Five Lessons I Learned About Life By Investigating the Afterlife
My investigation of the afterlife gave me extraordinary insights about life itself. These beneficial lessons have helped my peace of mind as well as my relationships.
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In the late 1990s, my father died, which led me to use my skills as a private investigator to investigate the afterlife. What I didn’t know was that I was beginning a twenty-five-year journey that would teach me as much about life as it would death. That’s what I want to share with you now: the five lessons I learned about life by investigating the afterlife.
1. Challenges in Life Are Expected
So many folks believe that something has gone wrong in their life when they experience disappointment, tragedy, suffering, loss, or pain. But no one promised us only positive experiences in our human lives. We learn just as much, if not more, from our challenging experiences as we do from our more pleasant ones.
What I discovered from my experiences with mediumship, past-life regressions, and near-death experiences, is that our souls choose a human life in order to have experiences that we’re unable to have in the spirit world.
Because there is no death, fear, illness, pain, or hatred in the afterlife, our souls choose a physical life to know these experiences and, thereby, more deeply understand the love, joy, and inner peace that we know as spiritual beings. Consequently, we learn from the dichotomy of experiencing the opposite sides of what we know in the spirit world.
2. It’s How We Respond to What Happens to Us That Matters
People who have had near-death experiences teach us that experience is what happens to us, but it is our free will that gives us the choice of how to respond to what happens to us.
Take any experience that most people would consider negative, and we can find someone who reacted to that experience as a victim and someone who reacted to that experience by making the best of it. The latter inspires us, of course, but even more these stories exemplify the power of free will and the human spirit.
3. Our Actions Create a Ripple Effect
Life-between-lives regressions, near-death experiences, and mediumship teach us that upon our return home to the spirit world, we as spirits experience what’s called a “life review.” What’s most amazing about this life review process is that we get to know and feel the physical, emotional, and psychological impact we had on people because of things we said and did in our lifetime.
This insight inspires us to be better human beings. Knowing that our behavior in life has a ripple effect that potentially touches the lives of countless people encourages us to be more mindful of how we behave and interact with others.
4. Forgiveness Is for Our Benefit
By studying after-death communications, dream visitations, and channeling, we learn that forgiveness is less about letting the other person off the hook and more about relieving ourselves of suffering.
When we carry the weight of blaming someone with contempt, it is actually our burden to carry. But when we release them of that blame and contempt (while maintaining healthy boundaries), we release ourselves of holding that negative energy inside us, which raises our overall vibration of love.
5. There Is an Evolution to Our Truth and Knowing
We all have our own truth, which is forever expanding with increased experience, knowledge, and wisdom. This is not to say that there isn’t a single truth—one universal truth—but being human, we can only know truth from our own individual filters. In other words, we may never fully understand truth until we return home to the spiritual dimension.
The reason your truth and my truth may be different is because our brain functions, past experiences, beliefs, and education all filter our present experiences in a manner that affects our interpretation of each experience and, therefore, our ultimate knowing. That doesn’t make one person right and another person wrong. It makes your knowing and my knowing both perfect for each of us, even if they are miles apart.
What this means is that your truth today is perfect for you today. This also means that your truth today might change tomorrow if you have new experiences that add to your knowing. It doesn’t make yesterday’s knowing wrong; it merely adds a new layer to it, a layer that deepens your understanding at the knowing level.
Final Words on the Five Lessons I Learned about Life
I share these five lessons about life with you because I find they give me peace of mind. For example, I find it comforting to know that challenges in life are expected (lesson one). Some people interpret bad things happening as God punishing them or ignoring their plight. Imagine the inner peace that comes from feeling like these challenges are a normal part of our growth and expansion.
I also find it empowering to know that I have the ability to choose how I respond to what happens to me (lesson two). I know that I’m far better off when I choose to make the best of a negative experience than when I view myself as a victim. Victimhood disempowers us. Choosing to make the best of our circumstances empowers us.
We know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of criticism, judgment, or cruelty. Yet our human minds can easily forget that our actions affect others as well. Being reminded that our actions create ripples that can affect many people (lesson three), it prompts us to make more conscious choices out of love and respect.
A lot of people can be stubborn to forgive, thinking they are letting the other person off the hook. So it’s valuable to know that forgiveness is more about benefitting ourselves by eliminating our need to carry that anger and contempt (lesson four). Think of how long you might have carried that weight, and what a relief it will be to unburden yourself of it, especially knowing that you can forgive while also maintaining a boundary to prevent being hurt again by that person.
Finally, it’s easy for us to get into arguments about what is true or not true. When we realize that everyone’s truth is dependent upon their own experiences, knowledge, learned beliefs, and brain functions (lesson five), we can relax our convictions about truth by understanding that all human beings are forever expanding their ability to know truth. Consequently, when we come to realize we don’t know it all, it gives us permission to let others believe what they want to believe without us needing to correct them.
I find that these five lessons about life, which I learned while investigating the afterlife, have helped my peace of mind as well as my relationships. I hope you find them equally as beneficial, which is why I’ve shared them. Thank you for reading my article, and would love to hear from you in the comments section.
With love and kindness,
Bob
Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of two books, Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the reputable directory of psychics and mediums, BestPsychicDirectory.com. His newest venture is Bob Olson Connect, where you can read Bob’s articles before they become books.
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The audio for this article is in the podcast area.
Hi Bob-
My son passed away or transitioned in 2016. It was then that I began my “investigation” of the afterlife. I visited a few mediums, read tons of books, & listened to many podcasts specifically to do w/ the afterlife. It became an obsession & a passion of mine. I’ve followed most if not all of your podcasts & read your books. I’m now reading your articles & love them!!! This article is absolutely the truth. I agree with every word, & feel since my son transitioned, I have also learned these truths. Thanks for being there Bob & for all the things I’ve learned from u!
Love & light from a friend