A recent survey found that up to two-thirds of Americans claim they’ve had an extra-sensory experience. And nearly one-quarter say they’ve actually seen or felt an apparition, or ghost — and that doesn’t count the kind you’ll see trick-or-treating tomorrow night…
One-quarter of Americans…that’s a lot of people to simply shrug off in disbelief. Not to mention the fact that people have been reporting these experiences for centuries — across all cultures.
As I reported last week, biologists, engineers, physicists, and psychologists at reputable institutions all over the world are deeply investigating these phenomena. And they’re finding that certain types of people are more likely to experience these perceptions.
New discoveries about the power of the “emotional brain”
Researchers believe that if you sense a presence, see an apparition, or feel energy around a person or place, it may be due, in part, to your limbic system — also known as your “emotional brain.” And evidence shows people with a personality type that rapidly registers emotions seem to experience these perceptions more often.
Indeed, my own data that I collected with my colleague Mike Jawer shows that people with these types of perceptions also tend to have other forms of environmental sensitivities — such as pronounced or longstanding allergies, migraines, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, or irritable bowel syndrome.
It’s also been reported that these people possess a heightened sensitivity to light, sound, touch, and smell — as well as so-called “sick building syndrome” (where occupants of the same building experience nonspecific, acute health effects only while in the building itself).
Highly sensitive people also react more strongly than others to what they’re feeling, and to incoming environmental stimuli. A reputedly “haunted” place, therefore, could resonate more with certain people and less with others.
Modern medicine needs to take more seriously what these highly sensitive people are telling us and then investigate the mind-body basis of what they’re feeling.
The scientific study of the mind-body connection
The pioneering field of psychoneuroimmunology aims to study the effect of the mind on health and resistance to disease. So when we look at human health more holistically, we’re bound to discover more interesting things about how to prevent — and even reverse — disease.
For more details on these kinds of sensitivities and what they mean for your health, I encourage you to revisit this month’s October 2018 issue of my monthly Insiders’ Cures newsletter (“Exploring the benefits of spooky science”). Not a subscriber yet? All it takes is one easy click.
P.S. If you’re looking for some spooky stories in the spirit of Halloween, one of my favorite passages in my book with Mike Jawer, The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion, details several “haunted” tales from the White House — both from the past and present.
Of course, beyond being appropriate reading for this time of year, these stories go to show that men and women who see or report apparitions aren’t superstitious or “crazy.” You can learn more or pick up a copy on my website.