Smile Because It Happened

Smile Because It Happened

#9… This is my ninth article on life, death, grief, and signs.  To make sense of the journey I propose for you, I recommend that you, please, step through my articles in order.  They may be found at https://thegrieftoolbox.com/users/jamiepaulwesseler    I make this recommendation only because it is the journey this non-believer made to arrive where I am today in my faith as to what happens to us when we die.  I am afraid that if you do not gradually grow into the knowledge of NDEs, the well documented happenings and studies I will present to you here, near the end of my writings, may seem hard to accept… at least they would be for this author if I were dropped into the middle of what I am about to share with you the next three weeks.

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
–Dr. Seuss 1904-1991

Neurosurgeon Eben Alexander argued that near death experiences are impossible.  As stated on the back of his book, Proof of Heaven, as a highly trained neurosurgeon, he knew NDEs feel real, but they “are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress.”…until he returned from his journey after seven days in a coma.  “Alexander’s story is not a fantasy.  Before he underwent his journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience with any belief in heaven, God, or the soul.  Today Alexander is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I get goose bumps thinking what I read of his journey, his transformation from a professional with all of the answers… to his spiritual growth and insights after his “we’ll show you professional neurosurgeon” NDE journey.  When picking someone to be a messenger, Eben Alexander, M.D., was a superior selection, as opposed to say this writer:  Who would believe me any more than the thousands before me who have reported NDEs?  But, now entering the arena is an expert on neuroscience -- a once non-believer who was made to…. see the light in more ways than one.

I was skeptical when I first read the cover of his book, but Dr. Alexander does not dissatisfy:  He scientifically tears apart what happened to him as I would have wanted from another independent source.  And while he was hesitant to go forward with his story… after all, he would gain no credibility within his profession and, in all likelihood, he would be ostracized, but he felt it was his duty to deliver the message.

Next week’s featured doctor found himself in the same position; and in week eleven’s entry, I have an equally challenging personal statement/claim:  I am cautioned by most everyone not to come forward with the message I am to convey… to downplay my observation, yet I am the only person staged to bring it to humankind...  I asked for it and I got it delivered to me, just as Dr. Alexander was delivered to his light of vision, and next week’s psychiatrist was presented with his mission of conveying a message.  Our obligation to humankind overrules our good common senses, our better judgments.  But, we feel blessed and honored to have been granted the opportunity… to be given the responsibility.  

NDEs have changed lives in numerous ways:  ministers who have come back and resigned from the ministry claiming what they had experienced is not what they had been preaching… people, as we, who  feared death and had doubt of what awaits us on the other side experienced such peace and acceptance of the next realm, so much so that they did not want to return here to be with us for another round… having to wait until later to go home, and I have seen personalities who could not think of anyone’s needs over their own who returned with a care for everyone around them but not for themselves, after their experiences and lessons on the other side.

If you have come to accept NDEs, please “go the distance” with Dr. Eben Alexander and his tale of, Proof of Heaven.  I would tell you more of his lessons and messages, but I would not do his work justice by summarizing his experience.

Outside of Dr. Alexander’s experience, I want to share one other insight many NDE survivors have reported:  Life on Earth, and in other realms, is designed to teach us spiritual growth lessons.  Some souls (and possibly you) choose to join us to help us grow; they, as possibly we, have committed to be catalysts for the soulful growth of our spiritual families.  For example, a soul who acquires Alzheimer’s, or develops cancer, struggles with alcoholism or drug addiction, even suicide may very well have volunteered to take on that charge in order to help their loved ones develop soulful lessons of coping, patience, care of another, compassion… even “more” experience for spiritual growth through grief.  The concept may seem convenient or self-serving in justifying horrific life events, but this is what we are shown… what is explained to us on the other side via NDEs and at our eventual earthly deaths.  You will read of this if you continue your studies of NDEs, either by talking with those you know or through reading of such accounts:  Life on Earth is one location where our souls come to grow… a spiritual classroom, so to speak.  

Dear reader, nothing I have shared with you in any of my entries has been made up.  Consider that statement, please.  Nothing has been fabricated.  The reports of near death experiences by loved ones and strangers as personally told to me… all reporting very similar experiences… being greeted only by deceased loved ones and highly developed spiritual beings, never wanting to return to the living, but annoyed that they had to return to us -- looking forward to the time they will get to return to that world of love.  Imagine having that belief and confidence about dying!

Every sign I have shared with you in weeks four through seven is as I have written of it… every one of them, and I have several more I have not mentioned, for what reasons I am not really certain, when they are equally compelling.

We now have professionals willing to sacrifice their professional standings to bring to you, to us… from a distant realm, messages of that other world.  Some experiences were so transforming that the returning souls have completely changed their professions, their perspectives about the purpose of life here on Earth… and I have witnessed those changes in a co-worker, a friend, and a relative.

So, why do we grieve if our loved ones are in such a marvelous place as reported to us?  What a stupid question.  But when I really think about my grief, that debilitating grief that once contained caustic hate for Patrick’s life being cut short, I don’t think Patrick would want to return now any more than those who have gone and returned.  And next week’s introduction of our featured psychiatrist will substantiate that even further.  

My grief is due to the emptiness I feel for not having Patrick in my life…. that of my personal gratification.  Possibly the doctor I should be listening to is “Dr.” Seuss!   “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”  I believe Patrick is saying the same thing when I see those butterflies…  “Dad, don’t cry because it’s over; smile because we happened.”  We shared a life as we have long before… many times before, and we will again someday share lives together… as you, the reader, will learn of next week from our psychiatrist.

In parting this week, I would like to offer you another thought on this theme:  Please don’t live for the deceased (who are very much alive); live for those with whom you’re making life happen with right now on this earth, and smile because it all happened because you made it happen with them.  Take notice and laugh at every Cat in the Hat, because it is not every day that you may get to eat Green Eggs and Ham… and be fondly remembered as is Dr. Seuss, by doing a Thing One or Thing Two with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Until the next time…