This is the past life's podcast episode 14.

I'm your host, Simon Bown.

My mission here at the past lives podcast is to investigate evidence that demonstrates survival of the human soul.

We will look at past life memories, near-death experiences, spirit communication and

other incredible phenomena. You can visit my website at www.pastliveshypnosis.co.com. This week,

I am talking to Patricia Pearson. We will be discussing her book, Opening Heaven's Door, what the dying are

trying to say about where they're going, which became a finalist for the BC National Book Award.

Patricia is a critically acclaimed independent journalist whose work has appeared in many

publications, including the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Daily Beast, and the Daily

Telegraph.

Hello, Patricia, and welcome to the past lives podcast.

First of all, I'd like to ask you about your book.

How did it come about that you wrote Opening Heaven's Door, What the Dying Tell Us

About Where They're Going?

Yeah, this wasn't the subject that I had previously known anything about or been

interested in one way or another, particularly.

My background as a journalist is mental health, psychology, criminology, different areas

of human consciousness, but not usually

around spirituality.

But in 2008, just as I was about to publish a book on the history of anxiety, my sister

began dying of breast cancer and my father more or less died in response to her illness.

And the night that he died, which was very sudden and unexpected, so it was sort of classic,

...