Examples of déjà experiences

Ever since my Three Types of Déjà Vu article appeared on the Internet, a variety of people, young and old, both within and outside the U.S.A., have sent me unsolicited accounts of their déjà experiences. I am assuming they won't mind if I show them to you (should one of you mind, please let me know and I'll take your account out of what appears below). You will no doubt notice that many claim preceding dreams as the source of their déjà experiences. This is in part due to the fact that I am on record as favoring this explanation for certain types of déjà experience (see Dreams and Déjà Vu and Dream Theories of Déjà Vu, Dream Network, 23(3):15 - 17, 43-44, 2004) and also because Prof. Alan S. Brown, author of the excellent the déjà vu experience (Psychology Press, 2004), has referred persons to me that have been interested in this explanation.

Here are some of the accounts that have been sent over the past few years:

EO (Sweden) wrote:

I’m currently 23, female and white Spanish.

The first time I experienced déjà rêvé was also the strongest I’ve felt up to date. I was 17 and had to undergo my 4th or 5th ear surgery. This time it was a minor intervention, performed at the doctor’s office with two other nurses, using local anesthesia and laughing gas (nitrous oxide) to lessen the discomfort. My head felt light and foggy, everything around me was spinning so it was more comfortable to close my eyes. That’s when the déjà feeling overtook me. The shapes and lights I saw in the dark of my closed eyes, the spacey and reverberating, echoing sounds of the drilling and touching inside my ear, as abstract as they were I recognized them. Then I opened my eyes, and saw the (male) nurse standing over me while holding the respirator. From that point, the feeling slowly left me.

My shock came from the fact that I remembered having dreamt all that. I’ve had hearing problems since I was born and since I was 5 I’ve been visiting the same doctor. I got my first surgery at that age. Around 6 or 7 years old I had twice that weird dream of seeing and hearing a lot of messy, confusing things and then a man in a white robe standing over me. And I remember it, cos I remember having reasoned afterwards that that man must have been my doctor.

Since then I’ve experienced déjà rêvé numerous times. Sometimes it was just a glimpse, others it lasted longer, but never more than one or two minutes. Most times I’m convinced I’ve dreamt it before, tho I haven’t had such a clear recalling such as that time. It’s happened in every country I’ve lived; Spain (my home country), Denmark and Sweden. I’ve had it while sober, high on weed (once or twice only) and in a big amount while high on laughing gas, recreationally. This is worth remarking, since maybe a third or even half of the times I’ve done laughing gas it has triggered déjà rêvé, and some times its has explained very weird and abstract dreams. It is always defined by a strong feeling of recognition, of having seen everything as if through a screen, and of not being able to “escape” it; it doesn’t matter where I move my head to, what I do, it’s all been dreamt before.

The last time it happened was a couple weeks ago. I’m not 100% sure if I had dreamt it, the feeling was overlapping a bit with that of having already experienced it. I was driving back home with my father and took a way I had only taken twice. We came to a crossroad where I had to stop to look if a car was coming from the left, so I could follow the road straight. There was very little visibility because the streets were so narrow, but before I could see the lights of the car I already knew it was coming. The déjà feeling stayed with me from the moment I stopped to when the car passed in front of me and until I started driving again.

In my attempt to find an explanation for these happenings I’ve come to think that time (past, present and future) exists all at once, as if overlapping in layers, that when we are dreaming our consciousness can sometimes access.

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CLR (Mexico) wrote:

I have been worried about this mix of "deja vu" experiences through my entire life, as long as I remember until recently .. that some memory "gaps" appeared for the past 12-18 months and again this "deja vu", more and more often.

Short intro: I am a musculoskeletal radiologist with some research in the works, mostly ultrasound and MRI, so, I have had some routine MRI brain scans, "normal" (not bold image though). 

It happens that recently, even 2-3 episodes per week with common daily patients, all first time contact. So I have been worried because the dreams, hearing, etc., those, I "get used to it" , those I have tried to ignore through my entire life, now I have some memory loss, some difficulties to remember, names, diseases, experiences, people, etc... I am really worried about dementia and Alzheimer (not hereditary factors) but, looking for explanations and searching for it and help or prevention of memory loss as I worry mostly for my work

1) Gender at the time of the experience: female (now 45 years old).

2) The ages when the experience(s) took place: 8 years, probably, since then up to present.

3) Your reaction(s) to it (them): initially confused, just to though about dreams and then I get used to it.

4) How long it (or they) typically lasted: Seconds to minutes, do not recall for an hour or so.

5) Whether it (they) began and/or ended suddenly or quickly: Those episodes have been variable through my entire life, come and go, some episodes some years, I will consider "seasons", not just related to work, stress and some difficulties as a common life, as every body with some losses and problems.

6) Whether it (or they) were accompanied by physical complaints like headache or nausea: No.

7) The country you were living in at the time of the experience: Mexico (some episodes, isolated when I have traveled, e.g., USA)

8) Your race (if you don't mind telling us): Mexican, hispanic.

9) Any theory you may have about the source or cause of what you have experienced: I could not say, I am used to it as "normal" sense, dreams and sensibility (also touch and hearing, smelling very rare) and dreams, a lot about places and people, mostly common daily people whom to I happen to interact with.  Looking for explanation and help.

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JD (U.S.A.) wrote:

I had an automobile accident today that I dreamed about last night (I was not injured).  This prompted me to look up precognitive dreams on Google and your research came up.   I thought I might share my account, as well as previous precog experiences and one telepathic incident with you as an aid to your research. 

I am a 61 year old American male - Caucasian - who has experienced a number of precog dreams over the course of my life, beginning in my early 30's.  All of these are dream precog... In one instance, in my early 40's, I dreamt of a park bench at the edge of a great cliff with the ocean far below.  Nearly two years later, I was on my honeymoon with my second wife at the Post Ranch Inn at Big Sur, California, and sat on the exact bench overlooking the Pacific Ocean 1,100 feet below.  I had the dream before I ever met my wife.  It was so vivid I told her about it straightaway - I am terrified of heights so it was very out of the ordinary.

Another time, more recently, I was visiting the Hawaiian island of Maui with my nephew and his wife in January of 2014.  During this trip I had two experiences: the first was during a helicopter ride that landed halfway up the slopes of Haleakala volcano.  Everything about the landing, the scene, the event, was just as I had dreamed it more than five years earlier - right down to the cows grazing on the slopes and the champagne toast.   I had completely forgotten the dream until the events began to actually occur.  Two days later, we attended a luau - it was drizzling and we were seated with two young women who were traveling with a group.  I realized that I had dreamed this same event many years earlier, even the rainy evening, and I recognized both women and remembered verbatim much of the discussion we had.

There have been many other incidents of this nature, and one particular event that was slightly different but very striking.  I was about 32, and my maternal Grandmother was in a nursing home.  I awoke in the middle of the night, asking my first wife to answer the phone.  She replied, with some aggravation, that the phone had not rung.  I repeated this three times, at which she finally told me it was 3:32 AM and the phone had not rung all night.  The next morning, we were informed that my Grandmother had passed away at approximately 3:30 AM the previous night.

I am retired now, but my business career was quite successful.  It involved buying and selling manufacturing companies throughout the US, some 80 of them.  I was in charge of forecasting the future performance of acquisition candidates - and I was exceptionally accurate over a five year horizon.  My forecasts were always based on my business experience and education, but also on a "feel" that no one else seemed to share.  Often, this "feel" would only come after sleeping on the facts for a couple of nights.

To clarify: the specific incidents mentioned here were very much all about me... I was not dreaming someone else's future... And in every case (except for my Grandmother's "phone call")  I had mostly forgotten the dream until the actual event unfolded. Still, I can distinguish between these events and the normal type of déjà vu experience, which I have also had a few times but which felt very dissimilar.

I hope this retelling adds to your database and helps you in your research.

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What V. L. (U.S.A.) wrote:

What S. F. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I am pleased to see someone take this subject matter seriously. I hope that my contribution will be of some value to your research and to the development of theory.

I did notice that your questions lacked experiences where the event has taken place several times over. Of my experiences more than 75% of them are not a singular event. (Which is what has me scouring the Internet in order to see if this is common) This would be most similar to your defined deja vecu experience, however, during the event I recall that I have had deja vu of that event before, and even (in the most complicated of situations) I have recalled recognizing that memory event in itself. The clarity that is given to the situation is such that many times I find myself attempting to change the recalled time line. Sometimes this action changes the memory with success and the event ceases; other times the action results in an unwitting participation in the conclusion to the deja vecu event.

Unfortunately I have no theory as to why these events take place. I do not believe that this is simply seizures of my frontal lobe and I seem to be out of the "normal" age range for conventional theory. As I am a physicist, I would love to have some rational explanation for these experiences.

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What A. S. J. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I'm not sure about déjà vecu, but I've had a lot of déjà vu when I was around 13. (I've also had several nightmares at that age, dreams about some of my worst fears. And I've also been lucky with numbers at that time. I wonder if those things link together) I don't remember the first time I've ever had déjà vu, though. I haven't had much of it in years, but I wish I did. I'd love to have some longer episodes of it, so I can try to figure out its secrets...

I've had times such as once when I was looking out the window of a car and saw a parking lot, but I felt like I've seen it before - even felt as though the same cars were in it. That feeling is the most common type I've had, and sometimes I would get the feeling that it has happened more then once. I've had a few times when I would see something happen at about the same instant it would truly happen, but that type is more rare and my favorite. One time had the vision about a second before the actual thing happened.

This one time when I had a vision before the actual thing, I felt like it happened a few times before. I'm not sure, but I believe it started out with the person I was talking to saying something that felt familiar, but although something like that could have happened before, if it did, the woman who was talking didn't seem to remember. (it might have started differently, though, since it was several years ago. The next part, I've told so many people in the past, I remember the details) After her saying a few more words, I had a vision that showed her say those same words, and then of me saying "You said that before!", she puzzledly asked "said what before?", then I said, without paying attention to her words, "One, no... two times before!" (I felt as though she said it about two times before, which is the other type of deja vu I've had) After that, I came out of the vision, saying "You said that before!" It happened the same exact way, except that I said "Two, no... three times before!" at the end, remembering that vision and counting it as a third time (although in the vision, I didn't have a vision). It happened so quickly, I didn't even think about myself saying the same thing as I did in the vision (and in the same exact way, as well as her). I've wondered what would have happened if I had said something else, but that was the only time I had deja vu like that so far in advance of the real event. Every other time, it's been hard to tell which came first, because they were so close together.

One time when I was 13, while reading a book, I had repeated weak feelings of familiarity, but when rereading the same words, nothing would happen. There was one time while reading it, I had a strong feeling. It kept feeling as though I had read the book when I was around 6, but that would have been impossible, since I couldn't read that long ago. After finishing the book, I just happened to see the movie based on the book, and concluded that I must have watched the movie when I was around 5 or 6. (Some parts in the movie mirrored how I imagined the scenes the book while reading it)

I once asked kids on the playground if they had déjà vu and most would say they had, and a lot of them would say they would dream things that would come true. I wasn't really sure if that was truly déjà vu, but it was interesting. I hadn't done that before, but a while after finding that out, I had a short dream, just seeing clouds in the sky. It was a odd dream, since I couldn't see myself and all there was to the dream was about two seconds of a few clouds moving in the sky. A few days later, I was looking out the front door, looking at the clouds before it began to rain, and they moved the same way as the clouds did in my dream - the whole picture I saw was the same.

Maybe there's another explanation for it, but ever since the time when I was thirteen and had a vision about a second before it truly happened, I have had a theory that perhaps people have future memories as well as past ones. I mean, people only use around 10-20 percent of their brain, so maybe déjà vu happens when a person's brain temporarily uses another few percent. It's true that a lot of my early memories are just simple things like standing on a chair to reach the sink when I was very young. If people can see into the future, it would make since that they need something to trigger the memories... And there's those people who claim to be psychics, claiming to be able to see the future. Another reason I wonder if this could be true, is that I've had times when I just new a winning number - not the lottery, yet, but something like one out of a hundred or something. There was one time when I was around 13 or so that I was playing bingo and the bingo cards had numbers on them. My brother got number 127, and I begged him to switch cards with me. It was the first one to win a bingo and I knew it.

The actual feeling of déjà vu, I believe is when something familiar happens, and in a split second, the brain looks to see when that event had happened before. When the brain doesn't find a memory to fit the event, or any possible way that you could have experienced it before but had forgotten it, it gives you a odd feeling - the feeling of it happening before but at the same time for it being impossible to have happened.

Well, if this e-mail sounds silly to you, then I understand, and hopefully you can use what I said about my deja vu experiences, but unless there's proof otherwise, what is to say that people don't have a type of pre-conscious mind that keeps memories of the future? Who is to say how time works? It makes more since then previous lives, of course, since the same people and the same places couldn't be in those other lives.

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What B. B. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I found your paper on Deja Vu theories most interesting and happend to come accross it right after i experienced a strong deja vecu feeling. I was talking with my girlfriend about how she is like a panda long story haha) when i had the deja vu. I had the feeling that i had seen that exact sceen with the same talk, my clothes and her clothes, how her face looked etc. in a dream that i suddenly remembered 2 years earlier. I also remember at the time of the dream it didnt make any sense and just forgot about it, until that moment triggered the "memory" of it happening before.

The reason for this email is i would like to tell you about a deja visite that my twin sister once had that i think you would find very interesting that has always stuck in my memory and my mother's. My sister and I were about the age of 7 or 8, and we were driving to the location of a holiday with my parents, that we had never been to or even close to before. About 3/4 of the way into the journey my sister said, "oh are we going to this place again?" To which my mum replied, "No we have never been here before, you must be thinking of somewhere else." Kate, my sister then replied, "Yeah we have, just around this corner is that park, with that tree that hangs over the edge of the cliff", and several other specific details about the place. Sure enough when we got around the corner it was exactly as she described it, and i can never forget the look on my mum's face when everything she described was there.

I have a basic theory on this, though it is nothing substantial. Perhaps our lives have already been lived (in the future) and we are just a slice of that time, and that deja vu occurs when a hole in time in the future is created and it is picked up in a dream in our past. Or perhaps the multiple universe theory.

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What D. B. (Germany) wrote:

ich bin mittlerweile sehr müde und würde Ihnen gerne morgen mehr schreiben. Ein wenig möchte ich Ihnen aber gerne heute schon schildern. Meine Eltern holten vor einiger Zeit einen Hund aus dem Tierheim. Als das Thema Hund das erste Mal zur Sprache kam, hatte ich keinerlei Erinnerungen in der Richtung. Irgendwann kam dann auf einmal eine Erinnerung, die mit dieser Zeit, in der wir jetzt gerade leben, nichts zu tun haben konnte. Es ist "vor Diesmal" passiert. Ich hatte eine Erinnerung daran, wie ich ungefähr ein Jahr nachdem der Hund in unsere Familie kam, dachte, "Hey Daniel, dieser Hund gehört schon richtig zur Familie." An genau diesen Satz konnte ich mich erinnern. Zeitgleich mit diesem Satz, kam auch die Erinnerung an den Hund, insbesondere dessen Statur und Wesen. Es ist ein sehr lebhafter, junger Hund, an den man sich einfach erinnern muss.

Ich habe meiner Tante von dieser Erinnerung erzählt und sie gebeten, sich an meine Worte zu erinnern, sobald der Hund da sei. Einige Zeit später kam genau dieser Hund durch unsere Tür. Meine Eltern haben sich entweder zufällig so einen ähnlichen Hund ausgesucht oder an all dem, was mich seit gut einem halben Jahr beschäftigt, ist etwas wirklich Wahres dran. es gibt noch zahlreiche andere Erinnerungen und Ereignisse, bei denen ich definitiv wusste, was als nächstes passieren würde.

Zum Beispiel besuchte ich vor einiger Zeit meine Verwandten. Als ich in den Zug stieg, bemerkte ich sofort, dass ich hier schon einmal gewesen bin. Jede Person, wie sie dort stand, stand an dem selben Platz schon einmal. Dies war die gesamte Zugfahrt über der Fall. Das ging soweit, dass ich gegen Ende der Zugfahrt wusste, was als nächstes passieren würde. Im Wagon war ein junges, sehr hübsches Mädchen, das ich unbedingt ansprechen wollte, mich aber nicht traute. Und aufgrund meines langen Deja-vu-Erlebnisses, wollte ich sie erst recht ansprechen. Zumal ich eine Erinnerung daran hatte, dass dieses Mädchen nach der Fahrt aus dem Zug steigen würde und unten rechts in der Menschenmenge verschwinden würde. Ich habe es die Fahrt über, aufgrund meiner Schüchternheit nicht geschafft. Allerdings beeilte ich mich mit dem Aussteigen, um sie so abfangen zu können. Ehe ich mich verah, ist sie durch die Menschenmassen hindurch und ich sah sie rechts unten zwischen weitern Menschen verschwinden. Ich habe bewusste gehandelt, weil ich den Ausgang der Sache vor Augen hatte. Werde ich beim nächsten Mal wieder so handeln, weil ich die Erinnerung von diesem Mal im Kopf haben werde?

Ein anderes Beispiel ist zb die Erkenntnis, dass mir das alles immer wieder passiert. Ich habe mit dieser Erinnerung, an das, was es wirklich ist, viele andere Erinnerungen gehabt. Ich hatte das Gefühl, als legten sich danach ganze Erinnerungsareale frei. Als litt ich an Amnesie und erinnerte mich wieder an Bruchstücke. die kamen nach und nach. Ich hatte Erinnerungen an Sätze, wie zum Beispiel "Zum Glück ist das alles vorbei." oder Vielleicht bist du ja diesmal noch mal davongekommen." Ich weiß definitiv das ICH das gedacht habe und es hatte mit dieser Sache hier zu tun. Mit all dem, hab ich es immer wieder zu tun und ich kann bisher absolut nichts dagegen machen.

Seit ungefähr einem Jahr verspüre ich beim Schlucken so ein Klacken, eine Art Wiederstand. Der Arzt meinte, ich hätte eine harmlose Dysfunktion des Schluckaparates. vor gut drei Jahren erwachte ich aus einem Traum. Ich empfand ihn als Alptraum, weil ich mich im Nachhinein fragte, was dieses eigenartige Klacken zu bedeuten hätte. Ich empfand im Traum als unheimlich störend und war wirklich froh als ich aufwachte und feststellte, dass es sich nur um einen Traum handelte. Nach gut drei Jahren, verspürte ich tatsächlich zum ersten Mal dieses Klacken, es hat sich im Laufe der Zeit wahrscheinlich durch meine Größe (190m) gebildet. Der Arzt meinte das die Sitzhaltung vor dem Computer noch dazu käme. Jedenfalls erinnerte ich mich erst drei Jahre infolge dieses "Leidens" an meinen Traum, an genau dieses Leiden. es klingt verrückt aber ich ziehe diesen Traum, bzw diese Nacht als Rückkehrpunkt in Betracht. Es klingt lächerlich, das weiß ich. Es ist so als wache ich während meine dreiundzwanzigsten Lebensjahres auf und komme erst drei Jahre später der Sache auf die Spur. Jedes Mal denke ich mir dann, mein Gott Daniel, wie konntest du das alles nur vergessen haben.

Ich glaube nicht an Hokuspokus, sondern als Materialist eher daran, dass sich alles rational erklären lässt. Was sich allerdings erlebte, kann ich mir einfach nicht anders erklären, als das ich alles immer wieder erlebe. Obgleich das physikalisch, nach heutigem Wissenstand nicht möglich ist, habe ich Informationen, in meinem Kopf gehabt, die dort nicht hätten sein dürfen. Wenn ich mich in einer Zeitschleife befände, bekäme ich von dieser nichts mit, da sich im "Original" noch nichts von einer Zeitschleife wüssen dürfte.

Ich muss Schluss machen, weil ich wirklich sehr müde bin. Jetzt ist es nun doch relativ viel geworden. Wenn Ihnen Dinge unklar sind, fragen Sie mich bitte. Es gibt noch soviel was ich Ihnen dringend erzählen muss.

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What (another) D. B. (Germany) wrote:

ich nehme an, dass ich Ihnen auf deutsch schreiben kann, weil Sie in Bern leben. Ich bin auf Sie durch einen Artikel in der "Zeit" aufmerksam geworden und habe eben den Fragebogen ausgefüllt.

Vielleicht interessiert Sie meine Geschichte, die ich in meinem Bekanntenkreis öfters erzähle:

Ich habe in jugendlichen Jahren über große Zeitabstände einige Träume gehabt, die alle zum Thema gehabt haben, dass ich fliegen kann. An diese Träume konnte ich mich gut erinnern. Das besondere dabei war, dass ich ohne Hilfsmittel fliegen konnte. Dabei nahmen die Träume eine gewisse Entwicklung der Fertigkeiten mit. Zuerst konnte ich über eine Pfütze springen und habe den Sprung verlängert. Später konnte ich dann schon größere Sprünge machen und legte mich dabei in die Horizontale. Wieder später kam hinzu, dass diese Fähigkeit nützlich dabei war, irgendetwas zu schaffen, oder anderen helfen zu können. Ich konnte über große Distanzen fliegen und Orte erreichen, an die man sonst nicht herankam.

Wahrscheinlich hatten mich diese Träume dazu veranlasst, zusammen mit meiner kleinsten Schwester im Alter von 19 Jahren einen Hängegleiter-Kurs zu machen. Der Kurs begann am ersten Tag mit Theorie und mit dem Auf- und Abbau der Fluggeräte, dem Ausprobieren des Gurtzeuges - man liegt dabei in der Horizontalen.

Am zweiten Tag sollte der erste Alleinflug stattfinden. Wir fuhren auf die "Wasserkuppe" in der Rhön und bauten die Hängegleiter auf. Es war für alle spannend, weil es nun wirklich in die Luft gehen würde. Ich war nicht der Erste, aber als ich drankam, ging alles sehr schnell. Ich nahm Anlauf, tat ein paar Schritte, der Boden sackte unter den Füßen weg - und ich war in der Luft. Ich lag in der Horizontalen und flog. Und das sicher zum ersten Mal in
meinem Leben in dieser Fluglage. Das Besondere dabei ist die 360° Rundumsicht nach unten - sehr schön. Ich hatte früher schon einige Male in einem Segelflugzeug oder in einem Passagierflugzeug gesessen, aber das ist ein ganz anderes Gefühl. 

In dieser Sekunde also kam das Déjà-vu. Ich kannte diese Situation bereits aus meinen Träumen. Es war direkt eine Enttäuschung. Ich hatte mich sehr darauf gefreut, endlich wirklich fliegen zu können, und dann war es überhaupt nichts Neues. Nicht, dass es mir keinen Spaß gemacht hätte, aber ich war sehr sicher, dass es sich um ein Déjà-vu handelte. Interessanterweise hatte ich auch beim Fliegen nicht das Gefühl, am Gurtzeug zu hängen, sondern vielmehr auf einem großen bequemen Kissen - der Luft - zu liegen.

Danach hatte ich, soweit ich mich erinnere, nie wieder einen solchen Traum gehabt.

Was Déjà-vu anbetrifft, glaube ich, genauso sporadisch ein solches Erlebnis zu haben, wie alle anderen, aber dieses eine Mal fand ich es schon besonders.

Ich habe mich als Jugendlicher - wie heute - mit dem Fliegen und dem Modellflug beschäftigt und zähle mich zu den Leuten, die dem Fliegen auch heute noch etwas Abenteuerliches abgewinnen können. Ansonsten bin ich glücklich verheirateter Vater von drei gesunden Kindern, selbständiger Software-Entwickler, nebenbei Musiker, halte mich für einen eher rationalen Menschen und sehe dieses Déjà-vu auch eher vor dem wissentschaftlichen Hintergrund.

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From a website, unsigned:

Lately, I've been having a really bad case of deja vu. I will dream about something and a couple days later, a section of my dream will happen. 

Ex: (Dream) A couple days prior to camping, I had a dream where I was talking to different people. I couldn't see their faces, but I did hear their voices and what they were saying. (Wake State) When I went camping a few days later, certain portions of conversations would come up that I heard in my dream.....line for line. 

Ex: (Dream) I'm driving down a road to a place I have never been before. Nothing looks familiar to me, I know the city that I'm in, but none of the roads or buildings are familiar. (Wake State) When I went to go visit a friend who came from out of town. I went to a section of SF that I have never been before. While driving, I noticed that the streets and buildings looked familiar to me, even though I have never been in that section of SF. (I rarely go into the city, I'm usually outside of the city in Daly City). And I noticed that it was the same place that I was dreaming about a week back. 

I've been noticing it more and more, things I dream I soon come across in my waking state. Can anyone help me with this?

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Two other website contributions:

D. wrote:

I wasn't going to be here for a while, but I MUST share this. I don't know what's been happening, why, or where to go from here, and I know I will get support and advice from the wonderful people here.

I'll do my best to get this into words...

While at work, I have a while of feeling particularly light-headed and generally strange and on the verge of a daze. Luckily, we had to leave the office for a meeting elsewhere, so I thought things might be easier. I start to feel a deep sense of peace as we drive, like I'm falling into a lull all the way to my core. I'm enjoying it immensely when I am startled to realise that everything seems so familiar - please understand this was beyond deja-vu; it was like everything that happened, that I heard and looked at, was exactly 'as it was meant to be'. So familiar, I knew it all, but so new to my waking mind? I started being able to tell what would be said or seen next. Yes, dejavu, but it seemed to be a transitory stage.

At the meeting, still feeling peaceful, I get this sense that this place is like a materialisation of something long known before. The difficulty of the subject pales as the people with me suddenly seem to me like figures in a dream. I see them as though they are in a dream and having a mutual dream.

This makes me feel more peaceful and content.

On my way home, the feeling continues but progresses and intensifies until I am seriously questioning whether I am in a dream or waking reality. I really begin to wonder how I could distinguish, and I'm starting to feel quite confronted, challenged. I'm still picking up on what's going to happen next when I focus on that.

I start reading, but its hard to maintain concentration - it's almost as though I'm reading in a dream and the writing keeps changing, but rather it's my perception that keeps changing. Then at this point, a guy boards the train who is almost identical to a very close friend of mine, with whom I have a deep spiritual connection. He also acts and dresses like a character who frequents some dreams and is a good friend of mine in them. After this, I start to feel such a whirlpool of energy coming from within...man, I tell you: I felt like I was leaking energy all over the place, about to blow. I didnt know what to do. I had possibly the most solid burst of physical energy after this I've experienced, and this all ended with a very subtle fading back into what I know as my familiar mode of consciousness.

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And F. replied:

I can't tell you what is going on with you,but perhaps I can help by letting you know that you are not alone. I was working at a day care center in 1984. One day I increasingly became in a dream like state. I knew everything that was going to be said before it was being said as well as what was going to happen. It took a double twist when I told my employer that a fellow worker was going to come down the stairs and ask for construction paper. It happened and my employer gasped. It was like a double play. Because I knew already what was going to happen. I manipulated the craziness. I knew I was going to tell her, and she would be amazed.

I though maybe the day meant something special or something great was sure to come from what I had experienced, but nothing else happened. I enjoyed the feeling of well being, but knowing every move everyone was making, and every word being said before it was happening drove me crazy by the end of the day. The energy made me hyper.

I hope someone can let us know what took place, and I hope you found some comfort knowing you are not alone. It would be nice if your "friend" showed up in your life needing you. This would be a sign to help him. I guess! Good Luck to you,

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What J. P. V. O. wrote:

I am a cognitive psychologist and I recently emailed Alan Brown about my hypothesis that some deja vus reflect partial recollection of dream memories. He commented that I should contact you. He said nothing other than you were interested in the relationship between these two (i.e., deja vus and dreams). I have kept a dream journal, on and off for 25+ years. When I have deja vus, I sometimes have "temporal tags" telling me when I dreamed the experience. I have occassionally found the experience documented as a dream - even highly unique experiences. Although numerous times I have not. Also, I have infrequently known what will happen next during deja vus.

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What J. wrote:

I am 18 living in Florida. I'm just entering college at the University of Florida. In the last few months I have been experiencing more and more deja vu. It also seems to stem from one event. Now I know it isn't the smartest of ideas to do drugs, and please don't stop reading just because you think I'm some kind of crazed drugged out stoner, but i decided the senior year of high school to try marijuana. I didn't experience any kind of change in the frequency or strength of my deja vu during any of the 8 or so times i did pot throughout senior year. However at the end of senior year my friend said he found a hallucinogenic drug called salvinorum that was legal in the U.S. and could be bought at a local smoking accessories store. I tried it but had none of the effects it was suppose to have, my friend however did. Either way I went over to a different friends house several weeks later and being that school was out I decided to join him in smoking some pot. Everything was going like a usual high until he started playing some techno music, I closed my eyes and started to experience moving light hallucinations, but not just that, everything I was seeing, hearing, feeling, and thinking were all like I had experienced them before. But at first I didn't realize that at the time, instead i was just focused on the hallucination. As soon as I opened my eyes I realized that all of what had just happened was deja vu, then everything for the whole time I was high(at least an hour) seemed like deja vu, my thoughts what my friend was doing and saying, everything I was doing I had done before. Two weeks later I was at a friends party and I decided to smoke again, and again (minus the hallucinations) everything seemed like deja vu. I decided then that for some reason the THC must have caused me to feel like I was experiencing deja vu and that if I stopped then I would stop having such intense deja vu. However from that experience on I have had deja vu more vividly and for longer periods of time and in greater frequency without any kind of drug interaction. I have no idea if the salvinorum somehow changed how i respond to THC or if I just happen to notice my deja vu and remember it now that I've had such an experience(much the same way you feel there are more of your model of car on the road once you buy it, or how some hospital workers think they have a weirded or busier shift when a full moon is out). All I know is that the experiences have gotten stronger, longer, and more frequent. If you could offer any help or advice I would much appreciate it. Also, if you want to add it to your survey, when you ask if the sight, smell, etc. are familiar also ask about thoughts at the time of deja vu.

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What K. C. K. (U.S.A.) wrote:

i don't know what causes it, but when i experience deja vecu (which for me can happen 5 or more times a day some days and then not happen again for month), i generally know when i wake up in the morning that it will happen; it's just a feeling i have because everything seems more familiar than normal. Then the deja vecu happens, i KNOW that it is because i have experienced it in a dream. i vividly remember the dream while it's occurring and experience the music that accompanied the dream (i don't typically dream in dialogue...it's as if i'm watching things play out while listening to headphones). the feeling is incredibly strange, not really unlike that of a lucid dream. i can often make the feeling stop by doing something that i know is NOT supposed to happen next, or by telling myself "yes, okay, i've dreamed this before". i often can feel some tingling in my limbs or face, which has led me to believe that perhaps what's really happening is a mild seizure, which is why i searched for information on deja vu. however, i am fully functional while experiencing the deja vu (i have been driving in my car while having an experience that lasted around 5 minutes). 

the deja visite that i experience is usually limited to knowing the exact layouts of buildings, or for example, if i were to have to go to a large building with many offices i can correctly guess the floor of my destination from outside before looking at the mapboard, and when arriving on the floor Instantly know where to go.

i truly feel that most people, and possibly all, are able to see into the future. as for being able to see what they need/want to see, or see something on command, i don't believe this is possible. here is a list of other things that have happened to me, some on more than one occasion: upon going to a tarot reader for kicks, she takes one look at me and says "what are you doing here?" as if i've just wandered into a men's bathroom. i tell her that i'm there for a tarot reading and she says matter-of-factly "why? there's nothing i can say that you don't already know. you have the light inside you."

while interning at disney world i was assigned to an area that i'd never worked in before. it was post-9/11, between thanksgiving and christmas. on break, a woman i'd never seen before came outside and sat beside me. i instantly had the feeling that i needed to tell her that her daughter, who was flying home that morning after visiting for the holidays, was going to be okay and that there was nothing for her to be afraid of. i finally could not fight the compulsion so i told this total stranger what was on my mind. she began to cry and said "her flight left 20 minutes ago and i've been worried sick."

my parents tell me that when i was about 3 i was doing something and they suggested i try a different approach. i replied "when i was the other little girl I did it like this."

those are only a few of my experiences. i don't know why it happens, and frankly i don't care to. i just go with the flow. :D

p.s. anytime i've had an experience like the second example, which happens quite a bit, the person has been totally receptive to what i have to say and is not freaked out at all; they often find the fact that a total stranger knows something so personal about them and is able to say it's going to be okay a great comfort.

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What L. B. (U.S.A.) wrote:

For a few years now I will have specific dreams which sometime later in life, I will actually live out. Once I get to the point in the dream where it ends, I black out. Everything after that point is just strange the rest of the day, I am constantly feeling the deja vu for the rest of the day. What I also need to mention, and I don't know if this is important or not, is, when I am awake, right before I slip into the deja vu, I see a man. I do not know who this man is, In my subconcious mind, I recognize his face, but, I still do not know who he is.

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What M. C. (Italy) wrote:

I'm a 23 male university student from Italy.

I used to have Déjà vu since I was a child,and through the years I tried to get some information on this argument, I found some books and talked with some psychologists, without never finding a precise answer to it. I know that there isn't an official explanation at the moment, at least for science, because there are many ways of seeing it.

In all the stories I heard, people tells to have the Déjà vu 5 - 10 during a year or even in a whole lifetime. I recognized myself in them but with some differences.

I've always had Dèjà vu, I remember my self got very scared about it when I was a child, feeling that strange sensation, but with the years I've learned how to deal with it.

I noticed that the more I grow up the more these kind of thing happens. It happens to me to live something that I feel I've already lived (dreamed), with people dressed in the same way, with the same expressions on their faces, saying exatly the same words, making the same moviments, gestures, right in the same place, time and space. Not a detail changes, sometimes it happens that during the dream I watch the clock, so I recognize that even the hour and minutes are exatly the same.

This happen to me every day, in some period many times per day, there are times of the year when I can tell that I've "already lived" the 30% of my day, but I never get used to this feeling, it always leaves me strange, empty, I become an outsider viewer of my life.

I even noticed that in some occasions I remembered the night when I dreamed that situation I was living, and I even tried to change it.

I'll give u an example: one day, last year, my cousin asked me to go with her looking for her wedding dress, we visited different stores, when we entered in a particular one, not so different from the anothers, I started feeling a strange sensation, as if something was about to happen, some minutes later, the Dèjà vu has started, and I remembered that I had dreamed that exatly one week before. Everything was exatly the same, it lasted for 10 - 15 minutes in which I knew what was about to happen and I wanted to try to change it, to make things go differently from my dream.

My cousin was in the dressing-room, and aven though I didn't see the dress she was trying, I knew how it was, one lady,the owner of the store, came to the room where I stood starting to ask information about me, she even asked me how old I was, in the dream I remembered my answer was 16 , and then I changed it saying 22, my real age, so when that moment got closer I said myself to change it, to say right through my real age. So this lady made me the question, and me as if I was out of my brain control, I answered "I'm 16" and immediately correct it. Things went on still for some [time].

I even watched the clock and it was 6.38 p.m. like in my dream.

It is useless to say that I had never been in that store before, neither I'd seen that lady.

What amazed me is that I couldn't change a thing, even if I remembered and wanted to change it, it was impossible, for some reason my brain was thinking about doing a thing but my body did another one.

I tried to "change" things some other times, but without any results.

This phenomenon still happens to me, and as I told before, every day.

I would like to know if there is some "real" answer to all this.

With all the people I talked that has Déjà vu, I feel I can't compare really to someone.

I can't accept the answers that scientists gives, they just seems to explain something they don't know about, it's always this way, when science can't explain something it do it in some fantastical way or just ognore it!

And what if there was something that we cannot understand? Something that goes through our human being knowledge?

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What M. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I¹ve experienced deja vu many times over the years.

I can¹t remember any specific ³stories² but I vividly remember how I feel when it starts.

It ALWAYS combines the place and the actions I take. EVERYTHING and EVERYONE around me is involved.

All of a sudden I freeze ­ and the feeling comes over me and I realize I¹ve done and seen and heard everything before. And then I instantly think back over the last few seconds and sort of recount off in my head - I¹ve done that before and you said that before and and then I walked there and looked at that before.² This probably only lasts a second or two ­- seems longer.

I feel hyper alert (and somewhat weird) and like I¹m doing and watching myself do/hear/see the things at the same time. I don¹t SEE myself from the outside, it¹s like I¹m watching a show in my head through my eyes ­ or a dream, and all still from my perspective while I¹m doing the things.

Maybe like a one-second time delay ­ yes ­ that describes it quite well for me. It¹s somewhat like I¹m trying to catch up with myself ­ sort of.

And it all feels inevitable ­ like I can¹t change what I¹m doing. I have to keep going. And then I feel like I reach a point where it¹s over ­ the
duality portion of my actions is over and the feeling gradually goes away.

Since you asked about dreams. I wake up frequently at night to use the restroom ­ and I dream pretty much instantly when I fall asleep. I dream prolifically, and in color. I remember them when I wake up ­ but if I don¹t write them down ­ or work hard at remembering, I forget .

My dreams range from my real life good or bad (if I¹m worried about something) ­ to desired or weird variations of my real life ­ to dreams that
are pure fantasy and have nothing to do with my life as far as I can tell ­- they have people in them I don¹t know and places I¹ve never been. Sometimes it¹s me (as someone else) in them, sometimes it¹s like I¹m watching a show. A few topics are time travel, being a spy, American Indians, space travel. I¹ve actually working on some short stories based on some of my fantasy dreams. 

I do have recurring dreams. I had one when I was a child/teenager (nightmare-ish) which I don¹t have any more. And now I have one fairly
often about where I used to work/live ­ not exactly the same every time ­- but pretty much the same things happen.

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What P. d. S. (U.S.A.) wrote:

When I was a student at Florida State University someone handing me a record which included Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata. When the last movement of the sonata started, an incredible familiarity with the music hit me with the sense of a impending memory which never materialized. I plaid the movement over and over and each time when it started there was this feeling of intimate, nearly overwhelming familiarity. I attributed this to the possibility that I heard it as a child in France when a concert pianist visited us, but I never was able to associate that music with any memory or any location. That feeling has gone now, though I enjoy the music greatly.

Another time while listening to a Haydn concerto, I gradually had a visual image of a gentleman walking ahead of me in a hall where a lot of people were respectfully addressing him. He was dressed in the costumes of the late 18th century and spoke German condescendingly to the people around him. He was a Graff von something. At the end, I realize that he was me, and that I did not even understand myself since I did not know German. My Grandfather was of German descent, as were also a number of my ancestors, most especially the dukes of Lorraine so that the thought of some hereditary stuff going on occurred to me as a possible explanation. During the experience, I had a strong sense that it was taking place in a direction which was that of Europe. I was then In Macon, Georgia.

Once in Florida walking into an apartment building I came face to face with a man whom I immediately recognized and he me, but then we both realized that we could not remember how we might know each other. We spent perhaps a half hour going over our past, but never found any possible connection, yet we both felt we had known each other before quite will, both with a strong feeling of deja vu, as if something was on the tip of our tong. The feeling was not just an idea, but whole body thing, like a sort of buzz and aura. It is as if the apparent recollection were a holistic event, as indeed were all those experiences.

This same thing happened when I got a book, Zen Dairy by Paul Wienpahl. Both the name and the picture were extremely familiar,yet I could not in any way place them, and nothing in his life suggests we ever were in the same place at the same time. Today neither the name nor the picture ring any bell, perhaps because with age my memory has faded, but when I got the book it was a very powerful experience. I am now 75.

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What P. M. (U.S.A.) wrote:

My belief is that 'dejavecu dreams' and dejavecus are 'triggered' naturally because of fear. I look back to the certain times of my life where i'd get them most intencly and they all have a release of fear before they start. 

As a child (8yrs old) through to early teens my Father was very abusive, some times more than others, and i would be scared of him, causing my typical head state to be fearful and sometimes VERY fearful. I think that the more intence my fearful head state was, the more intence my dejavecu was.

At the start of scenarios thoughout my life in which i would get these dejavecus something would 'trigger', typically when i wud have some person, thing, event etc, in my life, change my typical fearful headstate dramatically, to a headstate without any fear.

I believe human beings have an ability to change the typical neuronic structure of their brain due to the will to intencify their emotions. I believe Dejavecus typically happen, when, subconciously, the mind is free of fear after having it built up for a period of time. I also think an intencly stressful headstate can bring it on to.

The dreams... I think that if a fearful headstate is kept for a long time, a glimpse of when u 'snap out of it' aka see the future, is what dejavecu dreams are. They all have one thing in common that is, they let u know there will be time in the future where it wont be so bad.

I was so sick of having dejavecus and not knowing what they were, that tried to work out and conciously comprehend an answer for them. I got to the stage where i could tell the difference between my dreams, aka the difference between what i call symbolic dreams, nightmares, dejavecu dreams etc. The way i could tell i was having a dejavecu dream was by the way that i would be perceiving and interacting with things. I would be using my physical sences and the skills i had of percieving while awake.

I programmed my mind to wake up straight away after everytime i had a dejavecu dream and wrote down the time, the date and details about my dream. I worked out it would be no more than 2 weeks, sometimes exactly 2 weeks, before the dejavecu would happen. 

I think this is at least on the right track to help answering the 'what is a dejavecu' question and i hope someone can maybe get something out of this or add to this or even teach me how my theorys are flawed, as i am very interested in this topic. :)

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What R. E. (U.S.A.) wrote:

Along with increased deja vecu occurences I have recently started finding myself to be increasingly anxious and nervous of social events, even those involving my nearest and dearests (current housemates, long term friends etc), i've not really been that confident, outgoing or sociable for example in a work scenario for a long time, but there was definitely a time when i used to be. When i was at school and just after when i left for university i had no trouble in making friends and had a job in sales/marketing and was a top appointment setter for the company i worked for.

However all this was before i starting using/abusing drugs. First solely cannabis for 5 years, then ecstasy and speed, fairly infrequent amounts of lsd, mushrooms and 2cb (probably no more than 100 trips of all 3 as a sum) and then the biggy . . . a 5 year raging ketamine addiction. at its worst i was taking it most of every day (7-10g per day). this period lasted for 2 years then slowing down to binges 3 days a week (5-7g per day of taking it). a year ago i was still using small amounts a day maybe 2 times a week with the occaisional week off (1-2g per day of taking it. For the last year the average has been an even smaller amount and loads less frequently, say every once every 6weeks-2months (1g per time). I have recently had my longest period of non taking it since starting (3 months) I have also stopped smoking cannabis a year ago, and take other recreational drugs maybe 4 times a year, and not in excessive amounts. (no coke/crack, heroin or pcp EVER)

Clearly this is a pretty clear cut explanation for the anxiety and depression i've been experiencing. And there's no likely reversing-agent apart from abstinence and time. But there seems to be a parallel between my anxiety and depression increasing and my deja vecu experiences increasing. i certainly used to get these experiences whilst constantly being bound the same routine of buying, using, sat in the same chair, same people, familiar film/tv etc whilst using ketamine. But since stopping using/abuing any deja vecu experiences have been pretty much as though i'd dreamt that a certain set of circumstances had happened, and then my brain recognised these circumstances whilst awake at a time when i could not remember the exact dream just that something felt massively familiar. sometimes "just a felt it before feeling", just a sort of "sit back and take stock and move on" feeling and rarely "good familiar"

I've dreamt myself dying before. I've dreamt my entire social circle turning on me and ostracising me. More commonly I've dreamt myself being subjected to serious bodily harm by others. these dreams are now less frequent. Usually the people doing the harm were the people that i owed money to in getting myself so woefully addicted to in the first place. And truth be told owing drug dealers £8000+ is not something you ever want to find yourself doing. Clearly it preys on your mind. And that will affect the content of your dreams. And this will affect the reaction to any deja vecu event as a result of one of these types of dreams. Even though i now only owe £300, every time i get one of these sensations i feel i know how things are going to end up. 

I must stress that these dreams are not, it seems, a precognitive thing. i have never been assaulted as result of my financial/chemical wrongdoings. But i have been threatened with force (no knives/guns etc, but physical harm still scares me. i've only ever received one punch in malice in my life to date . . .) by these people on a few occaisions. 

Maybe the dreams were indications of where things would go if i didn't sort myself out. Maybe i've now diverted my lifepath away from where my dreams were alerting me i would be heading. I am, for example, holding down a job and i've nearly paid back any friends who helped me get out of my dire money situation (6months and i should completely be in the clear, barring my credit card). And i stopped dealing drugs myself. so some overwhelming positives to be drawn.

But i know . . to the core . . i've pretty much battered my brain as much it can take. I'm a shadow of the person i used to be before drugs. My memory is shot. I find it hard to spark up conversations. I am rarely interested in anything. I don't enjoy socialising as often. In short i feel brain damaged. I'm anxious, i get sweaty palms about going to group gatherings. I'll even avoid housemates in an effort not get asked how i'm feeling as i've been feeling this way for a while now and nothings seemingly changed.

There was a point there somewhere . . oh yeah, have you experienced any other cases of drug-addictions (either former or current) and increased deja vecu phenomena? does it link with cannabis psychosis? or a seratonin imbalance from the MOA's i've taken? or is it just a linking with my increased anxiety/depression caused by the drug taking?

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What R. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I have deja vecu that comes and goes. The longest running of it, non-stop for roughly three months a couple years ago. Went to bed with it and woke up with it. 

It comes and goes now, last a few minutes to a few hours. 

Also, memories of the past are as if living in the present and past at the same moment. 

Often, I have a sense of future / pending events that affect societies. 

I am a writer of fiction as well, so deja vecu simply makes life interesting. A doctor has me on meds, trying to ease it, thinking it maybe a mental issue, however I am not sure of that. 

Nor am I certain I will continue the meds, part of me doesn't want to loose deja vecu, as it has become such a part of who I am.

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What R. V. (U.S.A.) wrote: 

If you can pass on anymore information about this please do so. I have been experienced Déjà Vecu many times when I was younger. Now that I am older the occurrences are not as intense and do not happen as often. I always associated the occurrences with dreams, it takes one little thing that triggers my mind to remember what it think is a dream and the rest of the occurrence falls into place. Please let me know if you have more information or if I manually trigger this to happen.

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What another R. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I had an experience of deja vu in the mid 1980's that i found disturbing.

I was in my mid 20's and working in a range of boring jobs in a factory. The management were aware of this and moved everyone around every few weeks just to relieve the boredom. On one move i was placed in a small room with a colleague, Richard who was exactly a year younger than me, and on the second day i remembered a dream from the previous night and said "... i had a dream about you last night - i dreamt you died!"

We both had a laugh at something so ridiculous. He asked me what he died of and i told him i didn't know any more than that.

On the friday i was told i would be working in another part of the factory and someone else would be working with Richard.

A few weeks later i walked into the factory and 'clocked on'. I then experienced my deja vu. I asked another worker ahead of me why everyone was so quiet and he said "...haven't you heard? Richard died yesterday."

Richard's cause of death was never discovered. He was about 25, physically fit, a non-smoker, and took no drugs other than small amounts of alcohol. The post-mortem took 3 weeks but did not discover a cause of death.

This was by far the most disturbing of the experiences i have had.

I think that the 'dream' experience is much more of a 'memory' experience than a dream experience. Almost a memory temporal anomaly if that makes any sense.

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What S. H. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I was reading one of you papers on the Deja Vu phenominon. My interest come from an attempt to catagorize my own expiriences. I have expirience Deja Vu since early childhood, the earliest expieience I can recall was at the age of 6, and it was quite banal. I don't have epilepsy, or any other diagnosed conditions other than ADHD.

How Deja Vu happens to me: The feeling comes suddenly, without warning, and it leave just as quickly. What happens is that I see a moment in time, like a moment saved by a snapshot, that perfectly fits with a memory of having seen the same thing that same way before. At the same time I also remember where I saw the image before, the original memory is generated from a dream, from within my sub-consious. For a moment in time it hits my like a photographic memory of the exact perspective, mostly visual, and at the same time I remember the sorce of the original image. This is accompanied by a very profound feeling. I know alot of psycologist try to discredit such expiriences as invalid, but this is because they have not and never will expirience such an event, so their hypothosis is really like guessing in the dark about something they have no first hand expirience of.

My most important Deja Vu expirience happened in the summer of 2003, when I traveled from Seattle to L.A. to go to a party in San Bernadio. On the way back from Pheonix, after having partied there the night before, I had surprised the girl I was traveling with by taking her to one of the largest raves that happens on the west coast all year long. The moment of Deja Vu came to me when I passed through the ticket turnstyle after the security check, and I took the first glance at the Lay out of the area. There was a very unique fountain on my left and as I saw that it all clicked im my mind, that snapshot, the photographic memory of a place I had never been before ever in my life. In that Instant I knew that I would have never been in California that weekend if I hadn't gone to pheonix with a girl that I had only met a little over a month before. That this moment, this place, was a day that fate had in store for me. In less than a second, I remember that I have dreamed of this place before in detail, and without looking first I knew there was a small foot bridge at the end of that fountain to my left. Excited, I scanned down the path to find the bridge that I knew was there. This is the most valid Deja Vu expirience that I have ever expirience. I was in a place I had never been before, and I knew details about this place before I ever looked at it.

So what kind of expirience was this? and why does it happen to me? I believe that my spirital and mental beliefs had much to do with my access to these events. I believe that one of the greatest limiting factors on the human mind is doubt, the belief that something cannot be true so it must not be true. At this time in my life I had removed my limitations and was freely exploring life. At the beginning of the summer my lease was running out, and I did not know what I was going to do next or where I was going to move. It started as a joke by my neighbor and good friend, who said "What are you going to do, follow the wandering hippy spirit?" When he said that to me it made total sense, so I did. I follow my heart and not my mind. I started seeing a new girl (350 days older than me with 3 children, I have no children), and after knowing this girl for less than a month agreed to help her drive to pheonix to meet up with her baby-daddy who was driving out from Louisiana to pickup his two children for summer visitation. I would not have normally made such an impulsive move, but at the time it was what seemed right. So everything started out crazy and somewhere on the road to Cali and back I have this day, this day that it was my destiny to have, my fate to be there on that day in that place. I had simply (simply, lmfao, there is nothing simple about it) freed my conscious mind enough from the trapping of life that keep us from achieving our true portential and alowed my sub-conscious mind to guide my part in the dirrection that was right for me at that time.

I also should point out for clinical reasons my drug habits. I do not smoke tobacco, rarely drink alcohal (alcohal is a psycic depresant), have never done cocain or heroin, tried meth twice when I was 18, never use pharmacy pills(percoset, oxycoton, vicodin, etc.). I do smoke marijuana (another psycic depresant, it helps me dream less), I have done LSD (more than most, less than some) Psycadelic Mushrooms( i've expirience psycadelic blackouts, near death expiriences) and I was also doing Ecstacy during that period of time. As far as I can tell my use of any of the mentioned drugs has had no to little effect on the expirience of Deja Vu and the frequency in which these events occure. I was smoking CHRONIC on a daily basis and this had no effect as well. For example, regaurding the event I mentioned, I did ecstacy the night before in pheonix and after the Deja Vu expirience in San Bernadio, so that had no negative effect on the moment in time, perhaps the opposite. Me being on ecstacy that day may have HEIGHTENED my ability to pre-concieve that place through my sub-conscious. A dream, just a dream, but it is a dream that I had over a year before going there, so I ask the question, "How long was I on the path to that day in California without even knowing it?" Its like every thing that had happened to me in the previous year had placed me on the path traveling towards that moment in time. That it was already going to happen, it was just a matter of time and mentality. I suppose I some may call me crazy, dismiss me entirely, but I'm not a lier. My perceptions are accurate, I remember details well (sometimes), and what happened to me has no earthly explanation. How can my sub-conscious mind pre-concieve a moment out of my future with such an accuracy? Everything that exists now was created with the intention that was there in the first moment of the big bang. Wether our minds can grasp such concepts or not, the idea is still there. This is all a complex mathmatical set that began when the first elements started moving out from the focal point of the big bang at the speed of light, and life on this one perfect precious planet has happened by intention and not random molecualr interactions. I guess they call it inteligent design now. I'll put it this way. "Everything that has ever happened and the full potential of everything that can happen in the future intesects at one point in time, right now!"-Scott Hawkinson, that right, I said that.

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What another S. H. (U.S.A.) wrote:

Recently, in January of 2006, I had the most vivid of my experiences thus far. While sitting in a hallway of the College-Conservatory of
Music in Cincinnati, I waited for an interview (as I had applied as a freshman) and soon become instantly aware that the experience had occured before. My mind associated it almost with a dream, though I struggled to remember when I had the dream in relation to that day, and I lacked the memory of anything beyond the situation at hand.

I sat on a bench, speaking with the father of another applicant who was interviewing at the time, and we discussed the young woman. Upon hearing that she was from Chicago, I proceeded to remember every word of the conversation for a few minutes (probably one to three, but I am unsure) just barely before they were said. I had no idea how to respond to this, but I did not have the opportunity to speak. The lighting, architecture, color, and every other visual detail felt exactly correct - not approximately, which to me meant a lot (my dreams never precisely duplicate reality).

The details of the experience have left me, but I do recall the experience ended gradually, yet had a definite point where I knew it was over. My mind clearly seemed to spark into a frenzy of interest, and then slowly lose interest in the situation.

I had toured the campus and facilities of the college-conservatory before, but to my knowledge I have never been in that hallway before (as our interviews were moved to the Dance section rather than the areas with which I was familiar).

Also, during my early childhood I remember several "nested" incidents of deja vecu, in which I recalled another time where I felt the same
situation had occured before. I would estimate that this "double" deja vecu occured between three and five times to me, and "triple" deja vecu occured perhaps twice. It ended for the most part when I was around seven to ten.

When working on a piece of fiction today, I remembered that I had a very fleeting moment of Deja Vecu or Senti when typing a name the last time I wrote. Today, when I typed the same name, the memory returned to me and I experienced a stronger moment of Deja Vecu or Senti (I am not sure as to which it should be classified; I forgot the first almost instantly and had I not had this experience, I feel I might have forgotten this one as well).

For the purposes of comparison, it should be noted that I am now three months short of turning 19.

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What S. F. K. (U.S.A.) wrote:

From my own experience dreams are a key ingredient of deja vu. I've been keeping a dream journal since 1972 and after about 12,560 dreams I can say that they have to be a source of deja vu experience.

While in dream state ones mind is not inhibited by preconceived notions or time for that matter. Like a painter stepping away from his canvas looking at the entire image the mind can view a greater span of time seeing events well beyond realities linear time frame.

So after a person has a dream, focusing on a future event, they of course forget it but the memory of it lays dormant in the mind until that event finally occurs in reality. Once the "trigger" event occurs the rest of the experience flows from the mind. The person feels as if it has happened before it's just that the conscious mind has finally caught up with a surpressed memory of a dream experience of ones future.

When I was about 7 years and during the families Hanukkah celebration of lighting the candles I started to know what was going to happen next. The trigger for me was, for childish fun, I put a skull cap on our dogs head. After this, I started to know what other
little events would follow but also recalled that it was a dream that I had at an earlier date. This was one of the inspirations for keeping a dream journal. It's very similar to having an average dream but upon waking you forget it. Then later in the day a trigger
occurs and you remember the dream. It flows out all at once but since it was not based on an event in real time that "deja vu" feeling doesn't occur. 

I don't know if this will help or if you are not too keen on dreams. 

"I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than those occuring in dreams...Man...is above all the plaything of his memory". Andre Breton, "Manifesto of Surrealism", 1924

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What T. S. (India) wrote:

I would like to share my deja vu experiences and my theory with you. In fact I am positive about the source in my case. I have had these experiences over the past 6-7yrs and in all I guess I have had about 8-10 such experiences. Out of these 6 have been dreams that i have had about couple of months prior to the episode. I remember all the dreams clearly and when the deja vu event occurred i was able to recollect the dream and predict what was going to happen before it happened. All the events were insignificant events. One was me sitting in our company's office in Bangalore and training colleagues, i had the dream before we had even setup the Bangalore office. The other episode that i can remember was probably the first one that i had since i started noticing these dreams. I was in the back seat of a car along with my cousins driving on a highway. I had had this dream at least 3-4 months before the event. 

Hence I am pretty sure Deja vu is caused because of dreams. Now does that mean we can look into the future???? No idea and I in particular find it difficult to believe as I am a skeptic. Just thought I would share this with you.

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What T. J. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I had a proveable event, but it happened more than 15 years ago.

I was in school, and the teacher used to create a list of 10 -15 words for us to study each week, but we were not to read ahead, and she would choose words we had never seen, so we would have to look them up and define and use them to learn them....

well, once, she started writing, and the "eerie feeling" came over me, I recognized the first word from a list I had seen in a "dream" three weeks prior. i told three students, friends, sitting near by. They didn't believe me. So I wrote the entire list down on paper, and she was only at word number two.

they said, "big deal" you guessed two words. so what. but then, as she wrote each word, My list was still correct.

their eyes got wider, and when she got to word #9 of 12, someone raised their hand and asked, "Teacher, when did you decide what word to use today?" she smiled, paused in her word as I knew she would, turned only halfway around to answer, "About 10 minutes ago, why?"

and when all 12 words were on the board, my firends, classmates, with wide eyes and raised eye brows, they simply scooted their desks a little away from me, and class went on...not another word was ever said about it.

hummmmmm

Also, i remember the first dejavu I had.

I was in 4th grade, and ,y class was in a school hallway. We were walking back from our music lesson, and I had the instinctive knowledge that I was going to walk through a door and get hit on the head by it.... As we got close to the door, (It was propped open and the kids were passing through it normally) I got a panicky feeling, knowing it was gonna hurt me, maybe leave a bump on my forehead, but like a robot I stepped onward, marching toward the doorway, not being able to stop or to even ask the kids behind me to switch places... and the child infront of me kicked the door-stop up, and the door started to close, and indeed it knocked me on the forehead (I was small and the door was heavy)...and I cried out, "ow,ow" then I had no more fore-sight....but the teacher stopped to make sure I was okay, she repremanded the child who had kicked the door, and we went onward through the hallway.

I always wondered, "Why was I shown that it would happen" if there was no way to stop it, change it or do something about it?

Very strange, but sometimes I reference it the way Jesus had fore-sight....you see, he told Peter, "Before the cock crows you will deny me 3 times...." and Peter protested, "Never, my Lord"and yet, he did deny knowing Jesus...if only to spy on the proceedings and get through the city undeterred.. so I wonder, who comes to me at night while I sleep and tells me something will happen, and I say, "Never, my Lord" and so they say, "When you see this and that happen, you will know what I say is true..." 

Well, It took a long time ofr me to reach that theory...

i have known what others would say, i have learned back roads as shortcuts where I should have known, and I have seen names, tv news reports, files and offices.... and then through the days, gone to work and seen them all happen....

so strange that something so "eerie" can also be "reassuring" but at least I know I am not on the Earth alone, that someone knows how our decisions are changing the world, and is prepared..and showing us that it will all work out.

Kind of nice...not so "scarry"

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What T. L. M. (U.S.A.) wrote:

I've been having deja vus as far back as I can remember in my early childhood. It wasn't until I was about 11, 12 years old that I learned the name for it - from a soap opera! When I was in my teen years is when I discovered that my deja vus were actually from my dreams. My first experience with that is so vivid. I can remember telling a friend about a dream I had had on our way to school one day. I can't remember now how long the time span was - at least six months later - we were in a situation where all of a sudden part of that dream I had told her about played out before me!!

As I got older, into my 20s, deja vus became less frequent but continued to occur. I can't recall specifically if a deja vu has occurred from a dream I remembered upon waking, but have always felt they're from dreams in my REM sleep. I can experience a deja vu and think, that's right, I remember that now from a dream!! And that is exactly what happened to me last night. I would say it's about a six-month span from the dream to the deja vu.

I've never been afraid of a deja vu, and they usually stop suddenly due to the fact I think, oh, I'm having a deja vu. I like to look at them as intuition, a glimpe into the future, maybe knowing I'm on the right path in life, something of that sort.

As far as deja viste, in my vaguest of memories I can remember experiencing the sensation. But when I went to fill out the survey on it, I couldn't remember a specific situation, so was unable to complete the survey on that part. I can safely say I've experienced it at least once, but it was when I was much younger and I cannot recall the situation.

Anyway, hopefully my explanation will be useful to you in some way. It's just nice to be able to tell my experiences to someone who understands them. It's not something people talk about everyday, yet, pretty much everyone has them at one time or another but maybe doesn't have a name for it. Depends on how open their mind is!!

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What T. V. (U.S.A.) wrote:

Yes, My deja vu isn't like most peoples. I get mine in my sleep, and then I see them in my dreams. I used to not think anything about it. As I got older they got more vivid in my sleep. Recently I decided to play with my dreams. I have been able to control some of my deja vu. I can bring them on but I can look around and take in more details. Does this go away?

When I go to sleep. I have deja vu. It has become extremely frequent. I can tell its a Deja Vu by the feeling I get when it happening. Sometimes they are about the next day and others are about one years later.

I am seeing them in my dreams before I see them in my outer life.

I really like my deja vu. They help alot. But sometimes they can ruin things.

I have talked about my deja vu alot. And from what I recall it seems you have had them too. Can you explain some of yours? Are they still as vivid and frequent as they were when they first started? Mine stated without me knowing really. At first I thought they were just a rare thing. Was it the same with you? The more I learn about it. The more vivid and frequent they become.

Are their any books that you might recommend that might help me understand why and how these work. I have become really entrige with deja vu.

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What V. T. (Philippines) wrote:

I'm 28 from the philippines. I just took the survey regarding deja vu... and its good to know that there is a study regarding this. Coz its been so long that im always amazed how this things occured with me. I always wonder how it happened. Let me share my experiences about deja vu, for me its always been deja vecu... same place, same people,same topic, same movement, same words from the people im seeing, exact position of the things, place and people. Most of this was seen by me through dreams. Especially when it occurs, i would immediately stop and tell everybody that i've seen this happen and then i will recall its in my dream... mostly i had dreamed of it so many years back. And in that situation while it happens first in my dreams, i could see myself doing the interruption of saying that i've seen this happened before and when the deja vecu accours, its exactly the same... everything!

It's in the brain i suppose... because when the deja vecu happen, its like a movie... and in my eyes... i know what will happen next and what will the other people im talking to will say and after hearing the exact words from others or the movement around me or should i say "the cue"... that will make me realize that it happened already and i've been through that situation.

I had it since i was 10 i guess and until now. For me, its been a constant experience. Its an amazing feeling... well, its been a lot to express but its so hard how to get the exact words to describe it. Thank you very much for spending time reading this email... i hope it would help figure out "deja vu". Its been a pleasure for me to share my experiences.

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What M.R.D. had to say about her experiences:

Over the past several months I've had a near-constant experience of deja vecu. Something will happen, and in the process I'll remember that I had a dream about this 
exact moment and I'll know just what comes next. I remember almost all of my dreams, including the mundane ones. What's convinced me that it's not somehow a trick of memory, though, is that I always remember when I had the dream and what I felt as I dreamed and when I awoke.

One of the things I find odd when I compare my experiences to the experiences recounted on your site is that often the dream precedes the actual event by several 
months if not years. For example, the very first time I remember this happening was when I was thirteen, and the dream occurred when I was six. I was on the side of the stage in a rehearsal for a local kid's musical program when the director decided to take a quick break. During the break, the younger kids were sent home, and as they left one of the boys went up to me and my friend and hugged us goodbye. She remarked at how sweet and cheerful he was when he walked away. I remembered the dream when the boy broke off from the rest of the kids and ran over to us, and the rest of the scene played out exactly as I had dreamed it seven years previous. The way the stage was set and lit, what we were wearing, the boy's face and voice and my friend's comment - everything was the same.

Up until about nine months ago, I would get the occasional deja vu experience but then something shifted. I'm almost 19 now, and I've already had my fair share of odd experiences but, in a way, the past several months have been the strangest ones so far. I used to think the future wasn't set in stone, that every little thing that 
happened had an effect that changed the whole world, and that there were an infinite number of futures and parallel worlds for each moment in which something could change. 

Now, experiencing deja vecu several times a day has led me to wonder if maybe the future (or at least parts of it) truly cannot be changed.  What I've noticed is that the things I dream of are hardly ever important to me at the time of the dream, and often don't even make sense, but when the event happens it's something that makes me really happy or shocked or some other strong emotion. It's not always an event, per se, either. I read a lot, and sometimes I'll start on a book when I recognize the opening scene from one of my dreams. I'll take a moment to remember the dream, and as I keep reading it'll turn out that I dreamed about half of the book. 

Actually, this just happened to me earlier today and I finally realized why I had dreamed about falling from a railroad car as it vanished (ironically, this book is all about dreams; it's called Dreamhunter). Very rarely do my dreams last more than a few hours of an actual experience, though (I'm a fast reader). The same thing has been 
happening with anime episodes, manga chapters, and even discussions on forums, which are all the things I'm really into right now.

I guess my point is, I've noticed that the events, when they occur, are things that are mundane but important. I get stronger feelings about them than about anything 
else. Perhaps this helps the idea of time loops, where the important things stick in your memory? I don't know how else to explain it other than seeing the future, and 
like I said, I've always believed in a changeable future and it's hard to think that that idea might be wrong. But if it really is seeing the future in dreams, then... 

Feeling deja vecu almost all the time has been both empowering and greatly unsettling due to that notion.  Reading the various accounts of deja vu on your site was a huge relief. I'm so glad I'm not the only one going through steady and specific deja vecu. I sure hope that someone is doing serious research on the deja phenomemons, and that whatever the cause is it will be discovered and made public knowledge sooner rather than later. Sites like yours, and other places where people can recount their experiences, should help quite a bit. Thank you so much for making this site! I hope my own account can enrich your knowledge of the phenomenon and help others feel like they're not alone in their experiences in turn.
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From a web-based philosophy forum: 

Posted 03/31/04 - 12:07 AM:

(#37)

I not only frequently have deja vu, but also some weird psychic-type experiences.

For example, on many occasions I have had dreams where I've done something only to have the dream come true within a week's time. This hasn't happened a few times, but literally hundreds of times over many years time. I remember one time back in highschool I had a dream where I was talking to this girl in the halls and seemed to know her very well yet I had no idea who she was and didn't recognize her. A week later, a new girl came to school, and not surprisingly I found myself talking to her in the hallway like I had known her all my life. She said I looked very familiar, like she had seen me in a dream, and was stunned to find out I had the same feeling of deja vu and had had a dream about her before I even knew her.

Another such instance happened last fall before the college semester started. I had a dream where I was at college talking to a girl outside, who I had worked with 4 years before. I hadn't seen her since I quit the job, but she was in my dream clear as day. A few weeks afterward, the college semester had started and I was walking across the lawn in front of my college. I suddenly got cold shivers even though I was standing in the sun and felt as though I had done this before. I kept walking although I felt extremely odd like someone was watching me. I turned around to find the girl I hadn't seen for 4 years, except in my dream, now standing behind me staring at me. We then began talking only to have her admit she felt like she was having deja vu, like this had happened before. I stated I had had a dream exactly like this only a couple weeks prior. She was shocked, of course, as was I.

The girl in the second story is now my girlfriend. We get along extremely well and can essentially read each other minds, or so it would seem. She thinks we're "soul-mates," and quite frankly it wouldn't surprise me even though I'm not completely decided on my metaphysical/religious beliefs.

An example of me reading her thoughts happened only a week ago. I was sitting at a table when she walked up, sat down, and stated, "You should have seen what we did in my lab last night!" I suddenly and surprisingly blurted out "Tracheiotomies?!" without even thinking. Her eyes widened and she whispered, "... yeah... we did." How I knew that is completely unclear to me, especially since I had no way of knowing even which lab class she was talking about since she has two lab classes on that night and I had no idea even what topic they were studying.

Countless other times I've had deja vu and psychic predictions. I'll go to parties where I'll suddenly say without thinking, "I think the cops are coming." And remarkably, every single time I've said something like that without thinking twice about it and just saying whatever comes to mind, it comes true.

It's very odd, indeed. And actually, I don't know if my perception is getting sharper or what, but I'm having more and more of these moments every day, from deja vu, to psychic events, to clairvoyance while dreaming. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I have been practicing meditation and taking a class on astral projection just for curiosity's sake.

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From a web-based philosophy forum: 

(#39)

I regularly had Deja-Vu as a child - sometimes 4 or 5 times every week. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of what was happening at the time, or whether I was experiencing events in my day-to-day life that correllated with the Deja-Vu itself. These days, I'm lucky if it happens once every two months. sad

I'm not particularly convinced by the idea of past lives - most of the Deja Vu experiences I've had throughout my life have included very specific details, and my penchant for more psychological... actually, let me explain - it's easier that way.

When I was experiencing Deja-Vu on almost a daily basis, I started to train myself (forgive me if I sound like a monk) to 'accept the moment', not to be 'weirded out', but to concentrate on the feeling and to explore the way in which it worked. I found that once I accepted Deja-Vu as just another aspect of consciousness - rather than going "WOW... this feels weird" - I was able to prolong the experience and almost immerse myself. In other words, when I was prepared for it's onset and unsurprised by it's presence, I was able to enjoy the experience. This is important. Before this personal discovery, I considered Deja-Vu as something that was strange... something you'd ask your parents about, but not something extraordinary - after all, you're reading the post of a man who, as a child, plugged an Acorn-Electron computer adaptor into a wall socket and put the live cable on the tip of his tongue.

Anyay, I digress. Once I'd found a way of prolonging the experience I started playing around with my perception of objects surrounding me at the time of onset. So for example, I'd look at details of a book cover, a sandwich box, a pen - and with each observation would go the thought "I knew I was going to look at that". Also, more random, uncontrolable observations were included, I may also see a man wearing a brown coat, or hear a dog barking... both of which were unique* and out of my control, and both of which were accompanied with the feeling that "I knew that would be next" or "It feels like I've been here before".

Strictly speaking, hearing a dog barking or seeing a man wearing a brown coat is not unique, but I offer them as examples of individual objects and events that I was unfamiliar with - as opposed to a book cover I'd been reading earlier. More pointedly, their presence was not of my own doing.

I also began to notice that I could not prolong the experience indefinitely. As most Deja-Vu-ees will know, when the feeling stops, you're ususally left with a sense of semi-confusion or, as I used to experience, that you had experienced almost quasi-isolation, that everyone else had gone about their daily lives without the slightest comprehension of what you'd just experienced. Over time, the final few seconds of Deja-Vu were usually characterised by a gradual fade, rather than an abrupt halt into 'normal' consciousness. I usually spent the next few minutes reflecting (I was a strange child... as the adaptor story should testify), trying to figure out what had gone on and what had happened to make it stop.

In later life I noticed that a feeling very similar to my childhood experiences of Deja-Vu, sometimes occurrs when I'm exhausted by lack of sleep (rather than overworking). This leads me to the point of the story, most of the 'accepted theories' of Deja-Vu revolve around some sort of cognitive model - the idea being that the experience of perception doesn't transfer from a memory buffer into short-term memory (or from short-term to long-term, depending on you model preference), and that the resultant experience is one of immediately 're-living' everything. The theory would suggest that because this cognitive cock-up occurs so quickly, you do not percieve two clear caveats of time, more that you experience a blurring of time (It may help to imagine holding two identical photo-negatives up to the light, and offsetting them slightly) and that the naked experience is covered - and masked - by the 'weirdness' or unfamiliarity felt. Punch through the weirdness and become accustomed to the experience, and you percieve the experience unobscured by emotion. I've got to say, although I tend to loathe cognitive models and loathe even further, models that attempt to 'fit the facts', I feel that this explaination (almost) adequately explains Deja-Vu. How it would explain an ability to prolong such a malfunction is perhaps more complicated - any ideas? I can't offer any particular proof and I am naturally bound by subjectivity - but that's Deja-Vu I suppose.

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What one person has experienced when smoking marijuana.

Art -

I've had several experiences with deja vu related to smoking marijuana.

The first time I experienced deja vu after smoking, I remember watching television, and each time my friend changed the channel I had the distinct feeling that I had seen that exact program before. He changed the channel again and again and again and each time I felt confident I had seen each and every program.

The next time I also experienced near complete amnesia. I forgot who I am and all of my past memories. I was laying down and in my vision I could see part of a dresser, the bed below me and the room that stretched beyond me, and I had the distinct feeling that I had seen that exact view before. I wasn't able to recall anything about myself or my life, but I had the feeling that another reality existed outside of what I could see, but I believed that that other reality was an illusion, and that what I could see was all that existed, and that I had been there before and that I was returning again. The feeling that I had been here before and witnessed this same exact view kept reinforcing itself in my brain.

The most recent time I experienced it was also coupled with amnesia. The feeling of deja vu seemed to replace past memories. What I saw I believed was all that existed. If I turned my head to see something different I was surprised to see that more existed, then I began to think that this new view was all of reality. When I stared down at the sidewalk I felt that I had seen that before, and that that was all that had ever existed. My feelings of deja vu were probably related to the fact that I had seen some of these things before, but due to my near complete memory loss they seemed novel, and yet, I had the feeling that I had seen them before.

Before these incidents I have experienced deja vu in a more conventional sense, but fairly rarely. These incidents don't seem to have affected the frequency of my episodes of deja vu.

You can use this account if you would like, although I don't know how relevant or helpful it is. My recent experiences drove me to an internet search for the causes or for people with similar experiences and I've wound up with basically no answers. My search led me eventually to your site.

Thanks,

LC

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Hi,

I’m an 18 year old, white female. I live in the United States. I’ve been experiencing déjà vu for as long as I can remember, but only in the past year have I realized something interesting about them. For years I felt like I was having the same déjà vu as everyone else—I experienced something familiar and I felt like I had already lived it. I didn’t pay it much attention, honestly. As I got older I started to become interested in them. I didn’t do any research (until tonight), but I tried to focus on the feelings I had during the experiences.

I began to have two different types of déjà vu. I refer to them as “pre-déjà vu” and “post-déjà vu.” Pre-déjà vu is a feeling I get any time. I don’t have to experience something familiar. It is completely random. I perceive this strange set of emotions or thoughts, then it is gone. They don’t make much sense. My second type, post-déjà vu, accompanies it later in my life when I am experiencing the situation I formerly perceived. Please don’t think I’m claiming to be psychic or something; I promise I’m not out of my mind. This has happened several times. I only have a few examples of when I can remember both the pre- and post-déjà vu, although I’m sure I would have more if I wrote them down.

For example, my pre-déjà vu would consist of something seemingly general: feelings of guilt and being in a hurry and cautious. I got this when I was sitting in my room. I don’t remember anything about my mental state, only that I was conscious and attentive enough to remember the experience. When I felt this, it was one of the first times I held onto it in my memory because it was noticeably different from a typical déjà vu. In my post déjà vu, I was thinking about a friend that I had unintentionally hurt, but I knew there was no way to fix things. As I was thinking this, I was walking around a corner and carrying books. I almost cut the corner and knocked the books out of my hands, but I managed to hold onto the books. Instantly, I got déjà vu and thought back to my first experience.

Since I’ve made the connection, my déjà vu experiences have changed. They still occur suddenly, but because I have more of a connection to them, they last a few seconds longer. They retreat slowly because I try to hang on to the memories and feelings, but they are fleeting. It’s unnerving and scary for me. I feel like I’m experiencing something that I shouldn’t be, as if I’m cheating life. As I have my déjà vu, I remember myself experiencing pre-déjà vu and thinking, “if I ever live these feelings or thoughts, I will know my life has already been planned.” I can only explain it to be completely unnerving. I can’t remember all of my pre-déjà vu experiences, but I know that I have had them, even if I didn’t know at the time what they were.

I hope this gives you some insight into your studies. Please let me know if you have any questions. I would prefer my account not be published. I think people would either think I'm crazy or think I'm a psychic, and I'm not particularly interested in being classified as either of those things.

VB