Is There Life After Death?

This is part one of a three-part series that explores life after death. You can find parts 2 and 3 below.

Part 2: What Happens After Death?

Part 3: How The Dead Communicate With Us

Clients and readers sometimes ask me ‘Do you believe in life after death?’

Life after death is one of those things I am certain exists. I don’t offer my services as a medium but I have had plenty of experiences communicating with the other side that I want to share in these blog posts.

An ‘Intuitive Knowing’ that There Is Life After Death

I personally have always believed in life after death. It just made sense to me, on an intuitive level, that a spirit that exists in a body would still exist long after the body has disappeared.

I remember that this belief really hit home for me when I was in my early twenties and I saw our dead cat Hunter who had just been killed by a car. Her body was empty – just a shell. It was then that I consciously realized that there was something in the cat – you could call it the cat’s “essence” or “consciousness”, that had been there and which was no longer there. The people around me were talking as if Hunter no longer existed, as if she had just dissipated into nothingness. But I knew that if the cat was no longer here, she had to be somewhere else.

Then something that I had been taught in physics popped into my mind – that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred. To me, this seemed like a good metaphor for the dying process. It seemed wrong to me on an intuitive level (the level I have operated on for my whole life) that the life that animates an animal or human just dissolves into nothing.

I later learned (or remembered) that we are all pieces and individual projections of Source or God energy. You can’t destroy Source/God, and you can’t destroy our souls. I do believe our souls can and do return to Source or the Creator and lose their individual essence, but I don’t believe they can be destroyed or can just disappear after death.

My belief in life after death actually became something I could verify when I began practising as an intuitive. That was when I began to see and hear evidence of the afterlife.

Evidence of the Afterlife: Talking with the Dead

I wrote about the very first experience I had with a client’s deceased relative in this article and my boss Pete wrote about it in a testimonial for me. That experience stopped me doubting my psychic abilities once and for all because the deceased spirit I communicated with told me things that were true, specific and which I could not have known otherwise.

Since then, I haven’t connected with clients’ deceased loved ones very frequently (only a handful out of 350 or so readings) but when I have, it’s been an amazing experience. Last week I had the pleasure of contacting a client’s deceased relative during a reading. At the end of this reading, this client asked me to tune into her Spirit Guide team. Well, someone else showed up as well when I tuned into her guides and it was a lovely surprise.

At first, it was difficult for this spirit to communicate with me. Unlike when I talk with Spirit Guides, who present to me in my mind’s eye clearly, easily and quickly, I could tell it took energy and effort for this spirit to convey who she was. At first, she looked like a green and white ball of energy that was moving and whizzing really fast. I felt she was trying to convert this energy into an image I could understand and convey to my sitter. She told me her name and then this energy changed in a flash to a human appearance which I described to my sitter and then changed back into the whizzing ball of energy. The spirit, because of her name and appearance was identified as a dearly departed relative. The messages the spirit conveyed showed that this deceased relative was still watching over my sitter and being her ‘cheerleader’ in the non-physical.

Feeling the Love the Dead Still Have for us

One of the nicest things about connecting with some deceased relatives is feeling the love they still have for those they’ve left behind. As soon as I connected with this deceased spirit, I was hit by this overwhelming love and such beautiful energy. I think this was the love the deceased relative had for my sitter. It felt so lovely to be bombarded with this energy – quite different from speaking with a Spirit Guide.

Reasons for the Dead to Come Back to us

Why is communicating with the dead so hit and miss? Why can mediums sometimes communicate with the dead and not other times? I have noticed that usually, the dead have to have a strong motivation to come back to us AND actually make their presence felt, probably because it takes a great deal of energy and effort to communicate with us.

# 1: To give us peace, reassurance and comfort

Spirits who come back to remind the living of their presence do so often because they see the healing it brings. They remind us that there is no imposed separation from those you love. The dead can be with us in spirit in a flash, when we think of them. Whether we perceive them is another matter. The Maoris – the native people of New Zealand – say that the spirits of the dead are on the shoulders of the living and we carry them with us wherever we go.

# 2: Because their path is still entwined with yours

Sometimes deceased relatives stay very attached to their living loved ones. This can be for a variety of reasons – sometimes because they want to see their loved ones succeed – like the deceased relative I encountered recently. (She was standing behind my client’s Spirit Guides and had a ‘cheerleader’ and supporter role.)

In another case, a spirit can stay attached because they feel a responsibility to watch over the actions of the living and warn them of certain things. This has happened before in one my sessions. A deceased spirit warned against doing something the client was considering, that would have had dire consequences. This spirit had been dead for many, many years and you would have thought he would have cut ties with the living, but he was obviously still quite attached to whether or not this person was doing the right thing, and he had vested interests also in the situation.

# 3: To say what went unsaid

If there’s something important that’s left unsaid, spirits can stay around to attempt to resolve it instead of moving on. The dead returning to communicate with us is also a reminder to check if there is anything left unsaid in your life. I have a stiff upper lip that I either inherited or picked up from my background, so the people around me rarely know just how much I respect, admire and love them because I am not good at getting it out. My encounters with the dead have taught me how important it is to say the words that can heal, reconcile or just communicate how much you care, because once you’re gone it’s harder to do.

So, I know it’s a massive cliche, but make sure YOU communicate to those you love how much you love and appreciate them.

# 4: To resolve something that went undone

The spirits that are most motivated to hang around are perhaps those who left something unresolved or undone. In particular, I’m thinking of those who experienced some sort of injustice in their lifetime, like a murder which is still unresolved.

The dead can also remind us not to leave things undone for an extended time period. The biggest thing you can leave undone is pursuing your own dreams. Are you happy with how you spend your days now? Or do you live for tomorrow, planning, with your mind continually in the future, putting off life? The lesson that the dead brings to us is to live in the present moment and do what we want now, because there may not be as many tomorrows as we think.

# 5: When you’re reviving their memory

Sending the dead a lot of energy also brings them to you, in spirit. For example, my mother as a hobby digs up the past and reconstructs our family tree. She has uncovered interesting and scandalous stories of our family. In dreams, I have seen the bodies of long-deceased relatives turn in their graves and communicate to me that they are watching what she is doing with the family tree. So, sending our ancestors energy – studying their past and our ancestral roots – can also call them to us.

Do you have any thoughts you want to share on the subject of life after death? Please leave a comment!

Further Reading & Resources:

Meet Anna

Hi, I’m Anna Sayce! My purpose here on this website is to provide practical techniques and information to help empaths to understand, and fix the root of their energetic overwhelm & also to help sensitives to embrace and develop their intuitive gifts. I believe that developing our spiritual & intuitive side is very powerful and allows us to improve our own lives, and if we wish, even make the world a better place for others. Discover more >

28 Comments

  1. Zora

    I have a question –

    I suffer from mental illness, and as a result I have an obsessive personality. I am almost always afraid that my dead relatives are reading my mind and disapproving of what they see there, causing even nastier thoughts I don’t believe in or condone to crop up to the point where I feel physically sick.

    Of course, it’s ridiculous, but it seems to have focused on my poor great-grandfather in particular (who actually, if it was indeed him, once told us through an angel “not to suffer on my account”) and while I know it’s ridiculous, it’s still very, very scary. And learning that I ping him just by thinking of him makes it worse, because I really don’t mean to do this, it just happens and I battle with it every day.

    Do you have any advice or reassurance on this subject?

  2. Zora

    Thank you, Anna. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. 🙂

  3. Anna

    Hi Zora, All energy is moved by desire and intention. Without true desire you can’t create change, energetically or even here in 3D, right?

    So, your deceased relatives will only be pinged if there is some real interest, desire or intention to connect with them. If it happens compulsively, it won’t even reach them because there’s no real desire pushing it – it’s more like a record on repeat.

    Deceased spirits really are not interested in reading our minds or judging our thoughts – energetically they’re not with us unless there’s a good reason!

  4. Jenifer Bocklund

    Just came to read about this, and I ended up spending 20 minutes reading your other stuff too

  5. kathy

    hi i have a question
    can you communicate with my father? its going on 11years since he has been deceased. i would like to know if hes around me? or is it my mums ex partner tony that has past on ( 1year ago). i have had signs such as two fantail birds being around and i became or was pregnant at that time and some one trying to tell me something via text mesgs?

  6. kathy

    and will my dad be waiting for us on the other side when it is our time?

  7. Sam E.

    My uncle died 3 weeks ago from a suicide/murduer no one really knows but i wanna know if he’s okay and that he knows im sorry for what i said before he died and that he was the only person who really understood me

  8. Anna

    Hi Sam – talk to him out loud, (like you would pray, if you’ve ever done that.) & tell him what you wrote here – he will hear you. I’m sorry for your loss. Anna

  9. Marrisa Mcfield

    hi Anna im here to ask if you can tell me how to communicate with me dead grand father that died in January 2011.Its not for personal reasons i just want to ask him how it it and if hes okay and stuff.By the way you do an awesome job keep it up.He was smiling in the coffin at the funeral so that means he is okay right?

  10. dawn

    hello, i year ago my husband died he was young to me 56 i am so wanting to cmmunicate and i do not see signs of him visiting me. how oh how do i get intouch and notice him?

  11. dawn

    Dear Anna. almost 2 yrs ago my husband passes away. iam a very spiritual person and after he passed away me and my 17yr old son had a aray of sad things happen in our life. my husband passed on oct. 18th as we were really grieving and on oct. 4th our home burnt down needless to say we were renting from a family member my husbands motherd home and they let the home owners insurance laps we lost everything i only had my pjs i wore for 2 days then i got sick from the fire i had cancer of the lung which landed me in the hospital for 4 months. what i need to know is how can i communicate in a dream with him. i have tryed so many times just to get anything across through dreams i talk to my spirit guides and i pray i so wish i could get a respond. my life is still so unhappy i live with my daughter who is 28 her husband and 3 little girls with my son there is 7 of us in a two bedroom duplex i cant afford to move. iam so happy iam alive for my love ones yet iam so sad for me and my life every night i love to sleep because i can dream about a little apt we live in me and my son and iam decorating. dreaming is my escape i do everything in my dreams i really live happy in my dreams. can u help me find away to get across anyway at all to my husband mike. thank u anna. any respond would be great.

  12. Vickie D.

    I recently had an encounter with my mother. She passed away on February 20, 2011. Her brother passed away in February of 2010. Right before I woke up, I guess I dreamed I was talking to my mother, just chit-chat. She said thank goodness, but hold on, there’s someone who wants to talk to you. That voice said, hey, hon, do you know who this is? I said, uncle and then woke up soaking wet. It was so real, their voices, everything. It was like I was talking to them on the phone, but I could see them. I’m afraid I’m going crazy. Let me know if you’ve every heard of such a thing before.
    Thanks,
    Vickie D.

  13. shona

    my partener died suddenly,and being a maori man,his family believe that he is surpossed to pass into the light on the 7th day after death.but they believe that he wont leave me until he knows me and his kids are going to be fine,he was a very strong man physicaly and menatly,they say that he has to go and i have to let him go.not sure how to do that as he had amazing bond with me and his kids and he has come to me in the last couple of days and im not sure what to make of it,but we were having issues at the time of death and there are somany things that never got resolved

  14. kris

    I lost my beautiful husband and best friend after an argument and he jumped from our truck, it was not going that fast but he struck his head. I feel I died as well. I feel very alone and have nobody close to talk to, my question is why do I not feel him around me?

  15. Nilesh

    Hi Anna,

    I read your articles and comments of others. My elder brother passed away just before one and half month uncertainly. There were very unsaid things left between him and me. Can you please tell me how I can make contact with him?

    Nilesh

  16. PjB

    Dear Anna, :0) Hope your doing well!! My father just passed January,10 2012. He left behind four live children, including me ( the baby of the family)My parents had 5 children however November, 1997 my 31 yr old brother passed away. :0( My mother is still living. I had a dream a few hours ago that I glanced over to my left and saw my father sitting a leaning over, I began rubbing his back and at that point he looked at me and said: I am sorry, and he started to cry, he continued bto talk to me but cant remember what else we spoke about. I spoke to him as well, I just cant recall what it was. Then it was as if i went into another dream and again my dad and I were looking at each other and this dream seemed a bit different, it seemed strange and I felt uneasy in the dream, my dad didnt seem like he did in the dream I had early, well my father began telling me ” I can come back through one of my grandaughters” I recall getting upset with him and telling him no I will not part with one of my daughters just so he can come back to life. I then woke up very upset at my father for what I thought he was asking me to allow one of my t daughters to die to bring him back. As Ib woke up I began to think maybe he didnt mean that, maybe he meant that years down the road when my daughters have kids he would reincarnate himself as one ofmy daughters, but i was still very unsure and frightened of that dream. I tried and tried to go back to sleep but couldnt. My 8 year old daughter woke up very upset telling me she just had a bad dream of someone shooting. Her with a gun in the chest. I am starting to wonder and get even more worried about the dream i had and about what my dad had asked me. However in my dads living life my children were his life he would never harm them, so in my dream why did i feel so uneasy as if it were not my dad even though it looked like him band why would he want me to allow one ofmy daughters to die to bring him back….im frightend please help me with any type of advice you may have for me pleaseee. Im really scared after my I yr old told me about the dream she just had as well. Thank you soooo much for your time. PJB.

  17. PjB

    Sorry misspelled a few things in my last post im sending from my cellphone. I meant that I began thinking that my father may of meant that he wanted to reincarnate himself later in life when one of my 5 daughters grew up and had kids maybe he was asking if he could reincarnate himself with one of his greatgranddaughters, cause in my second dream he said he could come back through one of his granddaughters. In the dream i guess i could of interpreted it the wrong way, im not sure. And another misspelling it was my 8 year old daughter that had the dream about being killed by being shot, she apparently the same time i was having my dreams. Sorry my autocorrect is stupid. Thank byou again for your time. I really need your advice about this. Bless you

  18. stuart

    hello, stumbled across your website after looking at various pages of religious beliefs on suicide. as i have been and still do now consider it an option, due to my lack of want and the feeling i have let everyone down within my family and friends. i feel very alone all the time, and although i am a believer in the afterlife and spirits, our family has a history of paranormal attunement. tho i still feel very much alone and feel like i dont get heard by those not with us anymore.
    ive read that if you are not baptised it is like a shut off from the other side and you will never attain true peace. and that makes me wonder if im deemed to be alone. i wish i could get a visitation in dreams or however is best to reach me from the other side to reassure my feelings. i have tried many times to reach out to the other side for guidance, and now not even sure if i have a guide.
    i feel truely lost and dont know weather i should end it all now and save the heartache and misery. i just wish for some kind of message that is loud and clear, one that i will remember for the rest of my days.
    tho i have a close loving family, i still feel like i dont deserve it as im not successful like the rest of them. ive never known love or true happiness apart from material gain happiness.
    im not expecting an answer on here from anyone as i came to the realisation that when you want something so bad, you may not get it.
    just please say something to someone for me, and tell them to come to me in whatever way they deem appropriate to let me know and give me that message ive been longing for all my life.
    if i get a response from the other side, i will make a full explanation of the event and how it played out.
    but if not, well ill cross that bridge when i come to it.
    thank you for your time in hopefully reading this, whoever you may be. God speed on your journey and if i could i would take whatever burden i could to ease others despite my unending fear and doubt, i would battle on for everyone.
    so thank you again in reading this anna and whoever else will come across this message.
    stuart g lister

  19. asina

    Days passed years passed but i never felt that there was an angel in our life who came to unite us comfort us support us to see us happy she loved me since i was born she cared me like her daughter her husband divorced her just because she got a kid in womb after several years passed my sister who never got father love got new father my mom sis had remarried in 2004 her new husband was a very kind… and gentleman his ex wife died due to cancer she left two kids behind and those kids preserved hair and decomposed skin of their mother .When my mom sis was having 7 years of happiness she got two babies and she nurtured them well and she looked after everyone .3 years ago she suffered from anaemic condition (loss of Haemoglobin) .Later when it was extreme she diagnoised we came to know she suffered a rare type called acute mycloid leukimia shortly (AML) we all were surprised just before her diagnoise she said she had dreams whatever happend with her now, it is said that his ex wife also had same thing they both saw dreams of pain they will suffer and all came to be true it is thought the house is haunted by something .On 10 april she was said she is going to be dead as she was on life machine then around 1:01 am we were on the way to jeddah she was declared death .She loved me immesenly .When we reached jeddah we realised she left two kids behind who were just 3 and 5 years old.I had heart hard when they took me and my cousins to visit morgue in hospital and told her kids that there mom is sleeping so dont cry they dont knw what is death and what is life .she loved me my bro my my cousins sons and nephews daughter .My mom And her cousins were first to get out of hospital but we were last people.But by god blessing we were first kids and young people who reached in her funeral prayer my cousins called me in to see her but i couldnt i dint have that much capacity to take in despair i saw from out .My mom wasnt able to see her during purification but i saw her god wanted me to see her then they took her body to graveyard and came out .Her Stepson lost two mothers.What is god testing on them .Atleast stepkids can take care as they are elder but what about those infants.Just pray to god for her place in paradise .(Asina)

  20. jill

    like Einstein said: in death we are only a part of the dust there is nothing anymore. I have been grieving for my son since 2008 and will never be the same again.

  21. Sylvia

    My dog died just over 9 weeks ago. The first few days I had 2 dreams about her in which she was in the house with me. I wasn’t sure if this might be true or not. I kept giving her my love anyway, as usual.
    Then about a month later, coming up to the full moon, I was watching something on TV. I had just got to the stage when I could concentrate on something else for a little while. I suddenly felt a “rush” of her love, and her character, out of the blue. It lifted my heart and made me laugh with joy. Suddenly I KNEW there was no “death” at all. She stayed with me a few minutes then faded away. Yet the feeling of peace and contentment about her “death” lasted all night. I felt that mood gone when I woke up the next morning, but was very grateful.
    Since then she has done that 3 more times. Each time it has been coming up to the full moon. She doesn’t seem anywhere near at all (except in my heart) at different phases of the moon.
    She died on the full moon, I don’t know if that’s connected, or if it’s some other thing.
    I never know when her contact will be the last one. That’s a bit sad, but I know I will be re-united with her when I die because there is so much love and it is strong.

  22. Anna

    What a lovely experience to have Sylvia. I am sorry for your loss.

  23. Andy

    okay, so, my aunt, (my mums younger sister) passed away, precisely, 3 months ago! and it was her death that made me realise i could communicate with the dead..(telepathy) i now see people,(souls) including my aunt and we spend nights talking and she guides me through alot of stuff! at first i really thought i was insane and it was just my imagination but it was something way more.. she is infact with me right now, and now i can see different people and i feel so comforted to be honest.. i keep telling my mum that my aunt is in a way better place and she actually is,, she is at peace, and the only thing we could do is wait till we can join them 🙂
    and to all the people out there who read this and has lost a loved one,, here are afew words i read that could release you from alot of pain..
    ” Our loved ones have never left. It’s just as though they’ve stepped into the next room for a moment. There, in the afterlife, they’re enjoying a life more wonderful and more real than this life, with youth, vitality, and no pain, sickness, or worry. There, they wait lovingly, knowing soon we’ll step in to join them.”
    p.s never stop believing!!

  24. Maryann Ulicny

    My most precious cat Mittens had to be put to sleep two days ago from end stage renal failure. It was the hardest choice I have ever made. I love her forever and she loved me unconditionally. I can’t stop crying. I miss her so much. She was 17 and went through many things good and bad throughout the years. She was always with me, “my little girl”, the loss is almost to much for me. Will I see her again? Can she forgive me for putting her to sleep?

  25. david durban

    My first wife passed away last Sunday ay 3.15am. She had been in a nursing home suffering from Alzymers for years. At 3am I woke up after having a dream in which she walked towards me, looking young and lovely as when we were married in 1957. I knew she had gone and was awaiting my son’s ‘phone call which came at 9 am

  26. christy

    Dear Anna,
    I have read your blogs and posts of your thoughts and experiences, and I myself, do believe in a lot of what you have posted. I do not know you personally, and I am quite skeptical of leaving a comment on your page because I fear that I will false advice, and I am not attacking you, so im sorry if you get the wrong impression. But, just last night, I had a dream of a friend of mine who recently passed away, was at my mom’s house and when i walked in the living room, there he was! It felt so real to me. I ran up to him and I asked him if I could hug him and he said why yes! I hugged him so tightly I did not want to let go. I could ACTUALLY feel him! I was so happy! When I woke up, of course I was saddened that he wasn’t actually here, but I did have a sense of happiness. Was he communicating with me somehow? I really miss him, tremendously! I think about him everyday. Please help me to receive reassurance. Thank You, I really appreciate your help. God Bless

  27. waleed

    Yes, certainly, there is life after death

  28. Ian

    My father passed away on May 1, 2017. Last month I was doing a phone reading with a dog whisperer to know about what my doggie thinks. Out of the blue, my dad’s soul just popped in. The lady who was doing the reading told me that my dad wants to talk to me. He told her that he’s doing fine, he is currently with two family relatives, he loves me & said “thank you” to me…which I don’t understand why. We carried on with the doggie reading and at the end of it, my dad came back stating” he’s very very proud of me & that never to forget where I come from.” I wonder what all this means coz I was never expecting any contact from my dad.
    Also last week, he came in my 6 yr old niece’s dream indicating that ” when you die, you are like a leaf falling from a tree, but then you rise up as a new leaf full of vigor.” I would be very grateful if you could tell me what you think of all this. Thank you so much

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