This is my entry into the Supernatural Writing Contest that 
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My story begins a few years ago when I was commissioned to create this digital painting entitled Till Tomorrow. As an animal lover, a lot of my work depicts Dogs and I have become fairly well-known for my dog portraiture and dog-related paintings. That being said, one of my dearest friends (Keith) reached out to me to commission this painting with a very interesting story behind it. This story ultimately changed a lot of my own personal beliefs and how I view life after death.
After 14 years of unparalleled friendship, Keith lost his dog Jake. Shortly after his passing Keith began to have very vivid reoccurring dreams of Jake "waiting for him". Through teary eyes, Keith explained in detail what he saw in these dreams. Over the next few weeks, he would email me daily, After every dream, to convey what he was seeing so that I could re-create it. The more dreams he had, the more detailed we were able to get. I have never had someone been able to convey to me what they were seeing as clearly as this. Almost as if somebody was explaining a picture or scene they had actually witnessed. From the very beginning, I knew this was Keith actually seeing Jake on the other side.
Whether or not you believe in heaven or hell is a different conversation, but you cannot argue the fact that I was able to literally paint a picture of what Keith had been seeing in his dreams night after night. I completely understand that the loss of a pet can be as devastating as the loss of any friend or family member in your life, I have been there. So, does this prove our pets are on The Other Side? Are they waiting for us? How do we find them? If our pets are… Certainly, our family members are as well?
I once read a very popular poem "Rainbow Bridge" that explains a similar afterlife, But nothing was more compelling than Keith's reoccurring dreams and an exact replica of what I was able to produce in his mind's eye. I still talk to Keith often and His dreams have since stopped. Now he is able to enjoy this painting every day as a subtle reminder of what his friend Jake is up to. That Adirondack chair is still empty and waiting, While Jake sits there patiently waiting for Keith; They will be reunited someday.
The brain is such a complicated mechanism that it can be often times underestimated. I think recurring dreams indicate the presence of an open ended and persistent conflict in an individual’s life, and the theme or Central Image of the dream provides a stage for this conflict to play out. According to popular research the cease of a recurrent dream may indicate that the conflict has been successfully resolved or dealt with. So, being aware of and working with recurring dreams in your personal life or in therapy is a useful tool for improving well-being.
We can dive even deeper when discussing one's soul and whether or not that soul has conscious thought or is just a form of energy. According to the Bible "The Bible says nothing about the pre-existence of souls because this is a man-made idea with no basis in truth. The Bible makes it clear that every human being is a unique creation of God (Genesis 2:7; Zechariah 12:1; Jeremiah 1:5). Each unique human soul begins at conception (Psalm 139:13–16; Isaiah 44:24) and will continue forever because we are created as eternal beings (Genesis 9:6; Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 102:27; Matthew 25:46)." However, I believe there is much more to it than this. I believe your soul develops and grows through many lives and is able to subconsciously connect to the afterlife as demonstrated in my story above. Our dreams can be a window into that. In our unconsciousness we are not confined and I like to look at the afterlife (whatever that may be) as a never-ending dream. I even believe we can choose to end that dream and come back to life in a different body, not necessarily starting fresh, yet instead subconsciously remembering past experiences. This can be explained by déjà vu or similar feelings of familiarity in total strangers. Again, our brains and souls are much more complicated than we could ever hope to understand through science. As crazy as it may sound, there is just too much evidence to simply believe "nothing happens when you die".
The last element of this complicated puzzle is love. Love is another one of those things you just simply cannot explain. Whether it is a love for a relative, a child, a partner, or in this case a dog, love is one of the only versions that can transcend time and space as we know it. I believe love has the power to unite even after death. Compounding on my belief of the human soul, I think once you love someone, That bond is able to actually fuse souls together making them the sum of each that contributed. Commonly referred to as soulmates, I believe it runs deeper and once truelove is formed it can never be undone. Not through heartbreak, distance, circumstances, or even death.
To recap, sometimes the unexplainable is so profound that it impacts us forever. Maybe you have a reoccurring dream just like this story, maybe you see a spirit or ghostly figure you cannot explain, maybe your experience some sort of divine intervention saving your life or changing your direction in life's journey, or maybe it's something so simple as recognizing a stranger. No matter what it may be these are the supernatural events that prove there is more to this existence then we can ever categorize. We just have to take the time to look around and see these events for what they are rather than laughing it off as a coincidence. Take it from me, once you start looking at life a little differently it opens your eyes to so much more. Much love to all of you that took the time to read this.
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Details of the contest can be found here : https://steemit.com/steem/@jerrybanfield/mr7z0qvr
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