ it is over there, but they mean this in a delightful, blissful, amazing, dreamlike way that includes instant manifestation of wondrous things. In other words, ask and it is given.
If life on the other side is seemingly so joyful and free of problems, then why do souls request to come back to this side, fondly referred to as Earth school? The answer is clear. As souls, when we come into human embodiment, we’re presented with significant opportunities to learn important lessons here in ways that are not as easy, or even possible to do on the other side. The challenges and adversity that we face on this side are unmatched anywhere in the solar system, or so it’s said. As souls, we grow expansively and at an accelerated rate here as compared to other realms of existence.
The analogy to college life is a good one – living on planet earth, on this side of the veil, is likened to an ivy league college with tough entrance requirements and a full course load, whereas being on other side is more like attending a ‘party’ school. The rewards for achieving our educational goals here are enormous. Thankfully, we get to ease back and continue to grow, albeit at a calmer, slower, easier pace, when we cross over. The other good news is that there is nothing to fear on the other side, making our lifelong lesson and journey here a full-fledged adventure to be experienced to the max.