Death Is Just the Beginning

Exploring the second phase of life.

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and founder of BestPsychicDirectory.com. You’re reading his articles on Bob Olson Connect.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

Most people think of a human lifetime as beginning when we’re born and ending when we die. I know that when my father died in 1997, I thought of his death as an ending. Because I had not yet begun my investigation of the afterlife, I assumed that the end of our human life meant the end, period—lights out.

From that naïve perspective, one might think that death is a get-out-of-jail-free card, meaning there’s no accountability once we’re gone. I believe that some people who take their lives to escape the consequences of their actions erroneously think this is true. I have learned that this accountability is half the purpose of living a human life. We, as spiritual beings, learn from it.

Once I investigated life after death, I discovered that death is not an ending—that consciousness survives death. This means our spirit leaves our body here in the physical dimension and returns home to the spiritual dimension. This taught me that death is just the beginning of a second phase of life. Said another way, our physical death is just the beginning of the second half of the story. With this paradigm shift, the first half of life is our human experience from birth to death. The second half of life is our spiritual experience after death, during which we witness the ripple effects of our physical lifetime.

I’ve come to refer to this concept as “the second half of life.” When looking at a spirit’s human journey, the first half involves the experiences our spirits have inside our bodies. The second half involves the experiences our spirits have in the spiritual realm after we die. This article explores the second part, including what it means to someone who has died and what it means to us while we live.

The Second Half of Life Begins at Death

I’ve written about what happens after physical death in other articles. I’ll give you a brief version here: We die. We see our dead body. We’re met by a spirit guide who emanates intense love, comforting us to feel safe. We find ourselves moving through a tunnel of light that draws us back home to the spirit world. The closer we get to the bright light of home, the more love and joy we feel. Before we know it, we are greeted by deceased loved ones who have come to celebrate our human lifetime and our return home. Once this reunion is complete, we experience a life review, witnessing our imprint on people and the world due to our past behavior.

It's essential to distinguish between the life review and the second half of life. The life review is all about the past. You called Tommy a name, and Tommy cried. It happened, but now it’s over. You get to relive this experience in the life review, now with the advantage of feeling how your name-calling affected Tommy. The life review exists to catch us up on our past behavior and how our behavior affected other people, society, and the world. In this way, we learn from reviewing the past.

In contrast to the life review, the second half of life is not about the past. It’s actually about the future that unfolds following your death. People in spirit don’t have the same relationship with time as physical beings but can still follow us in our time-based reality. So once we’ve witnessed how our behavior as human beings has affected the past in the life review, we are ready to witness the ripple effect of our lives in real-time following our death.

This means we can watch how our impact on the world now affects our loved ones. For instance, we can watch our children grow up and recognize how our influence has affected their lives after we’re gone. If you inspired your nephew to play hockey, write books, or play a musical instrument, you’ll observe how your inspiration benefited him from your front-row seat in the afterlife. This view is even better than our perspective while we’re alive because you can feel the joy and pride he feels while doing the activity.

Of course, influence isn’t all about what we do or how we serve; it’s also about who we are as human beings. If you’re a compassionate, loving, kind, and generous person, those qualities will be noticed by others. If someone witnesses you stopping to assist a person in need, they may imitate that behavior in their own life. I’ll give you some examples of what my father has witnessed in me from the spiritual realm.

A Real-Life Example of the Second Half of Life

My father passed when I was thirty-four. I’m now sixty-one, so there have been many years that he’s watched me grow. The years since his passing have allowed him to see how his influences shaped who I became from the age of thirty-four to the age of sixty-one.

I’ll admit that there have been times when his influence had a negative effect on me. For example, my father had some limiting beliefs about money that I had to overcome. His attitudes affected my own beliefs subconsciously. This wasn’t something he did on purpose. He merely passed down beliefs he had learned from others and his interpretation of his experiences. I eventually became aware of these limiting beliefs, but, like him, I struggled financially until I did.

My father anticipated his negative influence on me, so he often told me, “If I’m not serving as a good example, at least you’re learning from me as a bad example.” It was true. My father made some poor choices in life, and I saw the negative consequences he suffered due to those choices. Even as a boy, I consciously told myself I wouldn’tbe like that. I’m not going to make those same mistakes.

For example, he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and died of lung cancer. He also abused alcohol in ways that affected his relationships, family, and career. His negative example in these ways positively impacted me because I purposely chose to live my life differently. He has witnessed these favorable effects from his view in the spiritual dimension.

My father also served as a positive example in many ways. He taught me how to be generous. He once went out of his way to give a stranger a ride home and then gave the man his last ten bucks as he dropped him off. He also taught me that a man can be loving without sacrificing his masculinity. He was never afraid to express his love and gratitude to his family, friends, and coworkers. He was also able to laugh at himself when he made mistakes. I have emulated this behavior, which I appreciated and adored in him.

The Ripple Effect of Your Life

This subject is interesting because it makes us think about how the ripple effect of our lives will affect others, not just today but tomorrow and in the distant future. It gives us pause to think about the lasting impact of our behavior, not because anyone will judge us in the spirit world (because no one does), but because we will be judging ourselves when we get there.

We must consider how our lives serve as examples to others. What we do and say affects our neighbors, friends, and even people we don’t know who are paying attention to us. We might be influencing children without knowing it. I know I was influenced as a boy by people I barely knew. This included the parents of my friends, people who lived on my street, teachers in my schools, and relatives who I only saw occasionally. They probably never thought about how they might influence me by things they said or did, but they will eventually become aware of the ripples they’ve created once they’re in spirit.

This ripple effect extends beyond people. It also includes our impact on animals, nature, society, the environment, and the world. If we’re responsible for destroying a forest, we will have a front-row seat as to how our actions ultimately affect insects, plants, and wildlife in the years after our death. Yet if we helped to replant thousands of trees in an area once devastated by man or nature, we will also witness the beneficial results of those efforts.

Final Thoughts on the Second Half of Life

When loved ones cross over to the spiritual dimension, they quickly learn that death isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. After their life review, they begin witnessing the ripple effects of their lifetime on the physical plane. Knowing this can help us form a new relationship with our loved ones in spirit.

When they were alive, our deceased loved ones saw us through the filter of their individual lenses and perspectives. Naturally, their view of us was distorted due to their history with us. However, the moment they died, they were able to see us with perfect clarity. Because of their experience in the second half of life, they have gained a new perspective on the human condition. They now understand us in ways they couldn’t while alive. This is why it’s natural and easy for people in spirit to be forgiving, compassionate, and loving despite any harsh words or circumstances before they passed.

Many people find comfort and relief from knowing that their deceased loved one is now aware of how their words or actions affected others. It also helps people to know that their loved one in spirit can feel their love for them despite any rift before they passed. This simple shift in perspective can be healing, comforting, and hopeful.

I hope you’re enjoying your summer. Keep smiling.

Love,
Bob

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers about the Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the top directory of psychics, mediums, and animal communicators, BestPsychicDirectory.com. This is Bob Olson Connect, where you can read Bob’s articles before they become books.

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