Can a Private Investigator unlock the mysteries of life after death?................The PI Files

I left my patient at the assisted living facility with major feelings of unbelievable emotions that made me take one of the biggest deepest breaths and sigh of relief.

I did not realize, until I began reading #Answers Of The Afterlife written by #Bob Olson that he retired from his everyday private investigation job to dedicate his full attention to his book and his investigation looking for evidence or proof that there is an afterlife.  In 1999 his 15 year quest began after the loss of his father whom he was close to from what I gathered.  I can relate to this because it was during the end of my grandmothers' life when I began reading books and searching for answers myself.  I documented my grandmothers' behavior in my Nursing Home Drama blog series a few years ago,  here is the link, http://nursinghomedrama.blogspot.com/  There are many examples of what I believe were deathbed visions that Mr. Olson speaks of in his book on page 7 in Answers About The Afterlife.  I video recorded some of her activities that I suspect could have been death bed visions but in order to know what I am talking about you would have to see the tapes.  I detailed the events in the Nursing Home Drama blog and can be viewed at the link mentioned above.

I want to first remark about something I found interesting on page 2 where he states "I'm an investigator who draws conclusions based on an examination of the evidence using logic, reason, and pragmatism". And then he goes on to say, "I begin my investigation without bias or expectation and draw conclusions only after gathering and examining the available evidence.  In other words, I look at the evidence first and draw my conclusions second."  This is the typical thought process of an investigator including myself.  Reading this made me feel that I was on the same page in thought process that he was when he began his investigation.  I am in that thought process now as I read his book, therefore his investigation is of great interest to me because I feel I could trust his opinion simply based on his mindset going into his investigation and maybe his investigation results could answer my questions and put my mind at ease.  I don't necessarily want to conduct my own in depth investigation but I enjoy reading others' research and appreciate the time and effort it takes to document it for readers such as myself.

On the same page, 2, my concern began with the statement  "this book is not about documenting all the evidence and explaining it; rather, this book is about answering the most common questions people have about the afterlife-based on that evidence" and "since plenty of books already hash over all the evidence from either a scientific or metaphysical standpoint, this book is here to deliver the answers that are based on that evidence from a practical investigator's assessment."  I could understand this if the author knew his audience had read other books about this topic containing scientific or metaphysical research but for someone who is picking up his book before any other to learn about this topic I would imagine they would want to know how he drew to his conclusions and answers because from what I have read so far this is an answer and question book and offers very little evidence, proof, or background to the questions.   It is my assumption that somewhere in the book Mr. Olson talks about the tools he used, how he used them, and give details about the sources from where the information came.  I feel in order to gain the confidence of your readers you must document your evidence to support your claim and explain it especially if you are writing about something so controversial.  BUT I am only at page 100 and not even half way through the book so there is still plenty of time for my curiosity and concern to be satisfied and put to rest AND I intend to read this book twice if not three times in case I missed something the first time.  Needless to say it's general practice for a professional to review and re-review material in order to be well educated about the topic and consistently accurate about their conclusions.  

99% of what I have read in this book so far I have read in other books on the market or have heard on t.v.

Now I would like to focus on page 94 and the word COINCIDENCE.  Here is where I will talk about what happened with my patient that is directly related to this word in more than one way.  I was at the gym doing my daily workout routine first on the treadmill and then on the Crossramp where I sweat it out.  I have to admit that this book is very well written and hard to put down so I decided to walk and not run on the treadmill in order to continue reading at least for the next half hour.  One of the last pages I read was 94 where Mr. Olson talks about ways a spirit guide communicates with us.  A spirit guide as Mr. Olson puts it (on page 89) "is a spirit (on the spiritual plane) who guides a spirit having a human experience (on the physical plane).  In simpler words, a spirit guide is a spiritual being who is guiding a human being."  If this is not simple enough I will simplify it even more.  Have you ever heard of the term guardian angel?  Although a guardian angel realistically, to some at least, might be more or less than a spirit guide, but I think can be better understood because more people are probably familiar with this term. So, in terms of understanding the point I am making spirit guide=guardian angel.  Let's move on.  

#COINCIDENCE according to Mr. Olson in Answers About The Afterlife on page 94 is a way our spirit guides communicate to us and guide us.  He says "some call this divine coincidence or synchronicity.  Unfortunately, many people erroneously use the word 'coincidence' to mean luck, fluke, or chance, which is kind of shortsightedness that will lead one to overlook valuable guidance from their spirit guides."  Have you ever heard anybody say they do not believe in coincidences?  I say it all the time because in my opinion luck, a fluke or chance only happens when you win the lottery.  I am in agreement with Mr. Olson and have what I think is a perfect example of his definition of coincidence that happened on Friday, twice!  The first coincidence happened when I read about this while at the gym.  Let me explain.  I am reading this book to learn in my own search for answers about the afterlife.  Because of the shared skepticism and thought process that Mr. Olson and I share I take great interest in his investigation and information he offers.  I feel the first coincidence or meant to be moment was for me to have read page 94 Friday morning because of what happened next.

I am a PI by day and in my spare time I visit hospice patients to give comfort in the last days of their lives.  I gained a lot of experience when my grandmother was in the nursing home, my father who passed away ten years ago from pancreatic cancer, and my father n law who only recently passed away.  My schedule is normally very full on a daily basis between work, the kids, and life but I found some time today, later than normal, to visit my elderly patient who lives in an assisted living community.  Normally when I visit her the apartment door is wide open and she sits in her wheelchair or recliner in her living room.  But, when I walked in to her apartment I heard her crying out for help and when I followed her voice into her bedroom I found her lying on the floor next to her bed with her head between the bed and her nightstand with her shoes having broken the fall from her head hitting the hard floor.  I immediately pulled the emergency cord and assured her someone would be there to help her get up as I am not allowed to assist in walking, adjusting, or anything of that nature as a hospice volunteer.  But, when nobody came I ran down the hallway to flag someone down and happened to run into the nurses aid room as a man walked out and in fact we were in the elevator at the same time when we arrived.  This man heard me mention the room number I needed help in and it turned out he was the Chaplain for the hospice organization I volunteer for.  Now, you have to know that this was the Chaplains first visit to this patient because of the directives from the family and was a 'meant to be moment' for him to have visited this patient on this day and at the hour he did.  Together we gave our patient compassion and spiritual comfort until the aids came to help get her off of the floor.  As she was being lifted off the floor to her bed we noticed a big gash on her forehead where she had hit her head most likely on the nightstand.  Nobody knows how long she had been lying there calling for help and how much longer she would have been lying there if we had not shown up.  This is what I think Mr. Olson was talking about in this section of the book on COINCIDENCE.  I call it "meant to be".  In this case coincidence=meant to be and happened for a reason.  

The first coincidence or meant to be moment was my reading about this topic while at the gym that morning and the second was an actual event that took place showing me an example of what I read by visiting my patient at the moment I did along with the Chaplain.  There were things I was able to offer our patient that the Chaplain wasn't and vice versa for example our patient knew me from having visited her many times before as well as my familiarity with her likes and dislikes whereas the Chaplain was able to offer spiritual guidance for both of us as well as a helping hand to get the ball rolling with our hospice team and get our patient the help she needed and more.   I believe we were meant to be there at the same time.  It was a bonus because during our two hour wait for the rest of the hospice team to arrive I had a very rewarding conversation with the Chaplin about religion, faith, and spirituality among just getting to know each other as two professionals who work for the same team.  Thank goodness my patient was doing well when I left.  I will follow up with her next week.

Then, the next day when I went to services at the House of God my religious leader spoke about.......drum role please.........COINCIDENCE and how it does not exist and that things happen for a reason.  Wow!!!!  What a week!  I was surrounded by goodness and love.  I felt this lesson was very well taught.

Until next time...........be safe.

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