Cole, the troubled young boy in The Sixth Sense, isn't the only one who sees dead people. I don't think it's that uncommon. We may not all see dead people when we are fully awake, but there is an enhanced, almost palpable quality to certain dreams, and when I awaken from such dreams, I know I've had a direct communication from the spirit world.

My father and I weren't getting along very well when he died. He'd had a heart attack but seemed to be recovering well, although in a phone call earlier that week he'd insisted on telling me something he thought was very important because, "When you get to be my age, you just don't know how much longer you're going to be around." He was an older dad, older than all my friends' fathers, but I thought this was just an excuse to get me to listen to something he knew I wouldn't be keen on. I blew him off, saying, "I'll see you Saturday and we can talk about it then." On Friday he checked out.

I felt terribly sad that our relationship had been so tumultuous in the years before he passed away. I was angry that he'd died before we'd had a chance to heal our bond, so when he came to me in a series of dreams — and yes, these were "enhanced" dreams — I sat in his lap as he gently explained that he was going to die but that I would be okay.

I was fully grown by then, but I'd always been playful with my dad and insisted on perching on his lap occasionally. His response to his exuberant daughter was invariably the same: his arms would hang by his sides and he'd look at me with an expression of "I don't want to hurt your feelings but I'm ready for you to get up any time." In my dreams, however, he was more comfortable with his affections than he'd been able to be in life. I knew that gently encircling me with his arms was his way of letting me know it really was he connecting to me from the world of spirit.

After several of these dreams, in which my tears gradually subsided, my dad stopped visiting me, and came back only once after that. That time I was fully awake and cleaning out the bathtub, something I can guarantee he never saw me do when we lived in the same house. I invited him back this past Fathers Day, but although I'd love to see him again, I have the sense that his energy body has moved into another form. Fortunately, because of those visits, I felt healed enough to let him go.