Does anyone have experiences that have made them believe in life after death?

[Magicpaintbrush]

My DH died in April. He had bowel cancer and was only 46 years old and not ready to die. I made the mistake today of picking up the photo album I made full of photos of him and I am having a really tough morning, my heart is absolutely broken. The only thing that gets me through the days is talking aloud to him and hoping that he is somewhere 'else' and can hear me or see me, but then I have moments where I think I am kidding myself and I am just a sad, grieving woman talking to thin air. I don't know what to believe, I hover between the two. But today I absolutely cannot and do not want to believe that there is nothing after death, I can't cope with the thought that he exists nowhere at all anywhere. He was so strong and had so much personality, it makes no sense. Does anybody have any personal experiences or know of any true stories that have led them to believe there is 'something' after we die? I would find it really comforting to hear from people that believe and have a reason why they believe. To those who believe we are just dust after death, you may be right, but today I can't hear that, and I don't need to be told that as I already know that is possible - which is why I haven't posted this in AIBU as I know the first 30 replies would be people rushing to tell me I'm deluding myself by hoping there is something more than darkness after we die. If anybody has anything to share that would bring some comfort today I am very ready to listen x

I’m so sorry for your loss.

DF died last year, suddenly. No signs, was out having dinner the night before and was well. On the day of his funeral at the time of cremation mums watch stopped. In our garden I started to see a robin in the days after his death. It was there most days. A month or so later my aunt died and bizarrely there were then 2 robins always together in the garden. Never 2 before her death.

Then they stopped appearing. I looked every day and asked to see them but they were never there. I thought ok, that’s it then and almost forgot. Then it was my DDs birthday, DF idolised her. I went to pick her up from school and parked where DF used to wait for her school bus. I thought how apt it would be to see a robin but knew I wouldn’t as it had been literally months and I had been looking everywhere! Then right outside the car one was standing.

I saw nothing again for months but kept looking after the birthday incident. We went on holiday 300 miles away but in the UK. As we drove up to our apartment I thought how DF would always ring us and ask how the apartment and holiday was and to wish us a good time. As I looked out of the car window (DH was driving) there was a robin. I hadn’t seen one since DDs birthday.

im aware they are a common species but I find it odd how they have been seen at these times only when I have looked say after day. Only seen on significant days.

ultimately no one can prove but no one can disprove either so you have to back your own beliefs.

Certainly one of the most painful parts of life is the ending of life in this world. I find great comfort in the teachings written by Emmanuel Swedenborg - under the guidance of the Lord. He was led to sample heaven and to see the beauty and structure of fully human life there. Here is a sample paragraph

https://newchristianbiblestudy.org/exposition/translation/heaven-and-hell-dole/contents/410

which reads
The angels of any given heaven are not all together in one place, but are separated into larger and smaller communities depending on differences in the good effects of the love and faith they are engaged in. Angels engaged in similar activities form a single community. There is an infinite variety of good activities in heaven, and each individual angel is, so to speak, his or her own activity.

Blessings

so let me get this right....you are saying we DON"T survive as a living conciousness?

We do survive as living individuals and live to eternity as angles.

Angels

Just a little thing - my mum died last year ( not out of the blue) she loved flowers but she knew I hated lavender.
I sometimes get a really strong smell of hyacinth. I don't have any and no toiletries or cleaning products that smell of them. But such a strong scent then it's gone .
I love the smell of them
If she sent me lavender smell we'd have words !

My Dad died this year and I've thought about the afterlife a lot more since. There was an old book about near death experiences by a neuroscientist (Peter Fenwick?). It was written in the 90s, so you can probably find something more up to date, but there is some really interesting stories. There's quite a few common themes across different cultures about NDEs and some stories of people knowing what happened to them in hospital whilst they were clinically dead and therefore 'consciousness' had left the body. Really interesting. The more you read into it, the more it seems mad to think consciousness just ends after death.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Shakespeare’s Hamlet speaking to his friend.

This quote sums it up perfectly for me. If we were supposed to know, we would. There’s more than we can imagine. But our time on earth is limited, so of course we are comforted by signs, I have been and hopefully will continue to be.