Deja vu! seen it before

I’m sure most everyone has experienced this phenomenon at one time or another. You know, feeling that you’ve been in a place or met someone before – even though you can’t remember exactly where or when.

The whole notion of Déjà vu is quite captivating, but yet unsettlingly strange. I’ve had that feeling before, but never in Panama and never so strongly as the other day. It happened on my morning walk. I always like going in a different direction each day; exploring new neighborhoods. As I was heading down a never before traveled street, I came upon a house that looked vividly familiar right down to its old Spanish colonial architecture, the shape of its distinctive windows and shutters and its worn earthy terra cotta exterior. I stood motionless starring at the intricately carved front door when suddenly it was opened by a smiling middle-aged woman.

I’m not sure why I stepped forward, but I did. And in doing so, the woman smiled more broadly and asked me how I enjoyed my weekend in Portobello. I was stunned by her question and astonished at her accuracy. How did this perfect stranger know that I had just returned from Portobello the day before? Is she a soothsayer? Or, is this a Déjà vu experience for her?

From my college days, I have always been curious about human instinctive abilities. I learned that Déjà vu is the experience of feeling certain that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. Incidentally, it’s quite common among adults and children alike, with 70% of people reporting to having experienced it at least once. It is also associated with psychic abilities such as clairvoyance and extra-sensory perception.

Now, I certainly don’t proclaim to have any telepathic skills, but I do believe in the most recent scientific findings that déjà vu is the memory of dreams – the sense that what you have dreamed is now a relevant present action that is taking place right here right now. Of course there are those who believe in reincarnation and theorize that déjà vu is caused by fragments of past-life memories being jarred to the surface of the mind by familiar surroundings or people.

By the way, the middle aged woman who knew that I had just returned from a weekend in Portobello is a self-employed private detective identified only as Monarch. Knowing that, I assumed the source of her accuracy was not the result of some instinctive talent. Rather, I guessed that she had been working on a case in Portobello and just happened to have noticed me.

Upon asking her if that were the situation, she smiled broadly again and simply said, “No. But we all have powerful innate abilities if we just take the time to apply them.” Then, she closed the door.