Making space for death

A few people I have known have chosen to step out of their bodies this week. Neither was anything I was anticipating. It can be shocking enough when one person you know dies suddenly, but when it happens in sets, it makes you think a little harder about what life is all about, and what role we have in its timespan.

I know some people say that death happens in "threes": when three people you know will die within a short period of time. While our analytical minds tend to notice patterns like these, we lose track of the fact that people die every second of every day. As one friend puts it, we all have an expiration date, and we don't know when that time will come, but it always comes. We just tend to notice it more when it happens to someone we know (or know of). And no, it didn't happen in threes this time.

This is just an example of how we tend to be superstitious about death. Another is pretending it won't happen. It's almost as if we talk about it, it will cause it to happen. That is not true. We leave when it is time, and not a moment sooner!

One of my favorite cousins was one of the people who stepped out this past week. My reaction surprised me. I found myself crying. That might not sound unusual, but I don't usually shed tears over someone's transition into the next world. I have always seen it as a natural part of life, but this time, it seemed different. I cried more than I did when my own parents died. But then I thought about it...

She is 50 years old, with a husband and 11-year-old twins. She had a fulfilling, rewarding career. She has successfully battled several illnesses, including cancer. But then new cancer came. I knew she had been sick again, but this was unexpected. And it wasn't the cancer that killed her. It was the treatment, and how her body responded to it. A beautiful life suddenly ending, leaving a family stunned by sudden change. That is why I cried.

I suppose we all go through this at some point in our life. It is part of the grieving process. I suppose in my own experience, most of the people I have known had a decline before death came, giving me a chance to grieve and accept the inevitable in advance. In some cases, like both of my parents, it was clearly time, and it was okay.

Throughout my life, I have reminded myself that death is a natural part of life. I see beauty in death, when it follows a meaningful life. It is a gift, a reward of sorts, for a life well-lived. This is something that we all come to deal with eventually, either through the circumstances around us, or in our own experience when that time comes for us.

The lesson is this is that we cannot change the inevitable. We can fight it, and make ourselves miserable, or we can embrace it, and see it for the reality that it is. It doesn't mean we aren't sad when someone decides to leave (and I do believe we have a decision in our exit, even when it happens suddenly, or in an unpleasant way). We come to this life to serve a purpose, and when that purpose is done, we move on. In some cases, it is the act of moving on which serves as the lesson in itself.

Death teaches us how strong and resilient we can be. It reminds us how precious life is, and how we should make the best use of every moment, because we never know when that expiration date is going to come up. If you are living the best life you possibly can, be proud. If you aren't, now is the only time you have to change it, so make it good, even when things don't seem so good around you.

Make space in your life for death. Allow it to happen gracefully, whether it is someone you love, or yourself. It will happen. That is guaranteed. You can choose to punish yourself over something that cannot be stopped, or you can give yourself permission to allow it to happen when the time comes. It may not be what we want, but it will change your perspective when it happens.

Just as importantly, don't be sad for the person who died. Find a way to be happy for them. No matter what their circumstances were when it happened, those circumstances no longer exist. Your loved one is safe, happy and free from pain, fear, or anything else their human body might have experienced. And don't be sad for the people left behind. They will be okay too. That is the time to be near them, to show your love and support, and to give them (and yourself!) the encouragement and space to find their way.

It isn't about sadness. Yes, sadness may come, but that doesn't mean you have to be unhappy. There is a difference. The process of death is about love. Find reasons to celebrate a life well-lived, and share your love in any way you can. (Love you, E... and A, too!)

Many blessings...

Dis-covering the truth

Watch out, we're going deep today!

I was thinking one day about all of the inventions that have ever been created. Such imagination and inspiration are needed to create something from a thought, and it is amazing what our thoughts have created over the millennia. I have previously mentioned that everything we have ever experienced or seen began with a thought - a thought by a person, or a thought by Divine Mind, or God, or however you perceive the Source of all that is. The idea had to come from somewhere. While I admire this imagination, I also contemplate the concept that everything that will ever be invented already exists. This is a challenging idea to wrap your head around, but maybe there is truth in it. Crazy? Maybe not.

These ideas led me to an even deeper thought - about "discovery." We hear about how Columbus discovered America, and how scientists have discovered a vaccination or a medication to cure a disease, but what does "discover" really mean? If you break down the word, you have a prefix "dis-" and a verb "cover." "Dis-" means "opposite of," and "cover" means to hide from sight or to conceal. Put them together, and you create a word that means the opposite of conceal: to "uncover" or to "reveal."

Now look at it in the context of what we typically know as a "discovery." We typically use the word to represent something new that was not previously known or apparent. In our minds, a "discovery" is a brand new concept never thought of before - an invention of sorts. But is it really new, or are we just newly aware of it?

Think about the "discovery" of America. Christopher Columbus didn't discover America. The Vikings didn't discover America. Ponce de Leon didn't discover America. America was already there, and already inhabited by human life long before any explorer came close to approaching the American continents. But the awareness of this place to outsiders was simply unknown. Someone, on several occasions, simply stumbled across it during their adventures. They didn't discover anything, at least not in the way we typically associate the word.

They dis-covered a place that was previously unknown to the people of Europe and Asia, uncovering the knowledge which was revealed to them through their efforts. The same goes for medical discoveries, technological discoveries, or anything else that has been new to our human awareness. These things were not created from nothing. They were created through an idea - a thought, which revealed the possibility, which then manifested through a creative process beginning with the person whose thought inspired the idea.

Were these ideas truly out of the blue, or was the potential for them always there, waiting for someone to "dis-cover" them? This is not an easy question to answer. Our ego minds like to think that our human minds are the source of our creative ideas, but wasn't the ability for that idea to manifest always there, just waiting for someone to figure it out? Maybe that is the case with all things.

The Universe is designed to work a specific way, governed by the laws of nature, regardless of whether or not we understand those laws and how they work. In that regard, the possibility for something to exist within the realm of natural law has always existed, simply waiting to be revealed by the creative mind of someone who finally realized it was possible!

Did iPads exist in ancient Egypt? Was a cure for polio around in pre-Columbian South America? In a way, yes! Those specific physical manifestations did not yet exist, but the possibility for them to exist certainly did, or they would not exist now. It just took us a long time to realize it!

Think of all of the things that we as humans have yet to learn about, and even things that we see today, which we can't really explain. You still can't explain to me how there are countless conversations and pictures randomly floating around us on radio waves, but somehow each individual message or image finds the right device to display it in a way that our human mind can discern them from all of the other billions of messages that aren't meant for us. Honestly, I'm not sure anyone can really explain it, only that scientists have "dis-covered" that it is possible, and found a way to make it work for the purposes we need. There is so much more yet to be revealed.

One of my favorite sayings is, "Mind activates Principle, which produces Results." In the book Psychogenesis: Everything Begins in Mind, Jack Addington devotes chapters to the heart of this concept: that everything begins with a thought. This is the truth of the Universe. What isn't known is where that thought originates. Maybe everything that will ever be thought has always existed from the beginning, and we are just connecting with that vast source of knowledge. Maybe there are helpers: guardian angels, spirit guides, the whisper of God - whatever terminology you prefer - to help us connect the dots before we even realize the dots are there. Or maybe we really are coming up with ideas from our own sheer will.

Even if ideas aren't coming from our own mind, does this mean we don't have a part in that process of creation? Of course not. Without our own curiosity, imagination, creativity, and perseverance, we simply wouldn't care, and nothing would come of it. To me, it's like our mind is the car, and the knowledge of the universe is the gasoline that helps it run. We still have a part in putting the gasoline in the car, or it won't go anywhere. It is this process of acting as co-creator with the Universe that leads us to dis-cover the things that were previously unknown.

So the lesson in all of this? Never doubt your ideas. Everything you have ever experienced, seen, heard or felt began with a thought. Your thoughts are no more or less valid than anyone else's, so who's to say that it isn't in your path to dis-cover something amazing? I will close with a thought to ponder, which I shared on social media several years ago: "You don't need potential. Potential depends on the future. You have everything you have ever needed. Right now. Do something with it. Today!"

What are you dis-covering today? You will be amazed at what will be revealed! 

Many blessings...