When I was less than a year old I had an out of body experience. I remember floating above my body, asleep on the bed in my grandparents back room. I was wearing a yellow dress, a white fuzzy coat with pink trim and little black dress shoes. There was a painting on the wall above me. As soon as I glanced it I zoomed back into my body. The truly interesting thing about this for me is that when I was floating there, my consciousness wasn't that of an 8-month-old, it was mature and in those fleeting seconds, I was thinking like an adult. It made it a difficult memory to be able to grasp when I was young. My mind had a really hard time coming to grips with it. It wasn't until my middle to late teens that I was able to understand, to some extent, what or rather HOW I was remembering it.
I have often wondered if this one event is what has blessed me (or cursed, depending on how you look at it) with my exceptional memory.
I wouldn't call it "photographic". I do have memories of my life before the age of 3, which is unusual. They are bits and pieces of things, I remember going to a children's park of some sort, it had a boat you could climb up into. I was wearing a sailor suit and might have been a year old. I was sitting, playing in the sand and then I remember being in the car in my "I don't know how I didn't die" car seat and my mother saying that I had a "Load in my pants". I was truly confused and thought she was talking about and from the sandbox. I remember my brain trying to piece ad parcel what she was saying to make sense..but my brain was so young..it just couldn't. I was frustrated.
There was a road trip to Colorado when I was less than 2 with my Grandparents. Long stretches of sitting in the car, the sound of directional going "click-clack". Someone teaching me to blow out the red lights when we were at the stop light. and a wrought iron railing and the snow-capped Rockies behind it.
Memory upon memory and comments like "You were too young to remember that, someone must have told you" or "Maybe you saw a picture and just made the rest up in your head.". Frustrating to say the least. Especially since when I bring things up to adults that were there they acknowledge it happening just as I remember.
Did the event wake something up in my consciousness? Did it light up a part of my brain that usually doesn't wake up until later on in life? Or is this just how I was hardwired?
I have never had another out of body experience. I am able to journey within my own head though, and I have very vivid, sometimes prophetic dreams. While none of these things may be unusual, I can tell you they have been invaluable in my journey to where I am today. Remembering things that triggered emotional reactions from me at such a young age has been important in being able to heal old traumas and move beyond the constraints that they provided. Being able to work things out in my dreams and then write them down to dissect and analyze in a wakeful state has been one of the most important things I've taught myself. A lot can be learned from what goes on in our dreams. The recurring themes, the colors and symbols that show up...they're important for our growth as individuals. And being able to sit with things and let my mind wander and go where it needs to while in a wakeful state has given me insight to who the person behind the curtain is...and what she's looking for.
They are tools. Tools that I use to keep on this path that has me feeling stronger than I have ever felt. It's like my energy was flowing through a colander, just going any which way with no real destination or purpose and now that I've stepped onto this path, the colander has refocused and become one hole, with my energy being directed toward something meaningful and important. I like this path. I like this feeling. There is nothing quite like being in control of your own destiny.