62 replies to this topic

[spooksareus]

Interested in hearing what life altering occurences have happened in your lives, and the effects it had (if any) on your spirituality.

[becksrn]

I almost drowned in Yough Lake the day after the prom in 1991. I was a lifeguard too, so it wasn't that I couldn't swim. Some drunks were out boating while we were waterskiing and they musta been really drunk, I tell ya....cause they crossed in between our boat and my friend who was behind us on skis. They ended up snipping her line and she went flying. In turn, they also messed up our wake and the water current, sending our boat rocking like crazy. I lost balance and hit my head off of the glass on the front of the boat and went overboard....half unconscious. I don't remember much about being under water except hearing the bubbles and not worrying about holding my breath. It was actually comfortable and felt like I was floating in a pool of really warm water. Then I blacked out I guess. Woke up in the hospital with some really rude nurse taking my blood pressure and my parents and boyfriend sitting beside the bed.

I'm not sure how much it's changed my life except I don't go waterskiing anymore and I don't go in lakes. I'm crazy scared of drowning even though I know how to swim and have already rescued someone from drowning. I had dreams about the accident for a few years after it happened, but I don't now. I guess I'm just thankful that it wasn't my turn to leave this place. I've got a lot left to do here before I die. Someone else upstairs thought that too. The boyfriend that I had when the accident happened still sends me a birthday card every year. We're still good friends.

[spooksareus]

Close one Becks !

[impy]

seceral years ago around 1990 or maybe 91 i got what people were calling 'the gulf flu'. I was sick for weeks, high fevers, general flu symptoms. I developed a sharp pain in my abdomen and thought id pulled a muscle from coughing so much, happens, you know. It wasnt a pulled muscle, it was a cyst. The doctor said it was something my body had made while trying to cope with the flu. I needed emergency surgery to remove it, they said if it broke the toxic stuff inside could kill me. So i had the surgery, scared, alone, no one even knew id gone to the hospital. The surgery went fine. Though in the recovery room it became clear that the anesthetic wasnt wearing off as well as it should and i spent an extra couple of hours there. Later, while recovering from my surgery in a vikadin haze, i developed serious pain in my right side, no where near where the cyst had been. Eventually i began to have trouble taking regular breaths, the pain reduced me to taking half breaths, inflating my lung normally was just way too painful. I went back to the hospital, they told me they werent sure what was wrong and to come back in a couple of days if it didnt start feeling better. Later that night i was becomming afraid i might die, and i was soooo tired, its hard to not get enough breath! Makes you sleepy. I went to a different hospital, a doctor took an exray and showed me my lung was full of fluid. Im pretty sure this was a direct result of a slight overdose of anasthetic. He gave me some medication and i began to heal.
From the onset of the gulf flu to thru the surgery, recovery and the onset and resolution of pnumonia it was almost 2 months i spent ill.
The way this changed my life/spirituality is that when i wake feeling healthy and not too achey or in pain, i am grateful. I know what it is to be ill and i know what it is to be healthy. ts a thing most people take for granted, i am thankful every morning and have an apreciation i didnt have before. I have a sense of wellness i didnt understand before. I think it made me a nicer, less spoiled person to be around as well... some problems just dont seem as large to me anymore.

[spooksareus]

Wow girl!
I'ts scary to be that ill for that long.
Glad your amoung the living so I can chat
with you....

[Willow]

Great topic Spooks!

I had a serious kidney infection as a child which almost took my life, I almost drowned not once but twice in my teens and had a really bad automobile accident in which I almost bled to death, tends to make you reevalute the meaning of life and your spirituality.

Though I have to say that the passing of others has always sparked an instant spirituality check within me.

[DerangedChaos]

Mine may seem a bit odd....but I think one experience that I remember that helped change my life was back about....2 summers ago. I was at my Grandma's house. She lives in a rural area of south Georgia. There's a big hay field in front of her house...and a pond in back. There's a swamp to the north and a really big yard to the south. Well....with her being out in the rurals....it's hard to find a phone signal on your cell during the summer. There's a few spots on her long winding drive way....and that's how it started.

My mom and I were outside looking for a spot that she could stand in so that she could call my step dad. It was dusk....but still relatively light outside. My Grandma's dog Sam was there with us too. Anyhay....as she was searching for a spot...I saw this critter slinking from the yard to the hay field...and it was only about 30 yards away...if that. Mom saw it, too...and we recognized it as being a raccoon. And we both knew that it was way to early for him to be out...and he wasn't moving right. Sam saw it and gave a sharp bark. The 'coon stopped....then took off after us....screeching.

The 'coon was rabid...and it was chasing my Mom and me and Sam. Sam split off and run in the opposite direction of Mom and me...and we headed for the front door. I slammed into it and sprained my wrist...but got it open and waited for Mom. She got inside....and we waited a bit.

We found Sam....he had his paw bitten...but he was fine. He'd had all his shots. But I remember thinking that...had the 'coon not gone for Sam...it would have caught Mom or me. I learned to be a bit more aware of animals at that point in my life. I was actually paranoid to go outside for a month or so afterward....but I'm over that now. But, man, that was scary.

[ginger_sweazy82]

Ever have a near death experience ? Did it change you at all?

I don't know if it was a near death experience being hit by lighting in my house. I didn't die. But it did change me. It open some kind of door in my head to see some things. Poeple say lighting can't hit you , if you are in the house. Ya right tell that to my fried computer, tv,vcr,and other things that got fried when it hit me in my house. The only good thing about it was that my kids were a few feet away from me and nothing thank god happen to them. I personaly don't know any one else that got hit by lighting. What are the odds of getting hit by lighting around

statistical number , like 1 in 3,000,000 about the same as the lottery. Maybe I sould play if you have a story that goes with the topic post it. thanks

[Shawn333]

Wow Ginger, that's a pretty wild experience! I'm glad you're alright and that your kids were safe! I can't say that I've ever had a near death experience. I did have lightening strike inside my home once though. I was sitting on the couch and my sister was over and sitting on a chair not too far away and it was storming really heavy. We were talking and she had just said that I should probably turn off the T.V. and computer since it was thundering and lightening so much. I literally just stood up to do so when all of a sudden it looked light broad daylight outside (it was in the middle of the night) and I heard the loudest clap of thunder I'd ever heard in my life. Sounded like an explosion. And this circular blue ball of electricity passed right through my window and into my computer moniter. The moniter was fried, the computer was fried, and so was the T.V. even though it was across the room. The moniter was actually smoking! lol.

It didn't really change my life except for now whenever it storms I make sure to turn off EVERYTHING.

[ginger_sweazy82]

Shawn333, on Nov 29 2005, 07:06 AM, said:

Wow Ginger, that's a pretty wild experience!  I'm glad you're alright and that your kids were safe!  I can't say that I've ever had a near death experience.  I did have lightening strike inside my home once though.  I was sitting on the couch and my sister was over and sitting on a chair not too far away and it was storming really heavy.  We were talking and she had just said that I should probably turn off the T.V. and computer since it was thundering and lightening so much.  I literally just stood up to do so when all of a sudden it looked light broad daylight outside (it was in the middle of the night) and I heard the loudest clap of thunder I'd ever heard in my life.  Sounded like an explosion.  And this circular blue ball of electricity passed right through my window and into my computer moniter.  The moniter was fried, the computer was fried, and so was the T.V. even though it was across the room.  The moniter was actually smoking! lol.

It didn't really change my life except for now whenever it storms I make sure to turn off EVERYTHING. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

wow , man lighting sucks, I didnt really well i dont know, I saw a bright light but it was likearound me and it sounded like a gun shot off right by me and the brought lights like a big snap sound at the end of my arm. I have a fuzzy head that still has not gone away, and my left side is numb (( meaning it takes a lot for me to feel on my left side arm and leg

[spooksareus]

Willow, on Nov 28 2005, 10:31 PM, said:

Great topic Spooks!

I had a serious kidney infection as a child which almost took my life, I almost drowned not once but twice in my teens and had a really bad automobile accident in which I almost bled to death, tends to make you reevalute the meaning of life and your spirituality.

Though I have to say that the passing of others has always sparked an instant spirituality check within me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gosh Willow, were goin to have to wrap you up in guaze and put a rubber bumper on ya! Thanks for responding....Spooks

[spooksareus]

DerangedChaos, on Nov 28 2005, 11:01 PM, said:

Mine may seem a bit odd....but I think one experience that I remember that helped change my life was back about....2 summers ago. I was at my Grandma's house. She lives in a rural area of south Georgia. There's a big hay field in front of her house...and a pond in back. There's a swamp to the north and a really big yard to the south. Well....with her being out in the rurals....it's hard to find a phone signal on your cell during the summer. There's a few spots on her long winding drive way....and that's how it started.

My mom and I were outside looking for a spot that she could stand in so that she could call my step dad. It was dusk....but still relatively light outside. My Grandma's dog Sam was there with us too. Anyhay....as she was searching for a spot...I saw this critter slinking from the yard to the hay field...and it was only about 30 yards away...if that. Mom saw it, too...and we recognized it as being a raccoon. And we both knew that it was way to early for him to be out...and he wasn't moving right. Sam saw it and gave a sharp bark. The 'coon stopped....then took off after us....screeching.

The 'coon was rabid...and it was chasing my Mom and me and Sam. Sam split off and run in the opposite direction of Mom and me...and we headed for the front door. I slammed into it and sprained my wrist...but got it open and waited for Mom. She got inside....and we waited a bit.

We found Sam....he had his paw bitten...but he was fine. He'd had all his shots. But I remember thinking that...had the 'coon not gone for Sam...it would have caught Mom or me. I learned to be a bit more aware of animals at that point in my life. I was actually paranoid to go outside for a month or so afterward....but I'm over that now.  But, man, that was scary.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spooksareus]

Ginger, I guess this accounts for you electric smile!
Spooks....


P.S. It didn't change the way way you looked at life?

[Yosei]

I don't know if I should post mine, really, it's a bit personal to me, though I think I've alluded to it briefly here before...But, basically, I had a suicide attempt interrupted by the spirit of a former suicide anxious to prevent me from doing the same thing. I still feel depressed at times, but I'm keeping my promise to him to be patient with it...

[MoonChild]

Basically I have never had any physical "life-altering" issues, but on the emotional front, there are plenty. Infact those are the incidences that has made me stronger, wiser and better in the almost 33 years of my existence.