Thank you, Rick, for starting a great thread. I frequently "chat" with loved ones who have "transitioned". I don't know whether the loved ones are actually there in some form or whether my mind is playing both parts in the conversation. But that really isn't important to me. What is important is that I find the "conversations" to be helpful, and sometimes comforting. I suspect that most people have similar experiences, but may call them by different names or cast them in a different light. Words like remembering, reflecting, reminiscing and recalling don't seem to cause anyone to so much as raise an eyebrow, but to phrase the same experience in terms of "chatting with the dead" can conjur up all sorts of negativity in the minds of some people. Whatever label we attach, or however we choose to explain it, the phenomenon is the same.

Kim C, I especially enjoyed your line: "energy of times past still exists among us." It speaks volumes.