2.    Suddenly I was flying, slowly following an angel who was only partly visible down my stairs. It felt very real. I felt wonderful and calm, and I wanted to keep following her for a long time. ... But then I realized that I wanted to be with my mom, and that I missed her. I wanted to go back to my normal life. Then, it felt like the angel was pulling me towards her, but at the same time I was being sucked backwards. She released me, and I flew through my house back into my room.  30a/3986

3.     Then I heard a voice directly in my mind. I clearly perceived that it came to me from above-left side. This being I did not perceive as being "more" than myself. It was more like a "similar" to myself. A telepathic dialogue took place in which certain questions were asked and I was compelled to answer truthfully. At the end, I made a decision, and at that point the "void" stopped and, with difficulty, I made it back to the shore.  36a/3982

4.    I needed more time, but she gave an insistent order to make my choice and said whatever I choose will be fine. At that time, I turned around, back to the direction I had so calmly came from, and was immediately pulled back through the dark tunnel.  39a/3897

5.    Then, I realized my little sister needed me so I had to come back.  40a/3972

6.    I had been aware of the tunnel of light with me for a while, but did not seem compelled to approach it. I was allowed to make the decision whether or not to return.  44a/3966

7.    Somehow I knew I had to enter the right door in the limited time I had as after that all the doors would close never to open again leaving me all alone in the dark void forever. I also knew that if I entered the wrong door the memories from that stage of my life till today would be erased. I started fearing not death but isolation or never being able to see my two sons & husband again, or even not recognizing them after I wake up. I feel time is slipping out of my hands and I decide that I'd rather enter the wrong door than stay back in my head. I just think of GOD & put my foot forward to enter the speeding doors and at that very moment I feel the anesthetist slapping my cheeks & calling my name.  56a/3947

8.    I also remember that my family members were in the hospital room crying, and I despairing at seeing them suffer. I wanted to return rapidly.  57a/2143

9.    Right then I began to pray to god to let me live because I wasn't ready. I just had a baby that May, and had three other small children. They needed me, and I needed them.  64a/3940

10.    The presence was telling me I would no longer have any worries or troubles, and was so calming. We got to a white bridge and I was ready to go over when the presence said it was okay to go over but told me I had three small children on this side. So I remained on this side.  65a/3939

11.    Then we stopped in front of a door on the left. I don't know what color the door was, all I knew was it was a door and I was not going through it! I kept saying NO! The next thing I remember was my husband telling me I had a seizure.  74a/3923

12.    Suddenly I was given a choice. I could go back to earth and back to the human body that I was living in or I could stay in these realms. I wanted to stay forever and stated just that. ... I saw my friend ... struggling to breathe. ... I was concerned about what was going to happen to her. I turned to the Presence and said that I wanted to return and the Presence said I could return but I had to do something. I had to promise before it would let me return. I promised and swore on my heart with all my might. I promised and promised. The next thing I knew I was back in my body.  76a/3958

13.    I had no questions about going with them but asked many about what will be if I decided to stay. Some of my questions were: 1. If I decided to stay will I get better? 2. Will the pain go away? 3. How will I know that all will be ok after I decide to live? 4. Is there something that I am to do on earth and therefore should decide to live? I was given more or less answers to my questions. I knew when they didn't want to answer and left it at that. The moment I made my decision I was back in my body and fell asleep.  82a/3915

14.    It was like my inner conscience was talking to me. It asked, "Are you ready to come home?" I knew it meant death. I thought about it, I really did, I thought so hard and for what seemed like hours I contemplated. Do I really want to die? This was the greatest feeling I had ever experienced, do I want this feeling to end? My answer was 'no'. I wanted to live a life. ... Again, the inner conscience 'spoke', and asked "Are you sure?" Again I contemplated for what seemed like hours, now having this new level of understanding. (Could me and my mother really never stay as close as we were? Would I really get the chance to have kids, despite my heart?).. I chose 'Yes'.  84a/3913

15.    I was given a choice as I was traveling down this tunnel to live or carry on through the tunnel. ... I felt like it wasn't time yet, so held my husband next to me and started breathing again and felt myself go back down to Earth.  87a/3908

16.    [Did you meet or see any other beings?] I felt something or someone was there. It seemed I was given a choice to stay or go back.  89a/3905

17.    Then a worry made me turn from where I was. I knew that I would never have been able to return without that worry that made me come back, and I don't know if it was the right thing to come back. In any case it was only in that instant when I returned that I felt the worry. ... I saw my girlfriend yelling, but I couldn't hear her. But that didn't interest me. I was at peace. And I was returning. Without walking and without any sensation of movement I was returning to myself until I reached the surface of my body lying on the seat, until I and my body were reunited perfectly, and then I turned to my girlfriend and said why are you screaming. It was her screaming and her terror and her panic that had created the worry.  96a/3900

18.    I was sad thinking about the pain that my death was causing everybody and I said to myself that I needed to go back. It wasn’t fair even if the peace and serenity that I was feeling was so wonderful and unexplainable. I said to myself it doesn’t matter if it hurts I have to go back.  99a/3846

The above were selected from
the first random sample.

The following were selected from the second random sample.

1.    In that moment I was very sad because I was dead and I knew it clearly, and I wanted to return to live a life of plenty of things. ... I was ecstatic because I returned in life.  6b/3472

2.    As the doctor let my folks know that I was gone they started to cry. It was very hard to see for me at the time, so I prayed to go to them so they would stop crying. All of a sudden there I was on the bed looking up at them.  13b/3199

3.    Then, I wanted to go back to my family.  15b/4198

4.    But then I thought of my young children and said to my mother, "I have to go back, my children still need me, and you know how hard it was for you to leave us when we were young."  27b/151

5a.    All of a sudden, I felt something coming out of my body, something from myself was coming off me. I didn’t want this to carry on before I could see my daughter. Something was pushing me to leave the chair where I was sitting. My mind was telling me that I didn’t want to go before I could see my daughter and tell her about the beautiful experience I was going through. I closed my eyes and saw a virgin; something wanted to take me but when I insisted on wanting to see my daughter, it left me alone and I felt my body back on the chair again. I think that if I hadn’t refused, I would have died. I don’t know, but when I refused, the force that I was feeling left me alone.  31b/3655

5b.    [Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?] Yes, I feel that when death comes close, this one, death, allows you to choose whether you want to go or stay. If you let yourself go by the extremely nice sensation you are feeling, you will not think of coming back to earth, but if you think of the ties you have in this world (in my own case, I wanted to see my daughter) you are given another chance to stay. Something like that.  31b/3655

6.    [Were you involved in or aware of a decision regarding your return to the body?] I thought I had better get out of there, even though it was pleasant being there.  33b/1035

7.    I understood that when a person clings to something he gets it and that is real. I clung to life and that is why I am alive; I fought for living and did not accept death, and told myself: this is a second opportunity to live. I value life. ... I decided to run and escape due to the fear to be taken to an unknown destiny.  34b/2491

8.    All of a sudden somebody appeared in front of me. He was young with a beard. I asked him, “When do I go back down to earth???” And he said, “But you are already on earth.” I did not believe him and I asked the same question again, he replied the same answer and I got back down into my body.  40b/4043

9.    I remember answering and saying, "Yes I wanted to return."  43b/731

10.    I remember quite clearly I had a choice to pass over or to stay. I chose to stay, because I thought myself too young to die.  48b/2819

11.     I was not wanting to come back. However I had two young children that I could not leave with my husband, and I would have killed my unborn child.  51b/831

12.    I took renewed strength and thought about my 5-month old baby and my boyfriend, two people I love so and visualized my son growing up without me. I said, "No. I don't want to stay." I also felt that I had a purpose, a mission that was not yet fulfilled in this life. This was not a work I had to finish, but rather a stage that I had to complete in this life, a form of spiritual growth.  53b/2377

13.    The next memory I have was standing again outside the light in the delivery room and saying, "I choose to live," which I presume was a decision to come back on earth for my mission was unfinished. I have no actual memory of the time between wanting to go up in the Light with the beautiful Lady, and then making the other choice of returning to my body because of the children. After I had spoken the words "I choose to live," meaning come back and live my life in this body, there was an explosion of Light in the room and I also spoke to them simultaneously from my body.  61b/33

14.    I wanted to return at life to live a life plenty of things. Slowly I saw a bright light around me, per instinct I know that was ‘the line’, the ‘passage’ and if I passed through it I was dead. I decided not to pass into it because I wanted to live in my world and enjoy all things in it. 

15.    I was informed that I had the choice to die or continue living. I was also told that there would be no turning back upon my decision. Afraid at first, I was hesitant to leave my body. A spirit guide told me to breathe deeply.  64b/3206

16.    I was given a choice..AS IS ALWAYS DONE...to stay "gone" or to go back. "They" told me that they wanted my "form"...(the physical form holds the cellular memories of all of one's experiences) and "they" wanted to send me back with a "new" spirit. A "healing" and "teaching" one. But that "they" wanted it in a "form" that had the ability to survive until the "time" was "right." I must have agreed. The next thing I remember was waking up in ICU.  72b/3254

17.    They spoke to me and said, "You can come with us or you can stay." I remember getting really mad because I was so young and there was no way I was going to let myself die. I remember thinking of all things I didn't want to give up like the sound of ocean waves and thunderstorms, even the taste of hose water when I was a kid. I thought about my family and the smell of campfires. I wasn't ready to give that up. 73b/2432

1.    He/it asked me if I wanted to stay there. I thought that my mother would miss me something dreadful if I did not go back. Assent was given. I was escorted back to the dark cave and I returned down the tunnel, with air rushing by, as on the way up. Then I was at the top of the room, looking at my inert body. Next thing I knew I was back in my sweaty, miserable body again.  5d/Feb. 26, 2002

2.    Then my husband came to mind and I felt an urgency not to enjoy this void too much, that I needed to be with him and not leave him.  9d/Feb. 25, 2002

3.    I truly believe I was given a choice to live or die. It was up to my will! ... I still feel a very real presence was all around me. I was not alone!  16d/June 10, 2002

4.    I thought about my young son and I panicked. What would happen to him? I was all he had and the grief would surely destroy him. My heart pumped hard and fast so that my whole body jerked with its beat. I realized that for a moment I had died, but my spirit was not ready to leave my son and it returned to my body.  31d/Jan. 7, 2003

5.    I was asked whether I wanted to "go back and continue what I had started," and I emphatically said, "Of course."  40d/May 15, 2003

6.    At that point, I felt a great sadness come over me as I thought of my sweet little two-year-old son at home. I wanted so much to raise my children and be a part of their lives. I had already learned so much about parenting, and I thought that nobody could do as good a job as I could with my children. I said, "God, who's going to raise my babies?" There was a bright flash of light - like I was in the middle of a lightning bolt - and then I don't remember anything until the next day. I opened my eyes and saw bottles and IVs hanging above my bed.  48d/June 2, 2003

7.    I had the choice to go into that tunnel, but I felt my life would be a failure if I had chosen to do that. Then in a flash I got REALLY scared of the situation and felt the tragedy in this all. I cried inside my self really hard and had a lot of regret and shouted I wanted to do the right thing and go back.  54d/Sept. 2, 2003

8.    It was then that I suddenly knew I had to go back, that there is a reason for me being alive today something I have yet to do. It was then that I felt a painfully sharp pain in my chest. It felt like I had been "sucked" back into my body, and I mean literally sucked.  77d/April 30, 2004

9.    Then God asked me if I wanted to go with him. I did not have time to think as at that moment He showed me my mother and her future whereas she would have cancer. I felt emotional pain in my heart knowing she would suffer, so I said no, I want to be with my mother because she will need me.  81d/Aug. 20, 2004

10.    She told me to stay and there would be no more pain. I insisted I had to go. She showed me a toddler, a little girl, and said she would be with me in five years. I did not know if she meant "she" meaning my mom or my child to be. The toddler was standing reaching into a drawer in a large bedroom. Then I heard myself tell her, sorry Mom I have got to run.  82d/Aug. 20, 2004

11.    I panicked and started pleading to god, to whomever that touched me, “Let me go back, please let me come back. I have children and a husband that need me! No, not now god. Please not now. My husband is on his way home; he knows I’m sick and he's coming home from Iraq. Please not now.” Even though I felt peace, comfort, and complete love behind me and around me, I didn't want to go. The next thing I saw was the room become bright and the light behind me was even brighter. I remember turning around crying, and I asked, one more time, “Please, Lord not now.” The next thing I knew, I was inside my body again.  93d/Jan. 3, 2005

12.    I said, "God my husband left here like this. Is this it for me? What about my daughter?" He didn't answer me. ... I asked again, "Is this it for me? What about my job?" Then I started feeling a wonderful sensation. I was floating and it was good. That's when God said, "No! You have purpose." I immediately shifted back into my body.  94d/Lift Up Your Head

13.    My [deceased] father's voice spoke to me. He said that I was okay, safe, and had a choice. He said that I could come to them or I could stay where I was and continue with my "earthly" life. ...  I could stay or go. My father encouraged me to stay, as I had more to do. However, if I was too tired I was welcome. I remember feeling joy, not fear and being free from pain. ... My father again asked me or told me that it was up to me. I was welcome, but I had a lot of things I could do and be (if I stayed). I had/have a loving partner and I have a chance to live my life in a new way, a way that was more peaceful, calm, less sorrowful and painful and more opportunities for growth, learning, love, change, and rebirth. ... Again, I remember feeling safe and hearing my father's gentle, kind, warm, and calm voice guiding me to look at myself and to make a decision about my life and future.  95d/Under the Surface

1.     I knew that if I said I wanted to stay, I could. But I sensed that I would have to be born again into a physical body later. My reaction, “But I am only 14 years old.”  2e/Childing

2.    Then I remembered why I was there. My baby, my husband, my friends, my life… I understood that I was dying and could choose to stay or go back. I thought it was great and silly, being afraid of life. That gave me the strength to go back.  I wanted to see my daughter and husband. ... At that moment, I felt that I had to make a quick decision and run into my body if I wanted to stay alive. I ran mentally into my body, which felt like going inside a glove or landing into something of exactly my size. I opened my eyes and asked to see my baby.  4e/Glove

3.    We started to communicate telepathically. I was telling him that I needed to go back and he replied that it wasn't possible. I saw in his facial expression that he did not want me to go. I told him again that I wanted to go back. He then showed me an image of a young handsome and wealthy couple that just had a baby boy and he told me that I could be born as that baby. The offer was very tempting, but I refused. I told him that I needed to go back to this life. He said if I go back in this time, life would not be the same and very difficult. I listened to his advice, but I willed myself back into this lifetime.  5e/Billions

4.    He said to me in a very impatient voice, "Well come on, are you coming or not? You have to make up your mind.” I replied, "Ewe, I’d better not," and before I could say anything else he was gone without another word.  11e/Life After

5.    I remember thinking I have to go back, two kids still at home, a wife, and bills, but I wanted to stay. I remember thinking I have to go back and when I do it was going to hurt like hell. It did. I was suddenly cold and in pain again, but this time no fear.  12e/Where I Was

6.    I remembered that they had been surprised and concerned that I had made the decision to live this life. They feared a danger that I couldn't place at that moment. I wondered about them, and wanted to tell them that it was okay, but I also felt strongly that I had to go back. I remembered that I had a daughter, and before I could plead my case for returning, I was told by thought that I would not be allowed to stay. I got excited to return, and thought how much I wanted to remember the knowledge, so I could explain it to others, ease fears of death, and inspire goodness. 

7.    I was asked a question by this entity. It told me if I wanted to come out now I could, or I could go back. No voice, but I felt the question in a big way. I thought of my life and fiancée and decided to go back.  26e/Infinite Entity

8.    I walked a bit but below my children were looking up. They needed me. I told the angels I needed to stay with my children. They carried on saying come, come. It was exceptionally difficult to fight the urge to go. It was as if I would have been in utopia, but my children were where I could see them looking up at me. ... I looked down again and immediately turned around and walked back. I could hear them calling my name but it got quieter and quieter. Then I woke up.  35e/Chose Children

9.     I told my angel that I want to go back to earth. He just smiled and told me that my mission was not done. (I still don't know what my mission is.) I told him, "This is beautiful and all but I want to go back."  42e/Guided

10.    Then there were my children and grandchildren. They were so bright and beautiful and so filled with life that I decided I wanted to live after all, and it was then that I woke up.  51e/Perfect Love

11.    At some point, I'm not sure if I thought: "Hey I have two kids left home, parents, grandchildren, and a loving wife so I must go home," or if I was told to go back.  52e/Nurse

12.    I "heard" Jesus tell me that I could go on or I could stay. I understood that he was saying I could go to heaven now or I could stay on Earth longer. I gave a big sigh and told him, "Well, Lord, if it was just me, I am so tired of pain that I would go now, but my husband and son still need me, so I guess I better stay." I knew that he smiled and he said, "okay." I woke up and there was the surgeon in my face. He said to me, "Whew! Welcome back!  56e/Walking

13.    There I was lying in a hospital bed. I was sort of sad, too, because I realized that I had made my bed, so to speak, and now I would have to lay in it. I had chosen to return and deal with all the stuff that we all are confronted with day after day after day.  60e/Corridor

14.    I had thought that it would be a shame for my daughters to have grown up without their father in their life. I had spent a large part of my life without my father in it, and I would have liked my daughters not to experience that. Anyway, I was ready to go. The Being said that because my reason for wanting to return was somebody outside myself, I would be allowed to return. Before I had the chance to express that I didn't really want to return, there was a rapid, confused movement, something happened, the other spark which had been "observing" was somehow a part of it, and then I was waking up in this body.  65e/Glow

15.    What jolted me was the thought, "What about my family?" How would my "going" impact them. I did not want to leave this "place" I was in, but from somewhere else, I could feel a struggle starting to emerge within me. From here the situation gets a bit confusing. I remember arguing to go back (that is to live). I was being told it was impossible or it couldn't happen; somehow I was too injured or it just couldn't happen. My overwhelming anxiety for my family was making me fight and struggle against the "sucking in feeling" of the darkness. These were not verbal conversations going on but rather a dialogue I sensed in my mind. The will to fight became more overpowering. I had made the decision to go back, away from the black. The sensation is difficult to describe. I had to make a choice, live or die. 72e/Peace

16.    I also remember begging to stay alive for my son and the look on my father's face once he arrived at the hospital. He tries not to show too much emotion. He couldn't hold back fear. I remember saying to our great creator, I have more work to do so please let me stay.  75e/Between Worlds

17.    I wanted to return in order to take care of my spouse. I was told ok, but you must continue to love her, even if there is a divorce.  79e/Time

18.    I wanted to stay in that wonderful place where I would be like them and would get such wisdom. I knew it would hurt so much to go back to my body, but I had to go back. I felt a pull on my whole self and like a zip I was back in my body.  80e/Love, Learn

19.     "It is not your time yet", he said in a kind but also firm way. "You still have a lot of work to do". I wasn't ready to give up yet.  I was readying myself to refuse, but then something inside me realised the truth of what he had said.  85e/Home

20.    I wanted to stay, but instantly knew that I had much work to do back on earth that I had barely begun and that most of it had to do with my family relationships. ... I jumped/dove back into my body instantaneously and found myself trying to get my breathing passages clear.  89e/Self-Evident

21.    I remember saying or thinking I'm not ready to go. Next I remember heading back toward my body.  97e/Not Ready

22.    Then quickly I changed my mind. "Henry I have to stay and raise my children. Go, but I will see you again."  6f/Henry

23.    My father smiled, stood up, extended his hand and said, "Come, you'll like it here." I extended my right arm and hand with index finger pointed and stated, "Not now Dad, I have things I have to do," meaning children to be helped to maturity. He understood, nodded a knowing smile and said, "O.K. we'll see you in about thirty years."  15f/BK

24.    In analyzing the pro and con of what I should do under these particular circumstances I came to the following conclusion: Go back to being a human. I have the responsibility of six children and a wife. I am their only provider.  19f/Charles

25.    Good or bad, whatever was there, I wanted no part of being dead. It was the most radical terror of my life. Pulling' to get back into my body with all my might, I could hear them talking as they crowded around me.  20f/Dan

26.     I was then transported back in time to a point in the wreck where I had made a decision about saving myself or dying. This time I made the decision to live and was impelled to take a different action, which proved to be what saved my life.   26f/Eagleman

The above were selected  from the fifth random sample.