Rose Thornton- Her Near Death Experience and Incredible After Effects

Transcript

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Now that you're here at Grief 2 Growth, I'd like to ask you to do three things.

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Thanks for being here. Close your eyes and imagine what are the things in life that cause us the greatest pain, the things that bring us grief, or challenges, challenges designed to help us grow to ultimately become what we were always meant to be.

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We feel like we've been buried.

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But what if like a seed we've been planted and having been planted, who grow to become a mighty tree.

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Now, open your eyes. Open your eyes to this way of viewing life. Come with me as we explore your true infinite, eternal nature. This is grief to growth.

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And I am your host, Brian Smith.

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Everybody this is Brian back with another episode of grief to growth. And today I've got with me a fascinating woman Her name is Rosemary ringer. If you've listened to her earlier podcast she has with me she's been on before, but Rosemary has been on several podcasts, various platforms. And her her videos have had more than 3 million views. She's also included in different formats, including life to afterlife, too, so you can actually find her there. I'm going to read a short biography about rosemary and then we're going to get started and just have a conversation like we always do. For 20 years rose thought and enjoyed a national reputation as an expert on Oh houses. She is the author of 10 books. She has been featured on everything from PBS historic History Detectives to BBC Radio.

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In 2016, her husband died by suicide and two years later, Rose was diagnosed with a life threatening illness. After a rich after routine medical procedure rose bled to death and heaven she was told that she agreed to return to Earth she'd be restored to wholeness.

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Subsequent medical tests affirmed that not only had the diseases appeared, but she was also healed of the crippling grief that she had been going through. So with that, I want to welcome to grifter growth. Rose ringer. Thank you. Rose, it is great to have you back. I'm really excited to talk to you again.

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Hate to compare compare near death experiences. But you know, it's interesting. It's they're different experiences, of course. So they're all have different aspects to them. The other thing is some people are just really great storytellers.

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And you're really great storyteller. So I want you to tell your story. I know you're an author, you've written several books. And I'm really excited to tell everybody you've got a new book, that by the time this podcast comes out should be available. It's called Remembering the light. So what I'd like you to do is just tell what happened to you. What was your what's your book about?

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What's your story?

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Yeah, thank you for mentioning the book. The title was remembering the light, how dying saved my life. And as I say a couple times in the book, that's not just the title.

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That's the fact. And as a writer, it's an interesting juxtaposition of terms. One doesn't think of death as saving your life.

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Very briefly, my husband, a man that I thought was the answer to a lifetime of prayers.

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Came home for lunch one day in his life. And I've always been a sensitive soul writers are creative people, creative, I guess artistic people have a tender heart. And I share was in love with him. And I was devastated. beyond words, I pretty much lost my mind. And I, I struggled so much. And I had three prayers I uttered every night, you know, once I kind of got the ability to pray again.

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But one of my prayers was God either heal me or let me die. I knew that I could not continue to live in this state because I was so messed up. You know, I always valued my intellect. I used to be a newspaper reporter.

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I work as an editor for a time, I had written several books. And I always thought I was pretty, pretty smart cookie, and yet I could not intellectualize or think my way out of this mess.

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And then, my husband was a man for whom I prayed at least twice a day. And with his suicide, it took away my faith. What happened to those prayers. I'd been specifically praying to protect his life that God would safeguard his life. And it was like everything I ever knew was gone. You know, I've heard somebody liken it to the house that has always provided you shelter and grace and peace is burned to the ground and then the foundation's pushed into its own hole. And that's what I felt like I didn't even know where to begin. How do you even begin? And so I, I struggled this way for some time. But anyway, the three prayers where God either heal me or let me die, because I was so miserable.

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And secondly, when I do die, no life review, I had had recurring nightmares of his death. And the nightmares were horrific beyond what words can describe. And thirdly, I had had to face so many difficult decisions after his death. And I asked God, I can't do the decisions anymore.

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You know, something I know that you understand, and a lot of your listeners will understand is trauma scrambles your brain.

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And when you've always thought of yourself as both smart person and a person of faith, and that goes away, you don't have a lot left. And so I couldn't get my moorings. I just couldn't figure out how to how to stop the downward spiral. I was like, I was reaching to grab on to something and I couldn't find anything. And the downward spiral continued, and I actually made a very detailed plan of how to end my own life. And when the pain got to be too great, I would just sit and imagine how that would feel that it would one day be over. So I was not. I was pretty messed up. To say the least. And yeah, I, I kept telling myself hang on for 24 more hours. You know, there's, there's a scene in the movie. In one movie, I guess I shouldn't mention but a movie with Tom Hanks, where he's stranded on a desert island. And then one morning, the the incoming tide brings in a sail, he's able to construct a boat and go out. And I kept telling myself, you never know what the next morning will bring, try to hang on for 24 more hours. But it's not a great way to fight suicidal urges.

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It's really not and it was willpower, you know. So. So in fact, on the decision fatigue, one of the interesting things is I was down to not even being able to handle what to wear. So I bought myself four pairs of jeans and 12, white polo shirts, really nice, you know, nice, quality polo shirts. So the morning opened my closet, and I didn't even have to make a decision about color. I just opened the closet and I grabbed a white polo shirt and my pair of jeans and I was done. But that's where I had gone from being somebody who's written books. I mean, one of my books took six years to research and write. And just the amount of bookkeeping and keeping track of stuff was enormous. But that was the former me, the new me wanted to be able to pick out clothes that require no decision. So that was my life. And then 29 months into this, I was diagnosed with stage two, cervical cancer. And I really thought that this was just the final twist of the knife. I thought, How can I believe in God? And after all this, now I'm dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

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And I didn't understand and actually one of the first things I said, you know, somebody said, if you're angry at God, it's okay. It means we should still talking.

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And I just kind of said to God, and I guess loosely formed prayer, I said, I was pretty clear, let me die, or heal me.

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Not let me linger with a painful death. So I went in for a cervical biopsy, I actually had two doctors opinions, multiple tests, and the cervical biopsy was mainly more than just a cervical is to see how far all this spread. They knew it was a stage two, but they're trying to figure out nearby areas, etc. So after that procedure, I you know, you're in the recovery room, and they're off, you go out with you. And I explained to the RN, that I was bleeding an awful lot. And she said, Well, once you get home and lie down, you'll feel better.

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That was pretty dismissive, and not appropriate. And I told her that two more times that something's gone awfully wrong.

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I've been I've been in this body for 58 years or actually 59 and something's not right. And she's anyway, she dismissed me. So I got in the car dutifully and went home by time I got home was just getting worse. And I stepped into my I had this beautiful Walter wall, very light tan carpet. And I was very concerned about making a mess.

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Because when you're bleeding to death, housekeeping is a priority. Right? I don't want to leave a man s. So I actually stepped into my white tiled shower and just stood over the stood in there one day, I didn't know what to do. I mean, I'm bleeding profusely. I've just left the hospital. They seemed like Oh, you'll be fine. And I realized standing in that shower, one of the very first prayers or Bible verses that it touched my heart was days after his death. It was a I think it's first Corinthians 1013 But it's God will show you a way out and I had come to that. And the way I interpreted it was I'll either get out of this misery or I'll get out of this life but I can't stay in this mental place. So standing in that shower and you know, we have a knowing we know what's going on and I realized I'm I'm dying. Something's gone wrong and artery neck who knows but I'm dying. You can't lose this much blood for this long and not be done. So I leaned against that shower wall. And I thought to myself, you know, maybe this is God's mercy. Maybe this is the answer to my prayers that God will show me a way out, maybe this is the way out, maybe God showing me an open door and I can be gone. So I really thought about that. And I thought, you know, all you have to do sit down on the shower floor, because I was I was already getting dizzy and weak.

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And I thought I have to sit sit down on the shower floor, and it won't be long. And it will not have been by my own hand, I won't leave my children with a legacy that he left. I will everyone will say, Well, you know how unfortunate her first medical procedure kills her.

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But

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I was very close to that. Because it really did feel like God was saying, it's okay, you fought hard. You fought on the fun to the Bible verses you've done everything you could do. But a person can only take so much, it's okay.

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But I also thought two of my dear friends had brought me home from the hospital. And one of those friends who whom I have mentioned before, had stayed with me for 29 months to take care of me. And basically, he was in the caregiver role because I was not able to feed myself, I had lost about 40 pounds at this point, I was looking pretty darn thin. And he had stayed with me throughout everything.

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And I thought you know what, these two people that love me are on the other side of this bathroom walls sitting in my living room. And after all they've invested in keeping me here is it really fair for them to walk into this room and a few minutes and see that I've expired in the bathroom. And it really, really bugged me, I thought that's not fair. They've got a lot invested in me. So I stood up, I walked out to take me or as they call 911, I'm dying they did, they took me to a tiny little er, not too far from my home. And it was a standalone er, which meant, you know, they didn't they weren't even connected to a hospital note itself, not a great idea if you're in real trouble. And there, this RN, about my age held my hand and I was very frightened at this point, because I'm like, You know what, I am ready to live, let's do this. And I grabbed her hand said promise me you're not going to let me die.

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And she said, Oh, honey, we have many solutions for this. We're not gonna let you die, and very definitive, very authoritative.

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And I looked in her eyes, and I saw literally, Mother Love. I mean, she was so loving and so confident, so clear. And that's really comforting. You know, it's, it's not just what they say, but you can feel what they're feeling and she was very authoritative, we're not, you're not going to die, you're not going to die. So the doctor came in and examined me and made some not great choices. And they gave me a shot of Dilaudid, which is a morphine derivative. And, and then they left me there. And now my friend has joined me, he was sitting at my side. And they left me in that room and exited the room. And boy after that Dilaudid hit because think about it, I was already down quite a bit of blood. And now they've given me this morphine derivative, which I think that's kind of what finished me off. I talked to the medical professional, who had told me that when you're on the cusp of bleeding out, and you get something like morphine, it's more than say you're down 50% blood volume. It's more than a double dose, but just because of the the dynamics of the whole thing of the physics. So I think once that the water hit my heart, I think that was the end, but I lost consciousness pretty quickly, like real quick. And I was in a deep dreamless state.

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And I woke up the moment my heart stopped, and I woke up being catapulted out of my body.

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And I was catapulted into this perfect, velvety, comforting blackness, I couldn't see a thing. And one of my first thoughts was, my heart just stopped. And I thought, How do I know that? I thought, I don't know how I know that. But I know that's right. Hard to stop. And then I said, Wow, I'm dying.

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Then being the longtime editor, I said, Actually, you're not dying, you're dead.

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Correction. Correction, right, we want to get the proper tense because when you're going on to your reward, you need to make sure your English is proper.

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And, and that made me laugh out loud. Literally. I thought here I am. literally gone dead. My life has ended. And I still have my McCobb sense of humor. And but the beauty part of it all was I still had my goofy little giggle. I heard myself giggle.

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And I thought, wow, I don't have breath sounds. I'm pretty sure I don't have vocal cords. And yet I'm still producing sound. And I'm still hearing sound. And I sound exactly like I've always sounded and even in this the seconds who knows what time is on the other side. I don't know what time is. But I thought every single thing I am has gone with me has made the transition.

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I left nothing behind on that gurney and I thought some more about it and I thought I'm the happiest I've ever been. I know the most perfect joy the most perfect peace I've ever known. I thought I did leave something behind on that gurney. I live stress, anxiety, worry, fear, everything that one would consider negative I left behind on that gurney. And yet there's, again it's hard to describe but it's Like there were 1000 thoughts going through my head at once it felt like my whole life, my brain and my smart brain had been working at 60 amps. And now we had an infusion of 100,000 amps. But I never knew I could think so many thoughts at once.

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And they were all really interesting thoughts. But one of the thoughts I had was all my life, I've wondered, What would take me out. Now I know.

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And then I thought, one less thing to worry about.

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One more thing off the list. And I thought about my husband suicide, which is pretty interesting that I, I remembered that and yet it was it was a kind of detached from emotion.

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And I remember thinking, I didn't do this to myself, all those suicidal ideations, I did not do this to myself, and my children will be spared. And, and I remember thinking it's over. I don't have to be the widow of this man anymore. I don't have to be upset, I don't have to be worried. It was just just incredible. And my predominant feeling, if when could I identify and isolate such a thing was gratitude. I was so grateful. I mean, my whole life, even even during the hardest times, I tried to keep a list of my daily five things for which I'm grateful. And sometimes it's the moon was really pretty last night. And sometimes, like it's five degrees here this morning, where I have in the Midwest, and sometimes it's, I'm in a warm house, I'm not outside, I have shelter. I have slippers for my feet. So the gratitude list is something I've done my entire life. So floating away from my body, I thought, I'm just so grateful. I'm just so grateful.

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It's over. It's over. It's over.

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It's over. I'm sorry, I didn't do this to myself. God gave me it really felt like I've been given early release for good behavior. No kidding, seriously felt like that. And the this, the chemotherapy had already been arranged, the supposed to do once a week, chemotherapy for six weeks, and then daily radiation for six weeks. And so there's a 70% chance that that would fix it and not as another round. And I thought, no chemotherapy for me, I got out of that thing. And there were so many thoughts. And one of them was Paul's verse, the peace that passeth all understanding. And I thought, This is what Paul was talking about. This is that piece. Nobody can define or explain what explain what this piece is. But this is piece, and I was in this, again, this perfect blackness I've heard people refer to it as the womb of creation, which I think's pretty interesting. And I thought all my life not all my life. But the last year since my husband's death, I've been terrified of being in the dark I was had to sleep with a light on or nightlight or something. And I thought, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of being in this perfect blackness. And early on in this experience. I felt this enormous spiritual presence to my left and slightly behind me and my enormous because I'm floating away from my body. And again, I can't see what I've left, but I know I'm I'm going on. And this enormous physical presence was just so.

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So happy to see me.

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I know that sounds childlike.

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But that was my feeling is like, Oh, there you are. And I turned my head to the left and looked up. And I thought how funny that here I am in this new experience. And yet I have a left shoulder to look over. I'm turning my head to the left and looking up. So I realized I have some human esque form in this new experience. And I asked with a lilt in my voice. And I said, and who are you?

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And before I could even finish my question, the answer was very clear. And the answer I know a lot of people who've had MDS might not agree with this, but to me, it was very clear. It was spoken as well as infused. So I heard the words, but I also got the meaning and what was spoken was, You are the image and likeness.

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I am the original. And that was life changing. And I remember thinking, well, that's Genesis 127. I remember thinking that would have been good to know, back then when I was on earth, you know, having this earthly experience, but I thought, It's okay, I know it now. And it's mine forever. I got it. Because I always wondered, what does it really mean to be made in the image and likeness of God? Look, what does that mean? But now I got it. I got it. It was so cool. I thought you know how funny how interesting how delightful that the very Bible verse that is challenged me, my whole life is the one that gets explained to me in heaven. And one of the very first things that happened to me, I just thought that was so great. And as I floated on, floated further and further along, so many different things happened. So many thoughts were coming to me all at once and one of the thoughts that was really cool.

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I realized I had been in this experience before floating away from my body and like in this birth experience, I had done this before and I asked the angels I said hey, this is this is something I've experienced before and and now I'm with I guess a spiritual being an angel however you wish To define it, and the message I got was, remember, your mom told you when you were a baby, an infant, newborn infant, you've been given up for dead. And then people prayed over me. And then to everyone's surprise, I wasn't dead anymore. And I had come back from the brink of death. No one believed I was dead at the brink of death. And the angels explained to me, they said, actually, there's a little more to that story. You didn't come close to death, you actually crossed over. And we sent you back then. Wow. They said, Yeah, you had stuff to do, we sent you back. So that explained again, it explained 59 years of not understanding what's going on.

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Because for 59 years, I've always talked about the angels with me. I've heard the angels tell me things, you know, when people pass on, I remember one time, gosh, probably 20 years ago, I came home and I told my then husband, my first husband, I said, Aunt Susie passed. And he said, How could you know that I just got the phone call. He has his before cell phones, it was about 25 years ago. And I said, she stopped by to see me.

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And she thanked me for my prayers. And she said she's going to be on her way now. And that's been my life, you know, and I always felt like such an oddball on this earth. I thought everybody had their loved one stop by and say, I'll be on my way now.

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But apparently they don't. Yeah, so that answered a lifetime of mystery for me. It really did.

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It just answered a lifetime that I had always been so different.

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And as you probably know, when you're the when you're the different kid in high school, or junior high, you often don't get treated very well. And, you know, people talk about, oh, I wish I could go back to my high school years, you know, only to see how many people got incarcerated. That's the only reason I want to go back to my high school years. You want to be put in jail when you put somebody in a locker? Yes. But anyway, so it's not a happy time for me. Actually, Junior High was bad, high school was better.

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So, so many things were explained to me in this experience. I mean, it was just so many things coming at me from every side, but it was all good.

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And one of the things I guess I should mention, at the moment of the separation from my body, I had this very clear imagery that there was like a silver cord from the crown of my head to the bottom of my heels. And it was so somebody pulled back on it like an archers bow and let it pop. And that's what I felt.

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That's what just catapulted me out of my body. I've often used the expression, I felt like toast popping out a test popping out of a toaster. I mean, it was a point was very dramatic. And yet it was not jarring. It was not upsetting. It was not jarring. It was not disturbing, it was great. And the whole experience was so full of perfect love, perfect piece and pieces of verb, you know, not just pieces of noun pieces of her pieces and adverb pieces and adjective pieces, everything.

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And, and now I was with this angelic being that accompanied me through this experience. And I floated further and further away from my body. And, and I recognized I knew what was happening. You know, there's a belief that when death is very sudden and unexpected, sometimes the soul can get confused as it was, I haven't, I had no confusion. In fact, I also had a memory, I had a will in place.

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And right before I went into the surgery, like hours before, I wrote out on a piece of paper signed in my own hand that what was to become of my dog upon my demise, and I left detailed instructions and instructions that the dog be well provided for.

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And looking back, I think, I think that was a pretty curious thing to do for somebody undergoing a cervical biopsy.

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I think something in me knew that this might not end the way everyone was expecting. So I remembered Bible verses, I remembered my life, I remembered. I remember thinking everyone's going to be very surprised how this turned out.

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And yet I didn't think about my three children.

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I think that's God's mercy. How can you pass in peace? If you're like, oh, no, what's this going to do to my kids? So I just think that that's God's mercy.

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And you know, throughout this experience, I heard somebody screaming my name, and I mean, screaming and I felt almost a bit of panic. In this voice. I heard screaming rosemary, rosemary, rosemary, rosemary, Rosemary over and over again. And I never turned around. It was like the voice was some distance behind me. And the more I went into this experience, the quieter the voice got, and the screaming was so urgent. And I remember thinking, well, actually, after I came back from this, I remember thinking when you hear somebody scream your name, you turn around and look, you almost can't help yourself. You turn around, say, Oh, who's that? I never had any inclination to turn around. I knew it was in the past. And it was something back there and I didn't need to think about and the other thing that occurred to me is in this experience, I was not rosemary, I was not author, mother, friend. I was just a child of God, I was going home.

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And that's the other thing when people say how good be so grateful to be dying. It's 59 it wasn't dying. I was just slipping from here to there. I was just going from the living room to the kitchen.

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I can't emphasize that enough.

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And there's a song.

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Going home going home, I'm just going home. That was what I knew. I if you had to define it, I would say I was felt like I was 1,000,000,000th of the drop of water. Going back to the ocean, is going back to my source. I just can't begin to describe how comforting it was.

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And I felt like I knew it would be good. I knew dying. I mean, my whole life. I had read it read nd ease. Oh my goodness even started Raymond Moody, and I 76 live after life.

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I read every indie book I could get my hands on. And I mean, dozens, obscure ones, popular ones, all of them. And I realized now why did I have this insatiable curiosity about indie ease, and I realized it was a childhood thing. I didn't even know it was a childhood thing.

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So yeah, there was a hunger there to learn more. And the experience was just so beautiful. And, and this is also pretty curious to me is that at some point, I was in a white room. And I don't remember the transition. I remember floating away from my body. And floating was great. I mean, I remember saying I very distinctly remember saying, a lot of people say how do you know you didn't want to come back? I do know.

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Because I said in this floating I like floating floating is fun.

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This is great. I'm a wordsmith.

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I know all the big words.

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I, if I had any thought of coming back, I would use a much more descriptive prosaic language than I like floating footing. It's fun, this is great.

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I needed a better quotable quote. Yeah. And it's only some point, I end up in this, this white room, and I don't remember the transition. And I've tried and tried and tried. And then I realized, you know what this is, for some reason, I'm not supposed to remember, that's okay. I have my peace with it.

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But truly, I swear, I swear to you, it's like somebody took my batteries out. It's just I don't know what happened. But one minute, I'm floating. The next minute, I'm in a weight room.

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And in this way room, I'm on my feet. Except I think, I don't know, if I have feet, I wish I looked down. I don't know why I didn't look down but I didn't.

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But I remember thinking I don't know if I have feet or legs or what's going on here. But I know I can move with intention. And I saw a door at the far end of the room and the room was maybe I you know, if I had to guess maybe 15 to 20 feet long. And I saw that door on the opposite end of the room. And I thought I know what the door is. I've read enough nd e stories. I know exactly what that door is that door is the point of no return that's crossing the Rubicon.

00:27:31.529 --> 00:27:39.630
That's where you go and can't come back. So I pretty much said to the spiritual beings that accompany me out of my way. I'm going through the door, you know, like lire path.

00:27:40.950 --> 00:27:51.089
We're doing the door. And in this room, there was a whiteness almost like a fog. But it wasn't a fog. When you walk into a fog, you feel the chill, you feel the dampness. There was no chill.

00:27:51.089 --> 00:28:12.029
There was no dimness, it was like it was a fog, but without the humidity. And I thought this is curious. And yet I could see through the fog to see that door. And I thought I don't know what this is. And I tried to focus on an individual droplet of this mist, would you've ever been in a real fog, you're not gonna focus on an individual droplet.

00:28:12.809 --> 00:29:26.099
And yet I feel I should be able to. And one of the angels with me said, your spiritual eyes have not acclimated to this new environment. But these are particles of light that are swirling around you dancing around you. And think of it like a spiritual carwash that you can't go to heaven with the muck of Earth on you. And you have to be clenching it Well, the way it was explained to me, some people think they've died of a disease process, or even people who might have taken their own life that has to be washed away from them. And they're restored to their innate inherent purity, so that they can go to heaven. And you know, the funny thing is, this is pretty much not aligned with this belief system, religious belief system with which I had been raised. And I thought that was pretty cool, too, that this isn't what we learned in Sunday school. But this is happening. And I also was very beautiful, that I would be restored. You know, that that I could remember. I think it's on I guess I should look this up. It says, I shall bring all things to your remembrance. And that's what it was like it was like, honestly, and not to trivialize the trauma, but this was like waking up from a really intense dream.

00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:29.339
I can't speak to that enough.

00:29:30.359 --> 00:30:09.960
And, and it was like remembering who I really am. You know, I'm not this severely damaged, former writer. I'm this person that is a child of God. So going through this white room was incredible. And as I walked through this mist, I talked with the angels Angel, I guess, and I got to a door I got to the door. I really was like, I can't wait. I can't wait to do this by that door and I was a little miffed that the door was closed because that that old song I just sang you going on really talks about going through an open door and I thought it Door ought to be open. Why is that door not open? And I put my I have my right hand at my side, and I put my right hand up to push through the door to move through the door.

00:30:11.490 --> 00:30:54.509
And as I prepare and also, by the way, I thought it's pretty cool right handed on Earth right handed in heaven. I thought now is how cool is that I have a right hand. You know, it's all pretty neat. And as I did, so, I asked, Is this the divine will for my life? And you know, I couldn't even get through that whole sentence. I said, Is this divine? And the answer was? No, it's not. But whatever you decide, you go with all God's grace and mercy and love and care, there is not a wrong decision. And that meant so much to me. After so much emotional agony over making decisions. I was reassured that there won't be a wrong decision because you know, whether to die well, whether to go on to the next world or come back to this one's a pretty big decision.

00:30:55.680 --> 00:31:30.599
And I said, Okay, I'm doing the door. We answered that question pretty quick. And then I had a vision of that nurse. And vision is the wrong word. It was like I was an observer in a hospital room that I had been placed into the future, an hour a day, I don't know I've been placed in the future. And I was a quiet, maybe invisible observer in this hospital supply room, and I saw that same nurse sitting on a metal stool, with her head in her hands, leaning forward and sobbing, great gasp of sobs and through tears, I could hear her say I promised that woman I wasn't gonna let her die and I lost her. I was like, Oh, man.

00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:35.970
Oh, man. I it was it was rough.

00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:43.559
And I remember thinking she is an RN. And she appeared to be my age. And I thought she's done this before she'll get through this, you know, it may not be great, but she'll get through this.

00:31:45.509 --> 00:31:58.740
And then I felt her agony. It was like her agony became my agony. And I read, I recognize that extreme emotional agony is the same agony I had, you know, this 29 months between my husband's death and my own.

00:31:59.130 --> 00:31:59.819
And I thought,

00:32:01.019 --> 00:32:12.059
if I can spare one person on earth, that much pain, I have to go back. And it was a very hard decision, to say the least. We'll get back to grief to growth in just a few seconds.

00:32:12.480 --> 00:33:03.450
Did you know that Brian is an author and a life coach. If you're grieving or know someone who is grieving his book, grief to growth is a best selling easy to read book that might help you or someone you know, people work with Brian as a life coach, to break through barriers and live their best lives. You can find out more about Brian and what he offers at WWW dot grief to growth.com www.gr IE F the number two, gr o w th.com. If you'd like to support this podcast, visit www.patreon.com/grief to growth www.patren.com/g ri, E F, the number two gr O W th to make a financial contribution. And now back to grief to growth.

00:33:05.910 --> 00:33:13.589
And so I put my right hand back at my side and I said and this is kind of funny, I said it's gonna ruin that woman's day if I die.

00:33:16.380 --> 00:33:29.430
And in the middle millisecond, I was back on a gurney lots of stuff happening all around me, thrown into an ambulance pretty quick, taken to a trauma center, a real hospital and and was there for several days. And throughout that time.

00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:48.269
The angels were very present with me. I've heard people come back from an MD say they feel like they were nine 50% in this world 50%. Now when I felt like I was 95% that will present this one. I had again, I had my friends at the hospital bed with me, it's good to have people in the hospital with you when you're not quite all together there. And I wasn't.

00:33:49.769 --> 00:33:55.259
But when they would have to step out to go to the cafeteria, run an errand or whatever the angels would come to my bedside and singing songs.

00:33:56.519 --> 00:33:59.910
And they were very beautiful.

00:33:56.519 --> 00:34:09.179
And they'd light up. The angels would light up as they sang. And the songs are so beautiful. And you could see the music. The music was sparkly and pretty and beautiful. And as they sang, they got brighter and brighter.

00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:29.789
And I said, you know, I'm really good with houses. I'm an architectural historian. I said I'm not so good with music. And they said, remembering lyrics and melody, I wanted to remember every single facet of the song that was being sung to me. And they said, This is not for you to remember this is for your peace. This is for your healing.

00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:33.389
This is for your joy. And this is a thank you for agreeing to come back, which was profound.

00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:54.869
And after I got out of the hospital, I sold off everything I owned, I realized the happiest I've ever been in my known existence on this planet was when I had nothing most was floating away from this body. So I sold pretty much every single thing I had I donated research materials to a local library. I traded in my shiny red new Camry, and I bought a slightly used Prius.

00:34:56.190 --> 00:34:59.969
And then I packed my meager belongings in the back of that car and drove 1000 miles away.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:11.039
Midwest starting new life changes Oh, and I guess the grand PST all this, I meant to mention this, you know, these stories are kind of hard to tell sometimes you get where you are.

00:35:09.539 --> 00:35:40.829
And um the angels told me if I agreed to go back, this is in that net white room, they said if you agreed to go back, even through the White Room, and you'll be completely healed of not just the grief. But the disease process too. It'll all be gone. You're, you're getting a fresh start fresh slate. And when I came back, I noticed I had had some high frequency hearing loss loss. I had started life in radio, rock and roll stuff.

00:35:42.389 --> 00:36:07.619
And my hearing was restored. I had a bad knee and a bad shoulder that was made right I had arthritis in my wrist from 40 years as a typist, there was all healed. And then it took some time and I had to find a new doctor. But it was affirmed through a subsequent extensive medical test and subsequent surgical biopsies. That as the doctor herself said, not one cell to cancer can be found, I was completely healed.

00:36:08.849 --> 00:36:26.159
And I don't want to diminish that. But the real healing was the healing of my soul. And I opened a Bible short time after this. It took me a couple weeks to get back on my feet. Open the Bible a couple weeks after this, and it fell to 23rd Psalm and it looked like he restoreth my soul was highlighted on that Bible verse. And I thought, that's the healing is my soul was restored.

00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:31.230
Right. Right. Now it's a big deal. Wow. Wow, rose with that.

00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:35.699
Thanks for going through that again. It's It's fascinating to hear it

00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:48.719
even even a second time. So I have several questions that I have for you that I want to ask you based on that. So the first thing is about the the suicide of your husband.

00:36:49.980 --> 00:37:04.110
The death of a spouse is devastating. Anyway, suicide is even more devastating. So tell me about the complications involved around suicide and why that sends you into such a deep grief, probably even beyond normal.

00:37:06.929 --> 00:37:09.360
Several things. One, I loved him.

00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:46.920
I really thought he my first marriage had failed after 24 years. And I hit put a lot of energy into praying for that marriage. And I thought finding this man I married him when I was, I guess 4445 I thought he was the answer to all those prayers. You know, prayer is not in vain. What is the Bible verse, My Word shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that thing which I intend. I knew those prayers that I prayed for my first husband were not in vain. I didn't know how this ended so badly. And the last phone conversation I had with my husband was a terrible argument.

00:37:46.949 --> 00:37:50.130
Just terrible. He was upset and angry.

00:37:51.150 --> 00:38:03.329
And he hung up, he hung up the phone and ended this thing. And I felt very guilty. Very, very, very, very, very guilty. And you know, one of the pieces to this, I haven't I don't think I've ever shared this story publicly.

00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:03.329
It is in my book.

00:38:05.909 --> 00:38:37.440
And when this happened, I was traveling from my home and south. And I just landed in Boston, I get the call. I've turned right around, get back on a plane, try to fly home. I'm stuck in Baltimore, trying to get south, you know, where I lived on the East Coast. And there was one seat left on a Southwest Airlines flight to get me where I needed to go. And I was you can only imagine how frazzled I was. So I they had one seat left, and they held the plane for me, which is remarkable. I don't I didn't even know they haven't did that.

00:38:37.710 --> 00:39:09.119
But I ran and ran and ran I got on that plane, I popped down in my seat. And I sat down next to this man. And I was just staring straight ahead. I was pretty hot mess. And he said, my name is Dan and I said my name is Rose. And he said you do it okay. And I said not real in a game, the very short version. I said, I just got a call my husband and his wife, I'm trying to get back home. I said, here this terrible argument, terrible argument. And Dan stared straight ahead for a minute. And he said, I want you to remember that God is still watching over you.

00:39:09.449 --> 00:39:49.710
Because he said you're seated next to somebody who understands. He said, My mother did the same thing to me. She started a terrible argument with me on the phone. And she hung up in anger. And then she put a gun to her head. And he said that was the last conversation I ever had with my mother. And he said, but I want you to know there'll be a day where you go a few minutes and it doesn't hurt, and then a few hours. And then one day you realize you're gone an entire day without sobbing. And he says it's going to get better. And that man talked to me for that flight about how I would heal and that I would heal and it would get better. And I thought you know, Southwest doesn't have seat assignments.

00:39:51.329 --> 00:39:52.469
But God does.

00:39:54.329 --> 00:39:59.969
And that I realized that was the beginning of my healing. That was the big that's where it started.

00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:04.708
So suicide is a death like no other, you get ostracized I had been.

00:40:06.150 --> 00:40:53.130
He was an impressive man, very successful. And I was an author with some success. And we had these grand parties where people would come and had lots and lots and lots of fancy friends. And after his death, I ended up living out of my car briefly, because I couldn't find a place to get comfortable. And boy, does it give you humility, when even now, you know, it's very cold here in the Midwest right now. And you still see the homeless out, looking for money and food or whatever. I saw a woman my age standing out on the street corner, and it was a sign and I burst into tears. Because, you know, you look at them, and you just want to say, I bet you've had trauma, haven't you?

00:40:50.070 --> 00:41:32.340
I bet something knocked your feet out from under you so thoroughly. And it wasn't just one thing, you know, and in my case, I lost my husband. I lost my status in the community, my place in society, I lost my home. I lost everything. I even lost my dog for a time because I couldn't care for a dog and thankfully, my friend took care of the dog. And, and I was reunited with my dog. But I mean, I've lost everything. I lost everything. And people were saying, Oh, you need to eat something. Why? Why? Why do I need eat something? I literally lost the ability to eat. And people would say if people are so foolish at times, they say, Oh, you look great. Look Great.

00:41:29.670 --> 00:41:50.010
lost so much weight. No, I don't look great. This Roomful feel awful. So yeah, I see homeless people now. And I think what got you know what got me. Actually friend intervened. A friend found out I was living out of the car and a friend intervened and said, we're not doing this rosemary. She says you're not doing this. She said you're coming home with me. And I said, you don't want me in your house.

00:41:50.010 --> 00:41:58.320
I scream at night. I have terrible nightmares, horrible things. She said, No, you're coming home with me. And that's that she said stay one night.

00:41:54.480 --> 00:42:13.829
And I did. And then when I turned in four months, and then another friend, well, that friend I mentioned earlier, he came to work with me and and that's when I was reunited with my dog. He took care of me and the dog. And I kept saying, I'm beyond economical repair. You know, that's a car. That's a term we use in automotive industry. Yeah, I was beyond economical repair, there's nothing worth fixing here.

00:42:14.849 --> 00:42:16.860
So, but they saw something.

00:42:17.880 --> 00:42:40.409
You said something earlier that really caught me when you said because not only did you lose, as you said, your husband and your your home your status. And you said you lost your intellect, which was a big part of who you are and your faith. So for people that I wouldn't I want people to kind of think about that for a second what it'd be like to only lose your material possessions, but these things that we think is who we are.

00:42:41.519 --> 00:42:41.820
Right.

00:42:43.050 --> 00:42:49.469
And I had always been a good Christian girl. And I mean, I know my Bible pretty well. Yeah. And I lost it all.

00:42:49.469 --> 00:44:13.139
And that's the thing i i would have this vision of me, floating in the icy Atlantic in the middle of the night, desperate to find a piece, a piece of driftwood. I mean, the vision came to me so many times, and I couldn't even find a piece of driftwood. I'm just out there treading water freezing to death. And I guess that's the analogy is that I couldn't even clean my face. And they were just words. Now, you know, the Bible had been so rich with meaning before, and now they would just words. And I think God doesn't give us more than we can handle. Oh my gosh, the tribe. If you ever find somebody in trauma, and I'm sure you know this, Brian, but you find somebody in trauma, knock off the cliches, knock them off. God doesn't give us more than we can handle wrong. But I believe now is that if if we are able, we are spiritually able, God will help us through that. But yes, God does give us more than we can handle so we can learn how to lean on something outside ourselves. But sometimes the weight is too much. And sometimes we collapse under the burden. Yeah, exactly. Shay's Oh, my gosh, yeah. So that was so well said. Your system also caught my attention. When you said you were you're to the point where like, I'm just going to hang up for 2424 more hours, which I thought sounded like a good idea. But you said that's not a great idea for suicide prevention. So explain it to me.

00:44:06.059 --> 00:44:17.610
Well, my case, I think I was using willpower to stay alive.

00:44:13.139 --> 00:44:44.099
And I guess, maybe that's not fair to say, but I was miserable. I was absolutely miserable. When you think okay, it's 1030 today 1030. Tomorrow, this will be over. It's it's I read a book about suicide. That was my read a couple books. But one of the things it said is we are biologically hardwired to survive. But when we start thinking about suicide, we just chip and chip and chip away that natural biological hardwiring.

00:44:40.019 --> 00:44:55.349
So when we let the circle go with this loop, get ever more entrenched. We're pushing the biological hardwiring off the page, and we're saying, Oh, it's gonna feel good to be dead.

00:44:51.300 --> 00:45:23.309
That's a devilish temptation. It is not good. One of the things my daughter's my brilliant daughter sent me right after it's dead. I mean, I do I guess I had a psychotic break, I just I was a mess. And I would run through the house and I'd say I have to die. I was spiritually responsible for this man and I have failed, I have to find him, I have to go be with him, I have to die out of my way. Let me do this. And my daughter, my sweet daughter, I gosh, I think she was 29. At the time, she grabbed me literally grabbing was just pacing through the house, like a crazy animal.

00:45:23.639 --> 00:45:49.800
And she grabbed me gave me a shake. She said, Mom, if you kill yourself, you're not going to be with him, you're not going to the same place he is because you're not in the same place. He was. She said, but you're just going to be another lost soul in a dark place. And then we can't help you. And I'm sorry, I don't mean to get emotional, but you can't stop, you got to be so bad. And I was like, she's right. She's right.

00:45:50.190 --> 00:45:52.590
And I had to stay here so people could help me.

00:45:53.670 --> 00:46:03.659
So the 24 hour thing. I think it's dangerous, because it chips away. That that natural, biological urge to survive until it becomes our default.

00:46:04.860 --> 00:46:33.630
And I think it's really important for us to try to understand suicide as much as we can, because we have so many misconceptions about it, that the person was weak, that they gave up, you know, there's there's guilt around it when someone you know, we should have known we should have been prevented, you know, all these things that, that we put on on suicide. And as you said, I think sometimes, you know, God, if you want to use God gave it gives us more life gives us more than we can handle. And sometimes we just we just break.

00:46:34.469 --> 00:46:39.510
We do break. And I something I don't know if somebody told me this early on. But

00:46:40.860 --> 00:46:49.559
you know, if somebody has a heart attack, as what do they call it a Widowmaker. When it's the left anterior descending artery that goes, I do have a good memory.

00:46:50.940 --> 00:47:17.489
But when somebody has a heart attack that takes them out, we don't say, oh, man, they were weak. You know, they should not have been eating cream cheese with their breakfast. Those last four mornings are what? We don't blame them. Right? What is the difference between your heart failing you and your mind filling you? What is the difference between somebody who got married at the age of 21 and stayed happily married until they were 92 years old when they both passed within a week of each other? You know, I'll take that life. I'll take that life.

00:47:17.519 --> 00:47:36.690
I mean, when I was 14, my dad walked out abandoned us hard times. You know, I just it's so unfair to look at somebody else's life and say, Well, I would never do that. And even to look at homeless people, they get a job. You know, I just makes me so angry that some people are blessed with easier lives than others. Suffering is not doled out in equal measure.

00:47:36.719 --> 00:47:44.130
It simply is not. And this is so unjust. When people say these harsh things about oh, they're weak, they killed themselves.

00:47:44.610 --> 00:48:25.619
You don't know what was going on in their life. You don't know how long they fought to stay alive. You don't know how long their family fought to keep them alive. You don't know how many drugs they tried, you know how many doctors and psychiatrists they reached out to, you don't know how many friends they reached out to. And the friend said, Look, I'm really busy right now you call me every other day can just stop now, please. It's just, it's just so unjust to not look at somebody, like the old Native American saying one mile in their moccasins. It's so true. You know, when when I would see when my husband it was a closed casket visitation, but they had the casket up front, and then we're at The Chapel and people are coming forward to you know, say I'm sorry for your loss and all that. You see those couples?

00:48:21.179 --> 00:48:32.039
I know, Brian, you can relate to this. You see those couples approaching the casket and they squeeze each other a little bit harder, a little bit tighter.

00:48:32.309 --> 00:49:22.530
And you know, they're thinking, thank God, this has never happened to me. Thank God I've never been, I just saw a post on social media where somebody said, somebody said, it's been two years since my granddaughter died. And somebody posted, oh, I couldn't survive that. I'm like, How dare you? How dare you say such a thing. And the amount of callous people out there. Their numbers are huge. And when I said all my fancy society, friends scattered, you know, who came into my life was the How can I say this? The people, the average folks, the working class, the people who didn't have what we would call traditional resources. They came in and they pretty much put a circle of love around me, like my friend who took me into her home and said, You're not sweeping in that car. She did.

00:49:22.530 --> 00:49:35.039
She kept me in her home for four months. At the end of the day, she had a hard job. And at the end of the day, she come into my room and she stand at the foot of that bed in her own home, by the way. And she said you were off in crying in your sweet moaning, making terrible noises.

00:49:32.699 --> 00:50:10.530
And she said she would stand at the foot of my bed. And she would pray that the peace of God would come over me. And she said you would always settle into a more peaceful sweep, your breathing would become more rhythmic. And you would calm down. I mean, that's what we're supposed to do. We're not supposed to say Get a grip. Get over this. And the number one reason I wrote this book, I don't like writing, writing this book has been hard, hard, hard, hard, hard, because this is not a book about fancy old houses. Right? This is is a book about my heart, my life, my experience, this is a book where I tell about sleeping in the car. That's pretty humbling, frankly, and becoming addicted to different things that I shouldn't have been addicted to.

00:50:11.639 --> 00:50:34.768
But the reason I wrote this book, I consider it my public thank you to all the people who swooped into saved me to save me when I looked completely beyond salvage. So that's the number one reason I wrote this book and to share the story that when somebody goes through this, what not to say what not to do, and what do you do, but how many people can really swoop in and take somebody in their home for four months and feed them and nurture them and care for them and pray for them? She saved me.

00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:59.730
While we're talking about things that people say that that aren't helpful, and you mentioned one, there's no, I could not do this. And we were I'm leading a group right now we're going through a 30 day thing. And one of the stuff that we talked about just yesterday, was when people say to you, you're so strong, you're so strong, and I could never do this. I really got I think I got the whole gist of what you want to say just from bad words.

00:51:01.619 --> 00:51:32.070
And my gosh, I'm finally getting to a point when people say, Oh, your stem is strong, you've been through so much. I just lay down and die if anything happened to my Bob, when they're saying I didn't love as deeply. That's the first thing they're saying. They love their beloved more than I love mine. Secondly, this whole thing about strong I, I used to just get so angry at people and I'd say How dare you this is not strength, what are my options?

00:51:28.710 --> 00:51:37.469
And then the other thing I would tell them, I would say I'm not strong? You pick the wrong chick. I am not strong not not not not not. I am resilient.

00:51:37.469 --> 00:51:53.730
Perhaps I can take a punch to the nose and go down and end up somehow to pop back up. I'm not even so sure about that. What I am is I got dished a big pile hard life. And I decided I better find my way through it.

00:51:50.010 --> 00:51:55.710
And I you know, it's I don't know that that's the thing.

00:51:53.730 --> 00:52:01.800
That's what we were talking about before it was wandering off into the hypothetical. The hypothetical is very dangerous.

00:51:58.530 --> 00:52:09.840
I don't know why some people have harder lives than others. I have a very dear friend who's buried two children, her only two children, one to suicide and one.

00:52:11.159 --> 00:52:14.610
One something almost as awful.

00:52:11.159 --> 00:52:18.090
Another violent ending. So what do you say to her? Do you say this is hypothetical? Do you say, Oh, you're so strong.

00:52:19.349 --> 00:53:04.139
I know so many trauma survivors who become hermits, veritable hermits, they isolate from society, they go to work, they do their thing, they come home, they don't want to be around people, because people are not thoughtful. And you know, this woman who swooped in to save me and the other people came in to save me. Not all of them had been through trauma, but all of them had a mighty big heart. And they knew what to say and then knew what not. They knew how to be love. You know, not even to love me, but just to be a shining beacon of love in this world. You know, Anne Lamott has in her book Bird by Bird, she has a great quote, We are here on earth to learn how to endure the beams of love. And I cherish that quote, because my life I thought I was I was a volunteer.

00:53:00.690 --> 00:53:25.530
I've been a volunteer chaplain for a time in a prison. I mean, I've done a lot of things in my life that I thought were good things. I took care of an elderly aunt who had Alzheimer's. I thought I'd done a lot of good things. But you know, it's, it's awfully hard to be the one that needs care. So it used to be the one giving care than the one who's such a twisted, mangled mess. They don't know which way is up.

00:53:22.500 --> 00:53:37.619
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. Another thing I want to I want to go over because you missed this before we started recording when people say things that aren't helpful, like, there's an alternate universe where your husband is alive and you're living happily ever after with them.

00:53:38.730 --> 00:53:40.710
What do you think about some things like that?

00:53:44.789 --> 00:54:39.239
I think it's cruel, actually. Because it means if I had made different choices, this could have had a different outcome. If I had paid more attention to how sad he was, in the days before this happened, you know, the Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda swampy and they couldn't. What it showed is when it comes to any death that's unexpected and tragic, can take you down, can take you down hard and fast and my brilliant mind that turns against you, that becomes your worst enemy. I am the queen of rumination. I know how to go over something so many times I wear it out and that is dangerous. And one of the things that's heavenly trip did for me is move me off the ruminations and ask new questions. Like the question I asked again and again is why did he do this? Why did he do this? I thought he loved me. Why did he do this? I thought he loved me and the angels told me those that's the wrong question to ask the right question is you loved and that was a good thing. And loving is protects us loving is a blessing loving does good for our soul.

00:54:40.349 --> 00:54:43.590
And this was his journey. This was his salvation to work out.

00:54:43.590 --> 00:55:03.269
It was not my salvation to work out. I did my best and yeah, did I do things wrong? I have no doubt I did things wrong. Have I had six years to reflect on every one of them? Well, sometime anyway. So that's the dangerous all the alternate universe and when people get all these wonky ideas about you know, you might still be alive in another world.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:48.659
To me, that is the height of hubris and cruelty. Because I want to be in that place. I want to be where he's alive. And I'm not. And I don't have to get there. And I think I think it just crap. I think it's crap people say to feel better about themselves. So much of what people say is the stuff they say. So they feel better. It's not to make you feel better. So they feel better. You and I had talked some time ago. I hope this is okay to say but you had told me and this is this really resonated with me, you said that people had said to you stuff about your, your sweet daughter that if you had taken a different path in medical care, maybe there would have been a different outcome. And they're saying that to make themselves feel better. They're not saying that for you. People should shut their mouths and they should stop and think. Is this for me?

00:55:42.090 --> 00:56:00.030
Or is this for them? Yes. That's a brilliant, that's a profound point. Because people they just they want us to feel better. So they don't feel bad. So they don't feel uncomfortable. And they say things that in you and I talked with alternate universe theory before yesterday, what I thought about it,

00:56:01.139 --> 00:56:54.480
I say, does it matter? When it comes to any of these these things? Does it matter? I'm not there. That's not my conscious experience my experiences here. So if there is an alternate Brian somewhere else living with Shana, frankly, I don't care. Because from my perspective, it doesn't, it doesn't exist. And I also want to say that I think if is the most dangerous word in English language. I don't like the word if, if I had done this, if I had done that, it doesn't exist. The only reality that exists is what we did do. And would that and I'm like, you have that rumination and literally torturing ourselves. I, I talked to a lot of people that are torturing themselves saying, if I did, you couldn't have done that you did what you did, it's done. We need to move on to the next thing. What do I do now is the question I, this is what we need to ask. So I'm glad we went over that cuz I think it's really, really important. And I know people are trying to be helpful.

00:56:55.500 --> 00:57:06.239
But sometimes I like what you said, think about whether I'm saying this to help you or to help me, you know, and so really, really focus on that.

00:57:02.489 --> 00:57:22.139
And by the way, your answer is much better than mine. You're so much better answer about the alternate universe, it really is. Because that's the thing I'm here. You're right. I'm not experiencing my husband's presence anymore. I spent a lot of time thinking about this stuff. I'm an engineer. So I I'm like, how does this all work?

00:57:22.139 --> 00:57:42.869
I'm kind of so we have similar minds when it comes to stuff like that. Another question want to ask you, when you're having your experience, and you said you looked over your shoulder you saw this or you felt or experienced as being said, You are the likeness, and I am the original? Was that an angel? Was that guide? Was that Jesus? What is your impression?

00:57:44.010 --> 00:57:58.980
My impression is it was God or the Holy Spirit. And people will say, I have been asked this, how can there be an original for all of us? That doesn't make sense. And my sense of it, is that it's like a prism. You know, PRI S M.

00:57:59.610 --> 00:58:11.159
And that the light when light the original moves through the prism, how many reflect refractions and reflections can that recreate, recreate?

00:58:07.559 --> 00:58:11.159
Endless? That's my sense of it.

00:58:11.159 --> 00:58:17.400
It was God or the Holy Ghost or you know that the one the one God and that we are just,

00:58:18.630 --> 00:58:30.929
I don't know, we're beams of light emanating from this one great source. And there is one original, there's not, there's not 7 billion originals.

00:58:25.980 --> 00:58:43.440
There's one. And we're just, I don't know, that's how it came to me was to think of it as light being reflected from the original. Yeah. And I think that reminds me of a guy named Bernardo Castro, who I've had on the podcast, I love his mind.

00:58:40.079 --> 00:59:10.469
And he says, at some point, we can only speak in metaphors or analogies. Because our human mind can understand it. So when people say things like, well, how can there be one, we can use an analogy, like, like through a prison, or like a drops in the ocean, which is analogy used earlier? They're they're all analogies, none of them are perfect. But I don't mean to put words in your mouth when I hear people say, because sometimes people go so far as to say, Well, I am God. You know, and what was your reaction to a statement like that?

00:59:12.239 --> 01:00:13.380
I I don't believe that we are God. I think like my PC, or if we were, I don't know, I think I think we're the image and likeness. I think there is one God and yeah, that's interesting. I had used that analogy, the ocean The fact is, if you take a billionth of a drop of water, if such a thing is even quantified, or we're just say a drop of water from the ocean, it's going to possess the attributes of the ocean. You know, I mean, General, again, as we're an analogy breaks, now it's up near the shore is gonna be different than something from the deep ocean. But generally speaking, it's going to have the same attributes and qualities and components and that's what I feel like we are, you know, we have, we have godlike qualities because we reflect or we manifest the original. So I don't think we're Gods And this whole thing about the law of attraction. I was very, very devoted to mission statements written goals, visualizing my future. I plan I was the queen of written goals.

01:00:13.440 --> 01:00:44.789
Absolutely the queen. And this thing came out of the blue, nowhere in any affirmation, any goal, any mission statement that I have husband kills himself and I become a mess. Right? So attractions again, it's something people say, to explain their own good life, you know, look at my success. I visualized this I manifested as this happened because of my good thoughts. And I think that goes back to what you're saying about us being gods, or a god or whatever. I don't buy that. I think we're made of Gods stuff.

01:00:40.260 --> 01:00:47.280
But I don't think we are Gods. I think that's a dangerous path.

01:00:44.789 --> 01:00:53.280
Because we go into the law of attraction, which, you know, you're all these law of attraction, attraction, success stories. What about the people?

01:00:53.340 --> 01:01:27.989
You know, there's a theory put forth, I know, we're running short on time, but there's no great, okay. There's this wonderful theory, that the housing crisis of 2008, you know, when people had to no doc low doc loans, and they were getting into houses, they couldn't afford the A RMS and real estate always goes off, and all that stuff, that it was parallel to the pinnacle of this prosperity, gospel and Law of Attraction stuff. And people say, Well, you know, next year, I'm going to be wealthy. And I have to take a demonstration of faith, a show of my faith and buy this house beyond my reach.

01:01:28.469 --> 01:01:42.210
I think the law of attraction stuff, I think it works great if you have a sweet life, and you can explain it, I think it is, frankly, the epiphany of being self righteous, to say, look at my life, I did this, I did this.

01:01:38.400 --> 01:02:04.619
And I had a friend who actually is a filmmaker, who I met through this process, a wonderful man who also had a very hard life. And he said that, he said, apparently, and I do believe in a pre existence. I mean, if life is eternal, we were somewhere before. And he said, he believes that we we say, I want the life with the most possible spiritual growth.

01:02:01.110 --> 01:02:14.130
And that's where you get, you know, you meet your spouse in grade school, you stay married the rest of your life, and everything's buttoned up and beautiful. That's a that's a different path.

01:02:15.329 --> 01:02:25.440
Yeah, and I'm glad you mentioned the prosperity gospel you either you read my mind, or we think alike, because every time so much is a law of attraction. That's why think because I grew up as a Christian and know the Bible really well.

01:02:25.440 --> 01:02:50.940
And all that stuff, too. And I heard about this prosperity, gospel, same thing, different packaging, and it assumes a couple of things. One is that we have control over the physical world through our minds, which I don't believe we do. Not not directly anyway. And the other thing, it assumes that living a prosperous life, and this is what people in Jesus time thought was, if you were rich, that meant you were righteous, because God favors the wealthy.

01:02:46.769 --> 01:03:26.010
And it's the same thinking that Jesus spoke against, like, 1000 times. It's like, that's not what it's about. So it's about spiritual growth. So I do believe somewhat in the law of attraction, but I think it's our higher self that chooses what's best for us. So while we, as humans would say, I want a big house, I want to live a long, happy, happy life, and never be sick. Our soul chooses, no, you're going to your size, and it's going to take his life by suicide, and you're gonna go through this path, and you are going to grow tremendously from it. And you I think, are the prosperous one in that scenario.

01:03:27.090 --> 01:03:58.079
I agree, I saw a movie about I think it was called astral city or something like that. If you heard of that movie, that's alarm. There's a line in it that I just love where the lead character ends up in hell, because he's lived a very self centered life of debauchery and all that up. And one of the things where he ends up in heaven or the next life, one of the things the angels say to him is, but you had a very privileged childhood. And he said, privilege, we were poor.

01:03:53.010 --> 01:04:16.769
And the angels say, your parents prayed for you every day. And that really gets me I think that's a privileged childhood. I think that's privileged. I think spiritual growth is what gives us privilege real privilege and during privilege, and not just the stuff that you have Jesus said lay nada for yourself.

01:04:13.530 --> 01:04:25.590
treasures on earth remote Roston my stuff corrupt. But I think the spiritual, I think that's real privilege is to have people praying for you. That's exactly what I've done first came online, same time it came to yours.

01:04:26.820 --> 01:04:45.900
That's what that's what true prosperity is. Because everything here passes, everything here fades away, and we focus so much on it. I do want to ask you a couple more kind of mundane questions, you know, because we've gotten pretty deep here. People gonna ask like, how do you know, bro, that you really died? Yeah, I love that one. I get that a lot.

01:04:47.460 --> 01:05:00.000
I realized that all I can do is tell my story that I cannot convince my people up, convince people of my truth as they say, which I think is a great thing. Secondly, I you know, I'll give you this one. And the other question I get asked is how do we know what you're not doing?

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:47.460
get for the money. I had two different major hospital chains that screwed up real bad. And for medical personnel that made some real big mistakes. And if I was in this for the money, I would have sued them. And I don't believe that's right. I think suing somebody is declaring war on them. It declares war on a single human being. So I'm, if I was in this for the money, I think I would have chosen that path. And I was very reluctant to write a book actually, I said in the early days, absolutely not. But how do I know I died? One, this is a good point. The next morning when I was at the hospital, the Trauma Center and the real doctor comes in, you know, the one that doesn't replace go on a stethoscope, you know, real doctor comes in, as my agent sits down and says rosemary, you got a heart attack? And I said, No, not me. I bike I eat healthy, positive edges, is it?

01:05:43.530 --> 01:06:15.869
No, no, no, you lost so much blood last night, your heart went into V fib, and then it stopped. So that's one way I know, because I have a medical record. And secondly, I have no doubt when I popped out of that body, I wandered off. And the other thing is the angels told me if I agreed to come back, I'd be healed. And I was mean stage two cancer. One of the things the initial exam determined it was the disease process had advanced to a point where the flesh was distorted. So it was visible upon physical exam. And it also showed up on his test.

01:06:11.789 --> 01:06:20.760
So you know how to explain that once you go from having stage to cancer, though not one cell.

01:06:20.820 --> 01:06:35.579
Right, exactly. It another thing is I again, I'm a, I have a scientific mind, I love what we call vertical indies, you know, so you can you can explain something that happened while you're out of the body, or there's a record of your heart stopping or something like that.

01:06:32.909 --> 01:06:55.199
Those are really cool. But I've also learned, I don't ask this question so much for myself anymore. I was listening to someone relate the new experience near death experience last night. And it was just they were in a situation where they they were in the hospital, and they had a seizure. And they and they pass they saw a bright light that felt peace and love.

01:06:52.320 --> 01:07:45.659
But they didn't have all the elements of an ND E, right. So they didn't have the tunnel and the angels and they didn't see other people and stuff like that. And there's no record that they passed away. So people might dismiss Well, what how do we know you really had an indeed, thing is they came back so different. They came back changed in terms of they were going through heavy grief and depression. That was over. And they became a medium. So they came back with the ability to speak to people on the other side. And as you said, and I love when you said it, you know, all this physical healing is great, but the real healing was the spiritual healing. And that's the real important thing about the end. And that's the thing that I think sometimes we we forget, we get so tied to materials like, yeah, Rose, it's documented. And we've got the medical records. And I think that's really cool. I'm glad we have that for people. But seeing how your life has changed. And your perspective has changed.

01:07:45.659 --> 01:07:48.719
That's the really cool thing.

01:07:45.659 --> 01:07:58.739
Thank you for saying that. I actually had a neuroscientist, saw one of my YouTube videos and traveled some distance to meet me, she was a professor at a college, also in the Midwest.

01:07:55.500 --> 01:08:28.829
And she said, you know, the most remarkable story, part of your story to me is not the healing of the disease, or the restoration of peace and all all the other stuff. Sure, the most remarkable part is after this, you sold everything you owned, you moved, you sold your car, you sold your house, you move to a new place, you started your life and you're a different person. She said human beings don't do that. We human beings traditionally have incremental changes, we take a step in this direction, maybe four steps forward and a step back. She said you don't sell off everything you own, and hop in a little used car and drive 1000 miles.

01:08:31.140 --> 01:09:00.539
And something you had said Brian, and this this made such an impression on me. Because the other thing I get is Oh, you went to hell now you're a demon you know, you're you're I get I still get emails about that that you know you're you've gone to the dark side and all that other stuff and something you said that's right that's it. That's exactly it. You had said last time we talked and this was such a blessing for me you had said wait a second your your back promoting your back promoting a message of peace, light and love and joy.

01:09:02.100 --> 01:09:04.260
That's you know, and we talked about the fruits of the Spirit.

01:09:04.409 --> 01:09:08.250
That is a fruit that is an evidence that something shifted.

01:09:08.489 --> 01:09:22.079
And you said if you were an Angel of Darkness, you know you wouldn't be saying I couldn't sue anybody I in fact one of the things I did when I got home I took up all the mold traps in my yard from the hospital because I was I think could kill somebody.

01:09:22.529 --> 01:09:24.869
Somebody I've met a mole right

01:09:26.340 --> 01:10:08.970
so yes, that had been so helpful when you mentioned that last time we talked is what are the fruits What Are we bearing witness to what are we saying what's the message right and if people really want to get biblical that's that's when the Bible you will know a tree by its fruits so and test the spirits judges spirits by what they're what they're doing and what they're saying. And I get a lot of that too. And my indie videos are put on YouTube, I get the people that comment and say she's being deceived. This is a message of deception. I think it aligns perfectly with the Bible and I love when people like yourself who are so well versed in the Bible can come around Wait these things? We are kind of running short on time, I want to ask you like two more questions. This is a question people gonna want to know. What are the angels look like?

01:10:10.380 --> 01:11:43.619
Probably is a number one question I get in heaven. I can't say that I saw them. I experienced them. I heard them. I felt their presence. Oh my gosh, their presence was more palpable to me than if somebody was standing right beside me now. It was just an infusion. It was like two spirits melding. I mean, it was anyway, I digress, but it's very powerful. But when they were at my hospital bed, they had a humanist form. They had like, a head and shoulders and torso and arms and legs, but they were like, draped in a gown. I know that sounds so traditional, but that's what I saw. And maybe again, it's the filters of my own perception. Who knows, but they were sparkly. They were just light. They were light and love and love personified. And when they sang, it's like they're sparkles got more excited, they're sparkles came more alive. And sparkles may be a crummy word to use. But it was just when they sang, their music came together, and it just all glorified God, it was all to the glory of God, everything is to the glory of God. When I think about now I put my hand down to the side and this you know, it's just the Bible for my life, I think what were you thinking rosemary, this close. But when you're in that place, all you want to do is honor and glorify God and the angels at my bedside. I'd say that's what they were doing. And the fact that they said, you're not supposed to remember this. You This is for your healing and your peace and your joy. And we know how hard it is to come back. This is our thank you to you. It's very touching. No, it's very dramatic. So they look to us, but draped in light. They were wearing gowns of light, just light and sparkles.

01:11:43.619 --> 01:11:55.529
beautiful, colorful sparkles. I know that sounds like a wishy washy answer, but know that that's the answer. So you're gonna make this up, I'd make up something much better. Right.

01:11:55.560 --> 01:12:34.260
Right, exactly. And you're right. I know you could. So I do. I just want to interject this here. I mean, when I, when you said that, you know, you got this vision of this nurse, having a bad day, because you chose to die. And you came back because of that. That is just, it just shows what a pure spirit you are. I mean, most people say, you know, I can save. It's like, oh, my daughter's going to suffer, or my son is going to suffer. But it's like this random nurse you've known for like 15 minutes, you came back for her. I think that's just beautiful. It's just it's really just impressive. And the last thing I want to end on.

01:12:36.300 --> 01:12:57.510
Everybody wants to know what it's like to die. You know, because we all fear death, we fear the unknown. And you did talk a little bit about how you know, it's like moving from one room to another, which is what I've heard. But what you said that really caught my attention was you likened it to waking from a dream. Yes. So explain how that existence is that reality is compared to this, this this reality.

01:13:00.569 --> 01:13:02.310
Within seconds of passing.

01:13:03.659 --> 01:13:40.529
Honestly, I guess the best analogy I could give was, I had been caught in a nightmare, a terrible nightmare, you know, my husband's death in doing losses, the grief. And it really was like, my father, my Heavenly Father had shaken me awake, and just shaking, you know how dreams sometimes lingers for a minute, and was just shaking me awake very gently, and with great love and spirit authority. And saying, it's over. That was that was just a bad dream. But it's over now. And you're with us now. And it's, it's there'll be washed away very fast. And it was it was just like that the shaking away from a nightmare.

01:13:41.039 --> 01:13:50.250
And I think why people are afraid to not to die. I know a lot of people are really in love with Earth life. You know, and they think this is great. And all that. And I'm, I've never been one of those people.

01:13:51.689 --> 01:14:35.550
But it was like, I guess that's the thing. You know, like when you go through a really hard time. Like, for me, it's what an airplane is the way to the airport, and you're waiting for three hours and you think, Oh, this is gonna take forever? Are they just gonna cancel it? Am I ever gonna be on that plane? But once you're on the plane, and once you're back home, you're like, Well, that was really not that big a deal. I really wasn't that big a problem. It turns out, that's what it was like, it was like 59 years was just like, oh, it really wasn't that big a deal. That wasn't that that wasn't as huge a problem as I thought it was. And and when you're gone into next place you like, well, that really was over in the blink of an eye. You know, and yet I was really grateful it was over and coming back as hard. Dying is not hard.

01:14:31.680 --> 01:14:48.869
Coming back is hard. Because then the denseness and the heaviness of this earth tries to sink back into your bones. And I was telling you privately that the Christmas was very hard for me and I was surprised because I'm over that I'm not over this.

01:14:46.560 --> 01:15:21.149
You know, they'll always be lost and sad as far as like, what is happening to me. Why am I struggling? So and it just I just had a low spot. And I thought I've been to Heaven. I know what this is. I know what that is. I know how it works, but it's still hit me so hard. So very hard. So this earth is dense and hard at times, and I don't know it just when you're in the next place realize that this is all so transitory. So almost ethereal. You know, we think this earth is the physical hard stuff. And then we go to heaven.

01:15:18.600 --> 01:15:56.670
That's when we, you know, float around on a cloud. No, no, no, no, this is the, this is the ethereal stuff. And when we wake up, we're like, oh, this is reality. This is substance. This is love. This is light. And one of the things I've been working with with is depression. I mean, I've been feeling pretty sad over the holidays, was the God is the source. God is the source of love and light and joy. And I keep looking for people to be the source. They're not. God is the source. And when we I really believe when we get our relationship with God, more clear that then it manifest humanly, and that's honestly that's what I've been struggling with over the holidays. Who want to be around people. I feel so lonely.

01:15:58.079 --> 01:16:12.659
Yeah, I'm so grateful. Thank you for sharing that, that that you still go through depression. I do, too. I you know, there's still tough times you still sometimes people look at me and say, Brian, you're so strong. You're doing such great with this. It's like, no, sometimes this life sucks.

01:16:13.109 --> 01:16:50.010
And I found the meme the other day, and I don't have it in front of me. And I can't quote it exactly. But I loved it. I know you'll relate to it because it's from the Bible. And it's like, you know, Jesus said he knew Lazarus was dead before he got there. He knew that Lazarus would be alive again, in a few moments. He was the Lord of life. He knew more about life of death, and anybody you know, ever has an existence. Yet he cried. You know, and Jesus cry and I love I read the Bible, I see that verse. You know, why did Jesus cry, if he knew that Lazarus was already alive, if he knew he could bring it back, if he knew that nobody really dies.

01:16:46.590 --> 01:16:59.460
But when we're in this, when we're in this dream, as you put it, or this nightmare, we get caught up in it. And that's, that's part of the game, we're supposed to get caught up in it.

01:16:55.949 --> 01:16:59.460
And, and the pain is very real.

01:16:59.460 --> 01:17:31.800
So it doesn't mean we dismiss the pain, it doesn't mean that it doesn't matter while we're here. But we can rise in that higher perspective and say, it's all going to be over really soon. And I'm going to wake up and go, it wasn't that big of a deal. That's not to dismiss again, I have to make this very clear not to dismiss what job you've gone through, what you're going through, or what I'm going through, or anybody else's going through. But it's temporary, and it's all gonna be okay. Even fleeting, that I guess what impressed me when it was over was, well, I got pretty worried.

01:17:28.770 --> 01:17:44.340
And the thing is, you think of having this just happy, happy, happy thoughts, but I remembered my husband suicide, I remembered how depressed I'd been. I remembered all this stuff. I always saw when you died, all that stuff just went away in a whisper. It doesn't. I was like, Oh, wow, that's but it's over.

01:17:41.069 --> 01:17:44.340
It's over. It was very fleeting.

01:17:44.550 --> 01:17:50.010
I was like, how did I get so bound up? So caught up so upset about something that was so fleeting, this it's all over?

01:17:50.010 --> 01:18:07.409
And it was like 59 years was like a blink of an eye. Now, I said that before, but I don't know. And it was dying that saved my life. I'm pretty confident. Had I been saved on the path I was on? I don't, I don't think I would have survived this. Yeah, yeah. And that's why I wrote the book. I want other people to find some peace and joy and happiness.

01:18:07.439 --> 01:18:19.140
Well, I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, because it's not out yet. But this, this comes out, I have read an excerpt from it. And it's just as great as you would expect it to be after listening to Rosemary are those in the rows.

01:18:19.140 --> 01:18:48.060
So I would highly recommend that. By the time this is up, it'll be out. It's going to be on Amazon. And the title is gonna be the title of employees rose, remembering the light, how dying saved my life. And the name is Rosemary Thornton. I also I have a website temporary death.com. I don't like the near death experience. I don't like the Near Death Race because I wasn't near death. Yeah, I was temporarily dead. Well, yeah, the title, temporary desktop.

01:18:45.449 --> 01:18:55.109
com, we can have a whole nother discussion on what it means to be dead because it dies. But we both know the Spirit never does.

01:18:51.720 --> 01:18:57.630
So it's even your giggle goes with you. Yeah, that's cool.

01:18:55.109 --> 01:19:03.810
That's cool. That's good to know. Rose, thanks very much for being here. I really appreciate you coming back and doing this.

01:19:01.020 --> 01:19:04.859
Any final thoughts you want to give before we close out?

01:19:05.880 --> 01:19:09.449
Yes, one.

01:19:05.880 --> 01:19:26.369
Brian, I realized the last time we did this, I thought about your comments so many times. And I know that you must be a great, a great helper to everybody, because so many things you said just touched me deeply and really resonated and remained with me. So the work you're doing is so valuable and so precious and so important.

01:19:27.600 --> 01:19:29.550
Thank you. Thank you so much, Ross. All right.

01:19:29.550 --> 01:19:31.529
Well, you have a great rest of your day. Thank you.

01:19:34.350 --> 01:19:40.260
Don't forget to like, hit that big red subscribe button and click the notify Bell.

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Rose Thornton- Her Near Death Experience and Incredible After Effects

Rose Thornton (Rosemary Ringer)

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