What is Deja Vu? (Blog)

[Erin Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Erin Pavlina's blog:

What is Deja Vu?

[LillyoftheValley]

...deja vu is there to say, “You strayed off your path a little but now you’re back. Congratulations! Now let’s continue…” And continue I do.

Erin, I LOVE this thought!

What I've noticed about my Deja Vus is that whenever I experience them, I'm either pretty unsure of my path, or I'm in complete alignment with my source/purpose.
So I think about them as a reminder that there's a part of me that's watching from a timeless place.

Like it's singing to me ''Tiiiiime is on my siide, yes it is...''

Question for all: have you ever shared a deja vu?

I had a few sinchronized ones with my sister back when we were kids.

[KeithHandy]

Whenever someone says "oh my god, I'm having deja vu!", I always immediately ask "is me asking you this part of it?" -- sorry if "messing with people's heads" is not exactly a noble motive.

People do also sometimes use the term in the more boring sense of "here we go again", but I always make sure that people clarify whether they're actually having it or just using it as a figure of speech.

[KeithHandy]

P.S. -- do you take requests? How about a similar article about "the little shiver down the back"?

[Erin Pavlina]

I will definitely do a "shiver down the back" blog entry. In fact, I was just doing a reading for someone who asked me the same question about what it means. Synchronicity?

I also dislike it when people say they are having a deja vu when in fact they mean they have gone through that event in their actual past. It's like when vegetarians say they eat fish.

[Susie]

Some people experience deja vu 24/7-- there is a study being done on it now. Here's an article:

Giving déjà vu a second look

Many of us have experienced déjà vu - the unsettling sensation of knowing that a situation could not have been experienced, combined with the feeling that it has. It is usually so fleeting that psychologists have until recently thought it impossible to study. But for some people, the feeling of having been there before is a persistent sensation, making every day a ‘Groundhog Day’. Psychologists from Leeds’ memory group are working with sufferers of chronic déjà vu on the world’s first study of the condition.

Here's the rest of the article.

[Nneka]

Here's something that I find extremely interesting. I am feeling through an experience, not actually experiencing it (not in meditation or asleep, but conscious). I tell myself to remember the experience because it's going to be a deja vu. Then a few weeks, or months later I have the actual experience.

What's up with that?

[KeithHandy]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

I will definitely do a "shiver down the back" blog entry. In fact, I was just doing a reading for someone who asked me the same question about what it means. Synchronicity?

Before you ever write such an article, I have a preliminary feeling about the shiver. I'd like to state it here and then see how close your take is.

Often when I get that shiver, it's immediately after a key statement in an internal dialogue. It's sort of like a cosmic highlighter pen saying "pay attention to this thing you just said to yourself".

It can also happen when I'm internalizing song lyrics. A few years ago I found myself getting that shiver (sometimes with tears) in response to Radiohead's The Tourist, where Thom Yorke sings "hey man, slow down, slow down ... idiot, slow down". This is just a variation on the same thing, it's still me having an internal dialogue, only there happens to be something external to myself supporting it.

[Erin Pavlina]

Originally Posted by KeithHandy

It's sort of like a cosmic highlighter pen saying "pay attention to this thing you just said to yourself".

Pretty darn close.

[Reyv]

I always thought deja-vus were a sign that they were editing the Matrix. I mean, come on, everyone knows thaat!

[dECLAN]

Maybe deja vu is our connection to presence where everything that has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur is happening in right now the present moment.

Our linear concept of time only exists in our mind and once we step out of that and into spirit, unity consciousness or our higher selves we begin to experience deja vu, synchronicity and oneness more often.

[LillyoftheValley]

Originally Posted by Reyv

I always thought deja-vus were a sign that they were editing the Matrix. I mean, come on, everyone knows thaat!

LOL! Thanks for reminding me of that!
How on earth did I forget that, I don't know...
Maybe someone messed around with my preferences...

[Nneka]

Can anyone answer this question?

Here's something that I find extremely interesting. I am feeling through an experience, not actually experiencing it (not in meditation or asleep, but conscious). I tell myself to remember the experience because it's going to be a deja vu. Then a few weeks, or months later I have the actual experience.

What's up with that?

I used to experience deja vu as a feeling of having the experience before while I was experiencing it. Now, it's like I can tell before hand that it's going to be a deja vu thing. Like I experienced it already (not in my current lifetime). I feel the experience. Then I experience it.

Is this the same thing, or a different phenomena?

[babuji]

This hasn't been mentioned yet.. but whenever I experience Deja Vu, it's usually a 5-10 second recollection of a dream that I've had a few days earlier.

I'll usually experience the moment in the dream first.. and then when it actually happens, it's almost like a big realization and I remember that I've done this before in my dreams.

Anyone have similar experiences?

[ABlix]

What if we related deja vu to the Law of Attraction / Desire ?

Then what you perceive to happen, will manifest itself and you could think of it as an "ALPHA" Reflection. However, keep up the intentions for too long, and instead of being diagnosed with Deja Vu, you'll have bipolar disorder.

That's my theory on it, anyway.

[JoaquinFox]

I have found deja vu to be useful in the present moment when my recollection sort of expands past the 5-10 second period. During the 5-10 second period everything lines up perfectly as recalled in the present, but say that my original "memory" happened during a dream. After the 5-10 second period in the dream my dream would continue with a possible outcome from my next course of action. I think I have to use an example, because I'm getting lost myself in the explanation.

I had deja vu a couple weeks ago. I remember that the original "memory" occurred during a dream. In the dream I said something where the person I was with reacted quite negatively and couldn't understand my point of view. So, in the present moment, I had 5-10 seconds of deja vu just before I said my poorly received comment. I recalled the outcome of my dream and chose not to say anything in the present moment. The rest of our carride together was harmonious and I still have the distinct feeling that it might not have been had I said what I said in the dream and still had the urge to say in the present moment.


Hope that makes sense!!

[Erin Pavlina]

Joaquin, that's an excellent use of deja vu!

I too have had deja vu about a dream I'd had in the past. That happens sometimes, and other times it's not related to a dream.

[LillyoftheValley]

Now, it's like I can tell before hand that it's going to be a deja vu thing. Like I experienced it already (not in my current lifetime). I feel the experience. Then I experience it.

Yup, same here. This is why I stopped saying out loud I was having a deja vu. (It basically came to: ''I know that in 2 seconds I'm going to know what is going to happen the next ten seconds''.)
It actually makes me even more confused than a 'mini' deja vu, because I have a deja vu of having deja vu. Feels like someone spinned my time wheel, and I don't kow where it will stop.

[Razzmatazz]

Originally Posted by dECLAN

Our linear concept of time only exists in our mind and once we step out of that and into spirit, unity consciousness or our higher selves we begin to experience deja vu, synchronicity and oneness more often.

That is so true. Since I've been meditating and becoming more aware my deja vus have increased dramatically.

[Nneka]

It basically came to: ''I know that in 2 seconds I'm going to know what is going to happen the next ten seconds''.

That's exactly it. Uncanny.

Maybe deja vu is our connection to presence where everything that has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur is happening in right now the present moment.

Declan, I think you are on to something. I was telling a friend the other day that I see things so clearly. I don't really see people or surface actions, but I see the complete picture or the essence of the person. Not even visually, but as impressions. I'm going to explore this more.

Once, at a retreat, this guy posed the question, "What is the shortest distance between point A and B?" Being the engineer that I am, I said a straight line. He folded the paper so that point A was on point B and said the shortest distance is right there.

In Spirit, there is no time or space. I am spending more time becoming aware of my connection and consciously dipping into the pool. It is certainly warping my sense of "reality". This happens everytime I push past the 3 month meditation mark. In the past I stopped after that (maybe, subconsciously because it was getting too wierd). This time I want to see how far this goes.

I'm going down the rabbit hole. It's fun though.

[Jalcine]

Originally Posted by KeithHandy

It can also happen when I'm internalizing song lyrics. A few years ago I found myself getting that shiver (sometimes with tears) in response to Radiohead's The Tourist, where Thom Yorke sings "hey man, slow down, slow down ... idiot, slow down". This is just a variation on the same thing, it's still me having an internal dialogue, only there happens to be something external to myself supporting it.

hahahaha I love that song I get the same feeling to some other Radiohead songs... hmm. Mostly in How to Disappear Completely, where he's just making his voice sound like an instrument near the end.. and the voilins kick in. Definately sends shivers up and down my spine.

[songwriter]

"deja vu is there to say, “You strayed off your path a little but now you’re back. Congratulations! Now let’s continue…” And continue I do."

That makes sense to me. In some board I had a deja vu. It was coming back to it after a long long time out of it. I even wondered and told about it the board.. "I got back where I belong".

I think that gives me a clue about my future path. Thaaaaaank you!
:-)

[Simmiah]

This is interesting

I remember reading a theoretical physics book citing that time is the fourth dimension.. etc.. your explanation makes sense that there isn't really time..but it's sort of an illusion.

Question: Erin, you mention that deja vu may fall under a type of precognition... Well, I experienced deja vu much more as a kid & not so much now. However, I have more precognitive experiences now... but here's my question... I've had only a few precognitive experiences where I'm thinking "Oh there will be a fire" or "Something bad is going to happen in a few days" but I've found the information to be completely unhelpful & sometimes disempowering as I'm not sure what I can do to prevent whatever bad occurrence from occurring. You mention deja vu isn't helpful either as it occurs so closely before the future event.

Well, is there a way to prevent negative events that you have precognition about from occurring?

[Lallymac]

I experience precognition, deja vu, and knowing in distinctly different ways.
Deja vu;
for me is when I find myself in a conversation or situation where I've already experienced what will happen next. Like what the other person is going to say. But before it happens, I don't know it's going to, and I get those shivers of 'I've experienced this before'. I remember when my daughter was teaching in Japan and visited Nagoa Castle, she rung me on her cell and said 'Mum, I can describe what was in the next room, before I enter, as I was walking through.' Yet she'd never been there before. It wasn't past life, as she saw it exactly as it is today. I think in our dreams, we enter a timeless zone and skip ahead of ourselves. Deja vu for me is usually around incidental stuff.
Precognition;
Is where I get visions and sensations of something significant before it happens. Like feeling ourwhelmed by grief and then a couple of days later someone close dies or very clear visions of someone being sick or an event that overwhelms me to the degree that words spontaneously come out of my mouth although I don't actually know what I'm saying. I'll get fragmented images, words and feelings.
Knowing;
Is when I just know something without the 'hows' and 'whys'. Like the time I was insistent my son ride his bike to school instead of taking the bus. I just knew he had to ride his bike that day. The bus driver ran over a kid at my son's bus stop that day. 'Knowing' comes in with a strong gut feeling that is unquestionable but you don't get the supporting information to justify it. I get that from my Mum who always 'knew' stuff and we learnt as kids to listen to her.
All three are more prevelant when I meditate regularly which can give me disconcerting feeling of being an observer in my life, rather than a participant.
Lallymac

[shocker88240]

ok, I love everyones opinion on deja vu, but I've got one for you.

before I dicuss my experiences, let me say that I am not in the least bit religious.

the past few years I have been having instances of deja vu, where I KNOW I have experienced the same thing before, but at the same time I KNOW that I have not been in the same situation before. its almost like watching a replay of an instance in my life that has never happened before, but somehow I remember it. I'm sure this sounds crazy.

it almost makes me think of reincarnation, but reliving the SAME life repeatedly. that's the only sense I can make of it!

I am open to hear any ideas on this matter. it has me thinking so much, that I signed up for this site!

has anyone else experienced something like this, or something at least similar?

please email me at shocker88240@hotmail.com. I would love to hear some ideas.