THIS ending is a doorway to a new beginning

Uncharted Territory

You probably thought this was going to be an email about walking through the “New Year” doorway into 2024 and telling 2023 not to let the door hit its sorry bootie on the way out!

To be honest, I was going to talk about the ending of every year being the beginning of a new year of possibility. But I decided to go in a completely different direction.

Let’s talk about death instead.

My biological father died at the beginning of November. He’d been sick for many years, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Even with all his health issues, he made it to 80! And, despite all his health issues, he had an enthusiastic love of life and his family, and he was almost always smiling and joking. In addition to inheriting the family dimples from him, I’m pretty sure he is the source of my tendency to laugh and smile most of the time.

I’ve also always been interested in life after death and love reading books on Near Death Experiences (NDE) and Nearing Death Experiences. I just finished the book After, in which Bruce Greyson, M.D. talks about his research into NDEs. The stories were fascinating, but I loved the approach he took to his research, skeptical but open-minded. I highly recommend it.

Death is just a doorway to another form of existence. It’s not the end. It’s the beginning of a new adventure into uncharted territory. My personal belief, and I think research and the personal stories of those who have experienced an NDE supports it, is that what lies on the other side of this life is something more magical than we can imagine.

In fact, just before my father took his last breath, he sat up and exclaimed, “Wow!” I imagine he was starting his journey through that doorway and was in awe at what he was seeing.

This life is also a gift, not to be wasted. It offers its own beauty and wonder, although it may not seem like it if you follow the news. Yes, there is a lot of horrible in the world AND there is a lot of good.

There are a lot of similarities in NDE accounts and one of them is this: after their NDE, they have a new appreciation and zest for life EVEN though what they had experienced on the other side was wonderful and loving and awe-inspiring…beyond their ability to even describe.

So, don’t deny yourself a connection to life by only focusing on what’s wrong in the world. While it’s not helpful to walk around with rose colored glasses blurring your vision of reality, there is much to be grateful for in this life. I don’t want to miss it. How about you?

RESOURCE

The best book I’ve read about Nearing Death Experiences is Final Gifts. I highly recommend this book to everyone caring for a terminally ill loved one.

And, if you haven’t already read it, you might be interested in my last blog post, “2 simple ways to manage stress in uncertain times”.