It was the middle of the night when I woke up with a jolt. Opening my eyes, I found myself looking into the face of a total stranger.
A middle-aged man was leaning over me. His face was just 10 centimetres from mine and he was staring straight at me. As I gasped, he stood up, moved across the room and disappeared into the darkness.
The truth is, I have been seeing spirits for as long as I can remember. It always happens when I'm in a semi-sleep.
I sense something moving in the room that wakes me up. I flick open my eyes to find myself staring at shadowy figures shuffling about the room. Over time - and as I have fine-tuned my psychic antennae - these figures have become as clear to me as the real people I meet in daylight.
Like many people, my level-headed, intelligent husband is sceptical. He is prepared to accept that I'm not imagining that I see spirits but, as he doesn't see any of the figures who prowl around our bedroom at night, he doesn't understand it and isn't really interested.
I was brought up in the Church of England, although I converted to Judaism when I married. But, despite my deeply conventional upbringing, seeing spirits is as natural to me as breathing, and something I welcome. How wonderful to know that there is life after death, that our loved ones don't desert us.
I know many people will be surprised - it is often assumed that people who see spirits are wacky. I'm not at all hippie and, besides the crystals adorning my house, I'm rather conventional. However, seeing spirits is not a lifestyle choice - it's something that happens.
My spiritual journey really took off 12 years ago when a mutual friend introduced me to a wonderful psychic and healer, Susan Dabbs. She taught me how to meditate, which is key to developing your sixth sense, and has accompanied me on a magical spiritual journey, of which I am still very much at the beginning.
We all have a sixth sense. Children are particularly attuned - think how many of them talk to "imaginary" friends, which I believe to be spirits. But we gradually lose our ability as we get more entrenched in the material world. If you focus hard enough on your right arm you'll forget that you have a left.
It's the same with your much-ignored sixth sense. The fact is we are all psychic, but most of us dismiss our intuition as coincidence. We'll hear the phone ring and instinctively know that the caller is Great Aunt Mabel, to whom we haven't spoken for months. The more you become aware of it, the more you pick up.
And the more you meditate, the more you refine your psychic abilities. It was after meeting Sue that I saw my grandmother for the first time. She was in her 80s when she died, blind and quite disabled. But the woman I saw was in her 50s, and wearing the faded kilt and sleeveless quilted waistcoat
I remembered so well from when I was a little girl. She was slim and vibrant. She had obviously chosen to present herself to me from a time in her life when she was happiest. She had an iridescent quality that made her shimmer, and she was surrounded by this incredible aura of love.
I know now that you can talk to spirits telepathically but then I didn't know how to, and she didn't talk to me. She just stood there, smiling. She only stayed a few minutes. It's very difficult for spirits to be with us for long. It's a two-way thing - they have to tolerate the dense vibrations down here and I suspect we have to develop the power to hold on to them. So I simply watched as she faded away and was left with this conviction that I had seen my grandmother.
I have since seen many old friends who have died, and been given information that I didn't know at the time, but later found to be true. One thing is consistent throughout all my sightings: the main message they want to convey is that they live on and watch our triumphs and celebrations as spirits. It's as simple as that. Personally, I consider my ability to be a great privilege.
Secrets of the Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore is published by Simon & Schuster.
