Is there life after death? The age-old question has plagued mankind since the beginning of time. For those who believe in angels, heaven and a spiritual soul, the answer is yes, while those who don’t believe or doubt there is perpetual existence continue to question the possibility that we exist after leaving our earthly bodies. Even those who believe in a spiritual life after death often doubt that we can receive communication from those who have crossed over. The very thought that the dead can reach out to the living terrifies most people.

Carla Wills-Brandon, Ph.D., a licensed marriage and family therapist, specializing in trauma resolution, spiritual well-being and grief, has written a book about dying, transferring from our earthly bodies to a spiritual existence. One Last Hug Before I Go: The Mystery and Meaning of Deathbed Visions offers an intimate look at death bed visions and near death experiences of people throughout history, including those closest to the author.

Terminal patients nearing the moment of death often have visions of relatives or friends who have crossed over before them, or in some cases angels, sometimes days or weeks before they die. These visions are often brushed off by family, attending nurses, and physicians as hallucinatory effects of medications or delirium. Carla Wills-Brandon’s research paints a different picture through case after case of similar yet distinctive accounts of the moment of passing. She proposes that the DBV helps prepare the dying for death, taking away the fear and anxiety about leaving this world for the next. We do not die alone.

This book can help those who are terminally ill, as well as their family and friends better understand the death process, and hopefully take comfort in the fact that we continue on a different plane, and we aren’t alone. Medical personnel, mental-health professionals and clergy can use this book to help the dying, family and friends cope with the death transition on a different level.

Ann Newman is author of Images of America, Conway, and is founder of the Arkansas Writers Association, a professional organization established to promote the literature and work of Arkansas authors of all mediums.

Categories: Grief, SelfHelp