#149 Have you ever wondered what happens after we die? That is a seemingly unanswerable question, because most people don’t return from that experience to then talk about it.  But David is one of the lucky few. David Ditchfield is an author, composer, and an artist with an incredibly mind-blowing story. In 2006, he survived being dragged under a speeding train and now has made it his life mission to spread a positive message and change people’s lives for the better.

In our conversation, we talked about his near-death experience and how he was able to open up about it almost immediately, and despite being dyslexic, write a book about his journey. I hope listening to this episode helps you understand the concept and the joy of living in the moment. I also hope it gives you something to think about when it comes to the fear of death, and how we are all here for a purpose. Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this podcast, you may also like: Knowing: A Journey Beyond The Veil | Jeffery Olsen

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About David:  David Ditchfield is an NDE-inspired artist, composer, near-death experiencer and author. He wants to use his NDE to make a positive difference to people’s lives. After surviving being dragged under a speeding train in a freakish accident in 2006, David found solace in art and music. He wrote a book called Shine On about his journey, and now spends his second chance at life painting dramatic paintings of what he had seen in the afterlife, with an artistic ability far beyond what he had before, and composing classical music.

He discovered a talent for composition after having survived the accident. He had never received any musical training, and to this day cannot read or write a single note of musical notation. However, his debut NDE-inspired symphony, The Divine Light, was premiered at a sell-out orchestral concert to a standing ovation.

He currently lives, paints, and composes in a converted riverside mill near Cambridge, UK.

►Audio Version:

 

Key points with time stamp:

• David’s work in his own words (0:16)
• Reactions to David’s story and near-death experience (1:20)
• What was David before being an artist and composer? (3:09)
• Did David always know he was going to be who he is now? (4:13)
• Writing a book about his journey (5:06)
• Opening up about the accident (6:41)
• The near-death experience (9:21)
• Did David had a choice to come back to his body or to continue the experience? (26:21)
• Did David experience any physical changes after coming back to his body? (29:07)
• Seeing the world after surviving a near-death experience (33:29)
• About spiritual healing (35:12)
• Becoming a composer (37:22)
• What does life look like for David now? (42:40)
• Art, music, and self-expression as therapy (44:12)
• What David learned through this experience (45:09)
• Is a low point necessary in order to become conscious and awake? (46:24)
• David’s plans for the future (48:23)
• What David leaves us with (50:01)

Mentioned in this episode:

• Anita Moorjani
• Jeffery Olsen
• Spiritual Healing
• Beethoven
• Bach
• The BBC
• NDA (Near-death experience)
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• COVID-19
• Shine On, David’s book

David Hitchfield’s Website:
www.shineonthestory.com

David’s Music:
www.shineonthestory.com/#Listen

 

About me:

My Instagram:
www.instagram.com/guyhlawrence/?hl=en

My website:
www.guylawrence.com.au
www.liveinflow.co

 

TRANSCRIPT

Guy 00:01
David, welcome to the podcast.

David 00:13
I thanks for having me along. Great to be here.

Guy 00:16
I asked everyone, if you are at a, say a intimate dinner party right now with strangers. And you sat next to someone, and they started talking to you and ask you what you did for a living? What would you say?

David 00:31
Well, I’d say it’s just, excuse me. My apologies. What I would what I’d say. I’d say, Well, this is this is going to be an unusual one for you. And then I said, I think I would start with telling my story, just very briefly about what happened to me, and how my life had suddenly turned around and changed. And from where I was at before, and now I’ve had a life changing event that has brought me to become an artist, and a composer. And now a, an author of a book. So this so yeah, so that’s, that’s how I basically put it across, I guess, yeah. It’s hard to explain it.

Guy 01:20
Does that. Does that happen much to you at the moment? And what is what is people’s reactions? If it does,

David 01:26
it’s interesting, actually, because most people are really fascinated by it. By the story, you know, that, you know, it’s, it’s, at first I thought to myself, how am I going to start when I’m explaining my story to people? Are they really going to get it and it was important to me that they did get it. And so I kind of figured, you know, once I did start talking about it, people are really fast, and really interested no matter where they come from, because my story is something that is not it’s going to appeal to everybody at the end of the day, because it’s it’s all about, you know, death and the afterlife. And I guess, ultimately, none of us really think about or talk about death at all in western civilization. So once you bring it to a dinner party table, and it’s coming from my point of view, then it’s quite interesting. It’s not morbid, or what have you. So people are fascinated to hear about it.

Guy 02:20
Yeah, it’s, if anything, it’s inspiring, like, I stumbled across your work. And it was just like, Holy moly, this is, this is fantastic. Like, not not what you went through, but but the message that you have behind it is makes you feel like, so hopeful about things, you know, and for me, it removes fear, as well. Yeah,

David 02:43
that’s, that’s what quite a few people have been getting back to me and saying, which is fantastic, because that’s one of the… The main sort of things, right from the off that I wanted to do that I wanted to pay people to lose or sort of, you know, expectations of fears of death and and actually realize, you know, that there’s beauty that awaits us all. And that you know, that the soul lifts on basically, that debt is not the end is you know, it’s this is the next stage of the journey.

Guy 03:09
Yeah, incredible. I’m curious as well, before we get into the story, because you mentioned now your artists and a composer. That’s just mind blowing. What were you doing? Like, before all this happened? Well,

David 03:22
yeah, well, I was I’m dyslexic. So I’d left school without qualification. So it was a struggle for me to find work, to be honest with you. And so I’d moved down to London. And I’d moved down there. And I was just hoping just to sort of make an interesting life for myself down there. And basically, the work I was picking up was mainly manual labor and blue collar work. And, and so I was just living on a day to hand by hand sort of day to day basis, but I wasn’t really good at that kind of work either. So it was quite a struggle for me to pick up work. You know, it’s just my charm and sheer luck that I got through but that’s what that’s where I was at. So I was I was No, I wasn’t a composer and I wasn’t an artist by any shot at all. So it’s, it’s it’s quite a turnaround for me from where I was at then. And where I’m at now, in many ways, that’s incredible.

Guy 04:13
Had you an inkling that you wanted to be a composer and artist before or did it just come like out of the blue after the accident?

David 04:21
I wouldn’t have if you take him me back to that person I was in and you’d ask me that question. Are we gonna want no way the composer artists, that’s never gonna happen. You know, I was just like, I was at a stage where I was like, standing back and watching guys plastering a wall and saying, How did you do that? That’s a work of art, you know, so I didn’t think I was good at anything, you know, so there was no way I got any self belief or self confidence to be even thought about doing anything like that at all. So all that came basically, after I’d had a near death experience, which, which just gave me this kind of either no It just it just gave me the self confidence and self belief almost instantaneously. You know.

Guy 05:06
That’s insane. That’s amazing. It’s such an incredible. Now let’s take people through the journey then. So when did the accident happen? First of all what what year was?

David 05:18
Yeah, it happened in 2006. And yeah, so So. Yeah. So yeah, in all fairness, it’s probably taken me a while to sort of get the book out. But because of my dyslexia, I never thought I’d actually be able to write a book, as it was, it was. So I was a lot, I found this. Since all this happened as well, that there’s been a lot of synchronicity is coming to my life. And there’s loads of different things sort of came my way that I wasn’t expecting. And one of those things was an old friend that I hadn’t been in touch with for years, got in touch with me, and we got chatting, and she said, what were you up to and stuff. And we started talking about me about my story. And I said, I finally I’d been able to write it, you know, he said, Well, I could go write it for you. I was gonna I was one of those, you know, she explained what it was. And she’d never written a book before she she’d written a few medical journals. But, you know, so she was really keen to get involved. And she, because she’d known me so well. She, we were able to work really closely. And, and then that whole book was just me, you know, as she got, it’s right inside my head and right inside myself. So yeah. 2000 Yeah, but an awful lot has happened actually, in within those years, in terms of my painting size, I became really prolific in terms of my output in with art, and, and also with my music, you know, and so there’s been a lot of that going on as well.

Guy 06:41
I gotta, I gotta ask you, if all the listeners are probably like, what happened? What happened? You know, but before I ask one more question first, and that is, after everything that had happened. Did you find difficult to talk about first? Or did you just come out and tell everyone and go, you know, this has happened? This is incredible, because I found other people I’ve interviewed on this topic, have kept it for themselves a long time first.

David 07:09
But yeah, that wasn’t the case with me, actually. Because, in all fairness, when it happened, I didn’t actually know anything about near death experiences. And I, you know, I actually thought, you know, that I was the only person this had happened to, not in an arrogant sense, but you know, I just kind of figured, wow, that’s, that was incredible. And I thought, Oh, I can’t wait to tell the world and how am I going to tell them, you know, and so, I started telling close family and friends, because I was in hospital for quite some time. So it was then that I started to tell, you know, I filtered through the people that I felt that I could talk to you about it first, and then made my way through them all. But everybody that I told, totally got it and was totally sort of drawn into the whole thing. And I could tell that there was no, nobody at all, who was doubting my story. So that made me feel confident to be able to go out into the world and talk about it. Because I felt that was very important to do. Anyhow, you know, I was very keen to find out more about it. I mean, once I got out of hospital, I went straight online. And I started to look in, I was googling in, you know, what had happened. And I discovered what near death experience was, you know, and I started finding out more and more about it. So I realized that it was, it was, it was quite a common thing that would happen to other people. And that was great. It made me feel like I was part of a sort of society. And it was like affirmation as well, you know, that, in fact, one of the most beautiful moving things that happened was I was, it was when I first started on my first painting, and I was looking online one day, and I came across a story of a young girl who was only about sort of, you know, six or seven years old, and she’d had a near death experience. And she’d done like this drawing, you know, with, with Mark pens of what she’d seen in her near death experience. And it was like, Wow, it was just like a stick. Drawing, if you like it, like a child would do very crudely, it was no crudely is the wrong word. But very, basically, you know, and, and honestly, and it was just like, the painting that I was, I was almost completing, you know, myself, and I called my sister and I said, Can you see this? And she just went, Oh, my goodness, she started welling up with tears. He said, that’s your painting. That’s that’s your story, you know. So that was a wonderful moment of affirmation. Just to see that. Wow.

Guy 09:21
Wow, there’s no coincidence. Is there is there? No. So So did and please take your time on this as well. Whatever you feel you need to share, but do you mind sort of talking us through? Actually what happened from that? day on the train station? Sure. Yeah, of course. Yeah.

David 09:39
I was. I was seeing of a friend I see. So at the time, I’d gone to stay for a few days with my sister because I was I was down on my luck. I was running out of work and I was running out of money. My sister said, like, you look in a pretty bad way come and hang out with us. So I did. And I just met this girl a few weeks prior to that in London, and she came up and stay with me for a few days. So she got to get back to London. So I went down to the, to the rail station to see her off. I helped her on to the, to the carriage with her bags, and gave her one last hug and a kiss to say goodbye. And then the buses went, you know, for the doors to start closing. So I stepped back. And I misjudged it. And the bottom part of my code, well, I didn’t miss judge, I see. I mean, I just like they drew, they just slap suit really quick. And it just caught the bottom corner of my coat, you know. And just as I stepped back, that was it, it was jammed, and I couldn’t pull it free. And I was taking my mat, you know, and I looked around for a guard on the platform, and I couldn’t see what I was for what’s going on, you know, there’s there should be a guard, but there wasn’t. And so I just yelled at the top of my voice hoping that somebody from the station would come running through. And the engine starts to River. I started hitting the buzzers on the size, they didn’t work. And nobody came through running through the carriage or anything. And I just looked in to the eyes of my friend Anna, you know, and I just just saw, when I saw the look in her eyes and the hand her face, I just thought this is it, you know, it’s over, I’m not going to survive this, I’m going to die. So it was really hard. Because, you know, it’s like, normally, if you think about it, most accidents happen so quickly, I’m got time to even contemplate it. Whereas with this, I got actually moments of thinking through that it was all about to unfold before my eyes, you know, and the train started pulling out that out of the platform, you know, at the station, sorry. And it pulled out a terrific speed, you know, they go really quite fast. You don’t realize when you’re sat inside, you’re normally on your mobile phone or whatever, straightaway out and you’d like texting. Whereas when you’re on the side of it, it’s incredibly fast. And, you know, I just lost my footing eventually and I got dragged along the platform, then I got pulled between the edge of the platform itself and then stuck down. And it was like, it was just like just sort of being pulled down into the gates of Hell yeah, it was just like, from that moment, into the sheer darkness. And it was a very violent experience, I was just tossed around relentlessly, like a rag doll, you know. And I just felt like, it was me, I was just like this, I just, I was very aware that I was just flushing bones at that point. And that the train was like this huge mechanical beast, you know, that was just, that was just gonna eventually kill me. And, you know, it was this, it was very terrifying. But I suddenly found myself thrown to the ground as the train was still relentlessly going on. So I just kind of like I said, just keep your head down, you know, because part of the undercarriage could have just kind of whacked me over the back of the head. And that would have been it, it would all been over you know. And that didn’t happen clearly. And and eventually the train moved on and there was lying there just kind of thinking

Guy 13:04
did the train stop? Or do you just keep going and knowing

David 13:08
you know, just carried on it just oh my god, down into the into the countryside? And yeah, it didn’t stop for for some time. You know, my friend told me you know that.

Guy 13:18
She said, What about your friend on the train like

David 13:20
a girl god bless her, you know, it’s like, for her. She was a really, you know, really horrific. She said that she ran through the carriage look through the window, you know, to see if I got free. And she saw me go under, oh my god. And but it was interesting, because she said, she told me afterwards, a few weeks later, I hope you don’t mind me saying this. But she said but I when I saw your role under you rolled under with such grace. And I said that’s really interesting because I I thought it through as I say I got I got time to anticipate what was better to happen. And it was I went into sort of fight or flight mode and I decided I was going to fight and try to sort of get through this. And I remembered seeing a small a sorry, a small news item where a new child have been thrown from a burning apartment block and edit land the child had landed like three floors without any injuries. And they put that down to the fact that children don’t tense up like adults. So that’s what I did. I just thought relaxing morning and and so and I had 13 and a half seconds to think all that through because the rail police did a massive inquiry they you know, they’ve done all the things like the the King’s Cross fire in London, all the big rail accidents and so they were working on it, you know, and at the end they they said to me Look, you know, we just we finished our inquiries, but we just don’t get it you should be dead. We’ve done all our figures and calculations if you should not have survived that. And so I knew that a force bigger than me and all of the whole thing was, was that SAP along with me relaxing?

Guy 15:06
Wow, unbelievable. And once the train passed and gone, and you’re left on the tracks, what happened next? Were you unconscious? Were

David 15:16
you still no? Yes. Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. No, that’s how I was. I was fully conscious. Yeah, throughout the whole thing, actually. So I just kind of laid it I just started to check, you know, for my, just as you would do, you know, to check your wounds. Because I was in agony, I was in an awful lot of pain. And this sheepskin coat that I’ve been wearing, that was like a thick part one couldn’t get free was now ripped to shreds, especially down the left arm and my left arm have been severed. And it was completely ripped, open. So I remember seeing all the inside of my arm. And rather than freaking out about that, bat it I remember, just want to go, I could see all the workings axial every single tendon. And I was kind of fascinated by that. I remember saying to myself, that’s me, that’s the inside of my arm inside of my body is just, you know, obviously shock as well. Was it and then but then, yeah, but the the paramedics arrived really quick, because there was a hospital, just around the corner is only a small hospital, but they were there. So they would, they would jump it down on the track and trying to cut through my clothes and, you know, get me onto a stretcher. And somehow that got me off the track and onto the platform, then it’s about a seven foot drop. Yeah. It’s a long way down. But they they didn’t and they got me in in the back of the ambulance. And then I remember the doctor said to me, Look, you’re in a pretty bad way. And there’s a hospital around the corner, but the one that’s gonna save you is quite a drive. Can you do it? I said, Yeah, let’s go, you know, so we did. So um, I arrived in hospital, and there was like, all these medics, and doctors and surgeons are waiting there for me. And I remember seeing them as we walked in, it goes is pretty serious, isn’t it? You know, and that the sound of their voices? They sounded really nervous, you know? And I thought it’s not over yet. I just could see all these figures. Were going over my head, he 45 now we need a new 46 No, 846 You know, this is not good. And so then my family arrived, they got there. So it’s just kind of it’s also kind of surreal. Because, you know, the surgeon said, Are you family here? Would you like to see the most go? Yeah, you know, so they came in, and they were really distraught. Of course, I mean, my mother was, you know, in tears, and, and it was so funny because she was crying. And I said, Mom, I’m so sorry. It’s always me bringing all the drama into this family. As he said, It’s not your fault, which wasn’t my fault at all. But it was just, you can see now just where I was at in my life, before that, I almost felt like a failure. And I was, I was, I was fighting everything. So I just felt like this, you know, this sort of like burden?

Guy 18:01
is incredible how we put that burden on ourselves, isn’t it? as well. You know, I think we can all relate to that. everyone listening to this? You know?

David 18:10
Absolutely. I tell that part actually quite a bit, you know, when I do these interviews, because it’s really important part of my story and the whole structure of it. And, and it’s great, because I have a quite a few people who’ve got back to me, and they said they can relate with it. You know, that it’s that? You know, they’ve been there themselves and they know who it is. So yeah, so yeah, many of us have beat ourselves up.

Guy 18:34
unnecessarily. Totally. And sometimes we need a wake up call and Geez, you like you got one? An incredible. So what happened next year? So how did the near death experience fall into this?

David 18:46
and it happened just pretty much at that point. Actually, when I was, by that point, I was losing an awful lot of blood. And I remember my family was saying, you know, you, there’s a lot but they were telling me but they told me afterwards, it was so bad. And, and I was aware that things weren’t so great. And then it was just at that point that I went from all the sort of the franticness of the hospital and the sort of brightness of all the fluorescent strip to a beautiful darkened space. I’d left my body and gone somewhere really, in a warm, competent, darkened room, I thought it was at first and I just kind of looked around me to see where I was to get my bearings. And the first thing I noticed were these pulsating colors that were all around me. They were like sort of like sort of colors Ramblers and yellows and reds and greens and they were just, they were making me feel very calm and relaxed and secure.

Guy 19:46
How I’m sorry to interrupt or how were you at this point, when this was happening?

David 19:52
Oh, I was I was fully coherent I mean, okay. So the point that straightaway, I thought Ah, You know, I’m dead. I’m actually thought I didn’t make it. I didn’t make it. So here I am. Because I was worried I didn’t think I was, I was worried that I was gonna make it when I was in hospital, you know, he was in such a bad I was in so much agony, and there’s so much. So this sort of negative or not negative a lot of frantic energy going on. So, yeah, so I figured I hadn’t made it, I think I figured I was dead, I didn’t resist it, I was quite happy to be there. You know, I just, it’s not like I wanted to die. But after all, the sort of drama that I’ve been through, and all that it was, like, kind of, it just felt great to sort of just be a piece and just feel really relaxed. And, and I just kind of went with it, you know. So I am, I laid back on what was now like a huge slate rock, it was like a big sort of medieval altar, if you like, and, and I just kind of thought, wow, this is, this is really comfortable, he wouldn’t think it would be normally but it felt really lovely to lie on, you know, and I just kind of laid my head back. And I just kind of went with it. I’m just lying there. And then I looked up and as I looked at it, there were like three grids of white lights were just kind of closing in on me, they’re very symmetrical, these grids. And the intensity of that pure white light was just so bright, that normally it would be too much for the eye to be able to bear. But this was fine. You know, in fact, it was very enticing this light because I felt that it was healing me, I felt that I knew that it was it was hating me. And so it was very seductive. And, and then it was pretty much as I lay that just Bowden the slide that I, I thought I should check out my, my body, you know, my wound, see everything’s looking you know, so I just got to lift in my head and look down, and everything was fixed, everything was back in place in my arm, the left arm had been said that there wasn’t even a scratch or bruise, you know. And I was just covered in this light blue satin sheet, which was keeping me really relaxed and comforted. And this white light was just kind of reflecting off it and it was really, really beautiful. And then I felt the presence of somebody near me. And so I looked and just at the end edge of my sort of feet was this person that was just stood there, just staring at me for this beautiful being like a sort of an androgynous being, you know, just with this pure white blond hair. And this skin that was just glowing from within this light was coming from from within this being and, and he or she was just wearing a contemporary black t shirt very similar to what you’re wearing now, you know, it was just like, and so I remember thinking to myself, that’s unusual, I expected to see something a bit more sort of hair or you know, but a guy I’ll get I can, I’ll take that, you know, but it was interesting, because I felt like I’d known this person for a long time. You know, you go to a party sometime and you and you meet someone for the first time and you connect and you chat and you both turn around you go, I feel like I’ve known you for ages for all my life. You know, it was like that. But it was very, it was a lot more intense. It felt like I had known this person from beyond from my former life or whatever, you know, it was just, but I just couldn’t work it out. I’ve kind of gone who I know, don’t I? And he or she just kept smiling back at me rear reassuringly. And I felt that, you know, I was sort of in the kind of this was like the guardian of my soul if you like you know, I felt very protected by by here.

Guy 23:36
Holy moly, then so you have that experience out of your body? And then and then do you remember coming back into your body from that then what happened? Well,

David 23:50
I continued on that, you know the experience I didn’t come back straight away. I mean I I do remember coming back into my body it was quite sort of a sudden crash Shall I give up? And you know, a few other events that unfolded while I was there that that you know there were there were more people started to appear there were two female forms appeared either side of me that were healing me they’ve got their hands just kind of slowly hovering over my my body. And the energy that was coming from their hands. This felt really powerful. It was almost like a felt like a vibration of love that was coming from their hands. You know, there’s a there’s an overwhelming sensation of love throughout this whole experience. You know, it was just it was unconditional. The lovers dislike Brennan it was just like, all the different forms of love that I’ve had throughout my life, whether had been through lovers or, or animals, or, you know, my parents and my family, you know, but it was all sort of condensed into this into this whole experience. It was so it was it was wonderful. And but yeah, one of the most important things from the whole thing while I was there was, I saw what many people see is that a tunnel of white light, and this tunnel of white light appeared. And it was very huge. And it was like coming towards me. By this point, I realized that I wasn’t in the small darkened room at all, I was actually in the universe itself, you know, and I was just like, there are Watson. And this thing was this beautiful tunnel was coming in very powerful. And it was like, all these flames are slowly rotating around the sort of perimeter, if you like, of this tunnel. And the energy coming from this was just so strong, it was just like, I felt like every molecule of my body was just kind of like, vibrating with this pure energy of life. And I just knew straight away I thought, I’m what I’m looking at. Now, this is the source of all creation, you know, this is God, this is, is not the God that we all pray to Him is normally in some kind of human form, you know, whatever our faith may be. This is a, it’s a tunnel of white light. This is this huge tunnel, which is edging in closer and closer, and this is the source of all creation. So that was the most profound sort of moment for me. And it was it was it was actually pretty much soon after that it happened that I found myself being thrown back into my body, then back then in the hospital,

Guy 26:21
far out your job because I am done. I’ve interviewed a few people on on here that about the death experiences and Anita moorjani is somebody that springs to mind. And she she was saying that she had a choice to to come back or, or move on basically, did that happen for you? Or did it was just like you

David 26:41
I didn’t no… It’s, I figured that I’d seen enough I’d seen other aspects while I was out seeing a beautiful waterfall of stars, which was really incredible. That was really awesome. Like the size of Niagara, you know, and I’d seen I’d seen other universes and galaxies and and I’d learned a lot while I was there. I you know, it was all telepathy. Nobody spoke to me, there was no spoken word. It’s just all telepathy. And, and I, I figured that they decided they’d made the decision to send me back they just kind of figured, right, you know, he’s ready to go back. And, and I think they maybe they, maybe they knew that I was really keen, start talking about it straightaway which I was, which is I feel that’s what near death experiences are all about that we’re that we’re all stand back for a reason. There’s this, there’s without a doubt, there’s a reason behind. I’ve met quite a few people. Now since since this book has been published. I’ve been doing quite a few interviews. And so I’ve been interviewed by people have had near death experiences. So it’s great chatting to them, as well. And just having this kind of this sort of like, Alright, you felt that as well. Yeah, I felt that too. But we’ve all got this common denominator. And that is that we all feel that we’ve got a purpose. And what has happened is just so profound, those, you can’t ignore it. Some people do, actually. I mean, I met a guy when I was in hospital, you know. And, you know, he was because we used to go to the physio gym, and they’re all amputees. And then and this guy had, he had his high speed chase on a motorbike, you know, by the police, and he was on a stolen bike, and it came off at 125 miles an hour, and survived. And, you know, I’d been telling people in the physio about my experience, and, and they’d all listened. And he came up to me afterwards, he kind of snuck over. He said, Hey, mate, you know, that thing you talked about? So Jason? Yeah, I have one of those two. I said, Really? I said, I said, if you told people he said, No way, he said, you know, all my mates would just think I’m crazy. And I said, You’ve got to tell people you’ve got, you know, you can’t let this go. But I never know to this day, whether he did or not, you know, who knows? But but but it makes it makes me realize that, you know, there must be some people who you start this conversation off by saying to me, you know, how long did it take me to start telling people? So yeah, I’m sure, in certain aspects, you know, for some people, they may feel it’s not easy, but for me, it was important.

Guy 29:07
Incredible. That’s incredible. When you came back and you come back into your body, and you were back in the hospital bed, had you noticed any kind of physical changes or anything from the healing experience from being outside of the body? Like, was there anything visceral that you noticed right away? Or was it over time or?

David 29:32
Well, what I did notice was the, the healing process that had gone on was they were healing my soul they were healing all those feelings of guilt and and lack of self worth, and shame, all that a lot of that has been taken away from me so that was so inside. I could hardly move you know, they’re giving me my own room in the hospital you know, because of the severity of my of my injuries, but I was just kind of like, it was fine people coming in to visit my family and friends and neighbors, they’re expecting the worst. And okay, nearly everyone will say, It’s unbelievable. We walk in here and you’re all good. You’ve got tubes coming out of your butt, just glowing within, and you just got this incredible energy coming from you. So I knew that I was still almost attached like a umbilical cord to that other realm. It was still feeding me all that energy. So yeah, so so there was an awful, awful lot of love inside me and an awful lot of energy just to do. I mean, I decided the first night in hospital, I went, I went into surgery for like, eight hours, straight away. And then when it came through, I was just lying in this room. And I thought, how am I going to tell the world about this, and I was scared, I was going to forget it. Because like I said, I thought no one had anything like this happen. So I thought, I’m going to do a painting, I’m going to do a huge painting. It’s got to be like a Michelangelo, it’s got to be like a big Renaissance style, you know, like the Italian ones, where they, these biblical scenes are painted so dramatically. And that’s what I wanted to do. And, and there was no color right, um, dinars about it, or lack of self worth there. It was just like, I’m gonna do it. So um, yeah. It’s but it was interesting, because I, the actual, my consultant, my surgeon, he was really amazed at how I was healing physically as well. He was saying, you’re hitting really quick, you know, this is this is we’re really, really pleased with how fast you’re going. Yeah. And he kept saying to me all the time that you can’t get over fast, you’re healing. And I started to tell him about, well, you know, I’m sick. I’m being helped from, you know, he was he was like, Okay, that’s enough. He knows, I don’t tell me anymore. You know, I mean, he’s a scientist. I mean, he was, he’s a wonderful guy. I mean, without him, I wouldn’t be here. You know, I need sciences. Just as much as I needed the help I was getting from from, from that realm.

Guy 31:53
Yeah, no, it’s fascinating that you say that, because, um, I had, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with him. He literally interviewed him a few days ago, Jeffrey Olson. And yeah, he had a near death experience. And he lost his wife and 18 month old baby in a car crash. And he survived along with his seven year old son. And when he was in hospital, he ended up having this incredible out of body experience with with his wife and his baby and everything. But the doctor, one of the trauma specialists that came into the room while they were operate on him, saw his wife after she had passed in the room. And he would, and they became very close with Jeffrey Jeffrey told him and he told Jeffrey, but he wouldn’t speak about it, because he was worried about his, his well, his career, his credentials and everything. But But apparently, he ended up writing a book on it, because there was many times I happen to him because he was always in the surgery room, as well, when people put on things. So yeah, it’s, it’s amazing. I just wonder how much is left unsaid that’s out there on the table ready to be heard? You know, like you say, absolutely.

David 33:17
Yeah. I wonder as well. That’s classic, great story. I didn’t have to look more into you had heard of his name and seen him around. But I didn’t realize that was the story. Right. Yeah.

Guy 33:29
So when you saw how long you were in the hospital for? And then the next question is, when you when you left, and you’ve you’re obviously a different person. I have had you had any more of these experiences, since in any shape or form?

David 33:45
I’m not a near death experience. And I haven’t had one since. But my spiritual path opened right up. And I, I came across a spiritualist church. And yeah, and so I started having spiritual healing. And once I started having spiritual healing, again, you know, my wound started to heal incredibly fast. And I started to heal really fast. But I started to sort of feel like a connection with with the, with that experience that I’ve been through quite strongly and quite. And when they were healing me, they were noticing just how much energy was coming off me, and how much I was actually absorbing all the energy that’s coming through them. And not only that, and I spoke to one of the healers recently because I still go, I keep it up, you know, and because it’s just, I just love going there. And it’s, and she said to me, she said, You remember she’s German, she said, Oh, do you remember, you used to levitate, when we were at because I’d be lying down at that point. I said, I said I knew that I could sense that my arm was lifting and things like that my injured arm when you were healing me, but I didn’t realize I was levitating. She said, Yeah, you were there. They just didn’t tell me, you know, so. So there was an awful lot of energy, really powerful energy coming through that whole thing. Yeah. But yeah, spiritual healings. Fantastic. I mean, it’s something that I, you know, I really try and promote a lot.

Guy 35:12
I was gonna say, how would you describe? Like, what would be the cliffnotes of a spiritual healing? If somebody is not familiar with any of this kind of work? You know?

David 35:21
Yeah, sure. It’s, it’s, it’s very, it’s very calming, you know, it’s, it’s almost like a meditative state. And, and it’s very much like Reiki healing, I guess where it’s just like hands on. But there’s no manipulation. And you only have one or two healers working on you. And, and they actually, they conduct energy through from spirit as they say, you know, and so they’re pulling all that energy through, and then they’re bringing that light and energy through their hands. And it’s coming into you and they’re drawn to various parts of your body or, or chakras that need healing. And, and so yeah, and so that’s basically how it happens. And you’ve normally got some beautiful, calm music playing and playing in the background and some candles. So it’s a very nice, calming atmosphere. So yeah, it’s something that I’ve kept up for years. And I’m very keen to promote because there’s just not enough people going, you know, a lot of people. I don’t know, maybe, maybe some people are scared of the word spirituality, if they don’t know anything about it, you know, if you’re not part of that sort of company, if you’re like, you know, spirituality is kind of like it’s in. It’s like, whoo, what does that mean? spiritual? Any, you’re gonna shake the devil at me or whatever. So it’s, yeah, yeah, maybe?

Guy 36:32
Yeah, I hear you. For me, spirituality was such a foreign concept. And I don’t even still know like, what it is because it’s so easy to hang our ego and identity on on anything, you know, that we do as well. And I, I am amazed that people are not aware of how incredible we truly are. And what is actually possible, even with what you’re talking about with spiritual healing, and working with energy and working with people and how much how rewarding and healing it can be for one person if we if we didn’t fear it, and just had a curiosity and explored it.

David 37:09
Absolutely. motivated to do it for free as well, a lot than where I go. It’s free. It’s just a donation on the door if you want to leave money, and that’s it, you know? So it’s a beautiful thing. Yeah. Wow.

Guy 37:22
So then once you’ve had your accident, you’ve come out of hospital, you’ve, when did you realize you were going to be doing music?

David 37:31
And right that actually came through from from spiritual healing. I see. I mean, the painting, right? Well, the paint painting happened. As I say, when I was in hospital, I decided there and then I was going to start painting. So I started doing that some friends of my sisters, because I recovered a house with their family. They own like a yoga Pilates center, and they said, Look, have you started that painting yet? And I said, No, you know, I kept putting it off, because I thought, am I gonna be able to do this, you know, and it was this big canvases leaning against the wall. They said, Look, we’ve got a studio, you can come and start work. There we go. It’s free for a week because we’re decorating. So okay, great. So I did start it. And then it started coming together. And I realized that this wasn’t just me doing this painting I was channeling ideas through because there’s no way I could have put all those paints on there helping me to sort of bring colors of skin tones out and being adventurous and throwing all these different things in I didn’t even know I was doing, like a massive crash course in how to paint. And so each day, I would just sit back and go, Wow, look at that. And I knew by then all of a greenhouse I go, thank you so much, you know, and as I still do, and the and the music came about through spiritual healing because I’m some of the healers are a clairvoyant, and they just give little messages at the end, nothing too big, you know, they just say I was picking up this and that, you know, the beautiful angel stop by your side or what have you. But I kept saying, Why am I saying the violin placed across your chest and then another one, say I’m picking up Beethoven and Bach. And then one of them said, and they’re telling me you’re going to write some music about your experience. Right? Right. Okay. So I went home with I’m going to get to work on that. And I’ve got this old synthesizer was up in the loft. And yeah, and then we pulled that down, and I just plugged it in. And this these ideas that come through, again, from spirit, I just heard these notes, and it’s just like this little chord progression. And I started playing on this little synthesizer, and all I got was an old cassette recorder, and I recorded what I got. And I thought that sounds really lovely. And I just thought this should be played by an orchestra. This is not you know, cuz I thought it was just going to be I’d be writing a little three minute song to be played on a guitar or something. But no, this isn’t an orchestral piece. So again, synchronicity, while I was in the yoga Pilates center, I people would come and see my painting when I was painting and one of the was a cellist who played in the local orchestra. And we became friends. We went for coffee one day, and she said, what you’ve been up to. And I said, I’ve just been working on a piece of music. And I said, I think it sounds like it should be played by orchestra. And she said, I will. Maybe we could perform it one day. And I thought, that’d be good. So again, it was just like another alarm bell went off, I thought, well, why not? You know. And so my brother said, Look, I’ve got this hardware package, or software, whatever you can attach to your laptop, and you can play what you play on your keyboard, and then it will transpose that into notation, and you can print it off the orchestra. So I did you know, he helped me, you know, he knew Wow. Yeah. And that was it. I still can’t read or write a single note of music, you know. And so I turned up in the cafe, met them, you know, and I said, What do you think? And they looked at it and underlined, and they said, Yeah, we’ll do it. So they offered to perform it. And they, and then again, synchronicity started to happen, because they said, I’ll do my sign a few words to the local press, because we normally do if it’s with a composer, I said, Yeah, okay. So I, I phoned them up, I found me and stuff. And they said, Oh, you’re the guy who went under the train. Yeah. Because I was in the local news and the BBC, and then all that, you know. So then I saw this Britain, this is going on the front page, you know, brilliant. So after that, the phone started ringing in. And then the BBC did come, and they wanted to interview me about the music. And they turned up at the rehearsal and filmed in. And so suddenly, the concert sold out like two weeks before we even thought about, you know, happening, which was a real shock to them. And so, in, you know, I knew I’ve been helped now, by bringing the energy of this whole concept together, because when it happened, it was just, it was beautiful event, you know, because, because of so many people, there wasn’t me sat there looking over my shoulder, hoping that people were going to come, I knew there was a guaranteed audience and that we The atmosphere was just beautiful. So yeah, it was a, there was a standing ovation as well when it finished. So it was just like, tremendous. So yeah, so it’s quite a huge moment. Bear with that. And then that’s mind blowing.

Guy 42:09
Sorry, that is mind blowing. That is unbelievable.

David 42:13
Wow, okay. Yeah, yeah, it was, it was mind blowing for me. Just to sort of sit, it’s great to sort of actually sit there and hear something that you’ve just written, especially those first three chords that I did on that little old, cheap Spanish synthesizer to hear an orchestra playing it, it’s just kind of like, it’s like, it’s like hearing the best stereo system, you could possibly hope to have, you know, it’s like, three dimensional sound. It’s brilliant.

Guy 42:39
do you how do you live your life these days? If you if you if you’ve had these experiences? Now, is there anything that fazes you anymore? Or do you just are you like completely in flow all the time? and completely trusting to what is?

David 42:56
No, no, no, it doesn’t work like that. For me. Yeah, I’m a much different person. But I’m but I’m, like most people say have had NDA is, you know, you don’t come back like superhuman, you know, you, you’re on, you know, I had to put it like this, I had to have a lot of therapy as well to deal with, with post traumatic stress disorder. So I, you know, I do suffer from that from because, you know, I don’t think that the mind or body, it can go through something that huge, anything like that. It’s like soldiers who go, you know, to war torn countries nights that suffer from it, I totally get it when you and I see them interview on on the TV, and it’s something that you can’t ignore. It’s, it’s there. So, so, so yeah, so I’m affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But, um, but ultimately, you know, my spirituality and my constant learning sort of helps me to sort of help her to deal with these scenarios and stuff. So as much as I possibly can. And also, to be honest with you, music and art is this brilliant therapy for anything. And so I was it helped me to be able to process what had happened with that accident through through that, you

Guy 44:12
know, through an expression I was going to say, is that, like your meditation practice, being able to just lose yourself in those things and be present with what you’re creating?

David 44:22
Yeah, totally. Yeah, it is, you know, because, I mean, it’s been once or twice things, you know, I’ve had a few sort of major upsets in my life, like we all do, you know, certain things have happened. And I’ve, the first thing I’ve done is I’ve either started painting, or I’ve sat down and started writing some music and, and funnily enough, when I do sit down and write music, some of the best stuff comes through, you know, I have to go back and put it piece it all together afterwards, but when I do, I think, wow, that’s that’s really that’s, that’s really great. You know, so it’s, it’s a wonderful process, which I’d recommend to anybody. Well, I mean, we all know that, don’t we? I mean, it’s all Music Therapy is is a very huge thing that’s used for lots of people for different things. You know?

Guy 45:05
Totally, what do you think, has been the lessons for you, from all these experiences all the way from the instance for the human experience,

David 45:18
the human experiences is that the one that I bought back with me was, was self love. And, and once I realized that I got this self love, then it, I’d suddenly got self worth and self confidence. And but the other thing that I learned from it as well was because because I didn’t really feel like a fitted in in the world before, I was constantly sort of aspiring to people who were successful, especially when I moved to London, I was hanging out with people who were, who were working in the music industry, you know, working in record companies. And I thought, wow, they’ve all got these amazing jobs in this incredible lifestyle, and then not academic. So I thought, why not me. So I was constantly trying to be like those people. There’s nothing wrong with us people at all. But it just wasn’t me that I wasn’t being authentic to myself. So what I’ve learned that is, it’s really important to be authentic to yourself. And once you do that, and you stop and allow that to happen, it’s incredible how the doors will slowly open a mentor open for you, in front of you, without you pushing. So that’s

Guy 46:24
fair enough. Do you think I often ponder about this as well, to connect to our authentic self, which I think leads into our daily purpose and alignment, you know, the heart and the mind and everything feels much more aligned? Do you think we almost have to hit a rock bottom before we get smacked? To get over there? Or do you think it’s very possible for anyone to wake up tomorrow and go, I’m gonna be on purpose.

David 46:52
I think I think it is possible. I mean, I mean, generally speaking, yeah. When you do hit rock bottom, then that’s a lot of time when it was highly recommended that you do try and stop and, and allow that adversity to unfold and then try and learn from it. But it doesn’t you don’t have to, you don’t have to have that adversity. I mean, the perfect example is what’s going on with the world now, you know, the world’s been forced to stop, you know, with with the whole COVID. situation. So I just really think that we could do that we can all just say, Alright, the world stops, you know, we’re, I can’t go to work now. Yeah, we I’ve got to go into lockdown. And why do I want to say I’m talking about people, you know, people can’t go to work. So why not? Just try and take that time just to try and think, you know, what, does it matter? Does it really matter? You know, and just try and be authentic to yourself. A lot of people were when when we had the first, the very first sort of lockdown situation in this country, anywhere in the UK, I was really amazed at how people seem to adjust to it. And I thought people are doing I thought they are, they’re getting in touch with themselves. They’re being authentic that they’re making their own bread at home. They’re teaching their kids and, and I thought this is lovely. People were painting as well, and getting creative and putting all this stuff up on Facebook. So it can be done. You know, but I think you’ve got to like, it’s not like, you’ve got to just do it as something that you try out. This thing, just follow it through. Don’t let go of it. Just I mean, just stay with it. And I started

Guy 48:23
totally. Well, what Wait, what, um, what have you got planned for the future? Now you’ve released your book as you book. How long is your bookbeen out, Shine On?

David 48:32
it yeah, it came out in June this year. June. So yeah. So right out in the middle of the, of the pandemic. So which was interesting for me, because it was like, what, you know, people say, oh, what were you What did you do in the threat? The lockdown period is the busiest few months of my life, you know, but so, thankfully, you know, we’ve got the internet, we’ve got computers, and we can do this, what I would do, I could talk to somebody like you the other side of the world, and it’s not a problem. So So yeah, so the book came out in June. So so that’s continuing to sort of evolve. And it’s bringing me to sort of do interviews and chats people, which is lovely, and I’m currently sort of the next project will be to put together an album, basically, my music, you know, because I’ve been committed to do other pieces. Because at the moment, I’ve just got my first Symphony that I talked about, up on my website. So I’ve been I’ve left there for people to stream for free, because that kind of ties in with the whole story. If you read the book, it all it all works around that whole sort of Symphony. So that’s why I’ve left that up for people to see. And I’m being overwhelmed by how many people just been loving the music, but not only that being they’re getting something from it as well spiritually. And so I thought now I’ve got to put together an album now. So that’s that’s the next project. So put that out as a compilation of how exciting

Guy 50:01
So I’m just flabbergasted me honestly, I got one last question for you before we wrap it up. And I asked everyone on the show, and it’s with everything we’ve covered today. What would you like to leave our listeners to ponder on?

David 50:17
I would say, try to understand the concept of being in the moment, you know, because when I was, when I was in that experience in that new death experience, I forgot about the past, I forgot about all the passwords, I was always concerned about messing up. So my whole life, all that disappeared. And I stopped worrying about the future as well. And I just, I was in the moment, and it felt great just to be in that moment. And I just thought that is something that doesn’t have to be in that realm. It can work. It works for me here. You know, as soon as I started thinking, Oh, my goodness, things are going wrong, I think No, stop and be in the moment and look around your thing. Actually, things are okay, as as you are in this space, you don’t know what the future holds the future doesn’t actually exist. You know, it’s, it’s, we can’t tell. So just try to try that. That’s what we’re trying. Trying. That’s, that’s my take. That’s my take. Take away from a near death experience.

Guy 51:21
Incredible. Look, thank you so much for coming on the show everyone listening to this, if you pause, there’ll be links to David’s book, his website, the symphony, all in the show notes directly below. So please go over and support David. David, thank you so much. That was honestly mind blowing. Your your integrity, your honesty just truly shine through. And I wasn’t sure what to expect today’s conversation maybe that was that was

David 51:48
fantastic to know. Yeah.

Guy 51:49
Thank you so much by

David 51:50
the books called shine on is funny. And if you just say shine, so yeah, please, if you want to buy it, so that would be great. But I just, I would just love you to, to it’ll bring it all together. So yeah,

Guy 52:06
absolutely mate as far as I’m concerned. And for everyone here like I think we all we all need to support each other and we all need to support getting these messages out because I promise you people listening to the show today are listening to the show because they fascinate are really interested with this work. So I have no doubt everyone here will be happy to support everyone that comes on like because it’s it’s just a message worth sharing as far as I’m concerned. And, and I’m honored to have you on the show. So I appreciate it.

David 52:34
It’s been it’s been a real pleasure. Also, it’s been great chatting with you later. Okay.