A little bit about my thinking..

Growing up, my mother always had games we'd play when there was nothing else to do. We'd guess the color or shape one another was thinking about. I'd try and flip playing cards, guessing what face would be on the other side. It was a lot of fun, and inspired my elementary school science fair project on psychic skills and parapsychology.
As a Catholic school student, it was met with mixed reviews. I didn't give up. I knew there was more to life (and death) than we were taught in school. Once when I was about 10 years old, I remember being in my bed, terrified to move because I saw a woman at the end of the hallway that was glowing. It didn't help matters that I could see through her. I later found that this woman happened to look like my deceased aunt that I had never really met. I wouldn't have known what she looked like but recognized her picture. Seeing strange lights when it was dark was common for me as well. This happened on a daily basis for years.
This led to a lot of questions. I was always questioning things, especially in science class. This continued through high school, where even though my interest was high, I wasn't very vocal about it. Ridicule is a very powerful motivating factor. I remember once asking, "If energy can neither be created or destroyed, and the human body can scientifically be proven to contain energy within the brain, muscles, and nerves..what happens to that energy when we die?" Even my teacher at the time didn't have an answer that really fit and admitted that it was a vague assumption but it could be used to support the reality of ghosts or spirits. I realize that the body itself is broken down and decomposes, but if you really look at the human body, there is so much more there. What happens to the energy from our thoughts, dreams, and memories? Destroy part of the brain and memories can still exist. People still have thoughts. If memories aren't stored physically in the brain and thoughts can be measured through brain activity, what happens to that part of us? It made me think.