What Death Teaches About Life

Unexpected benefits in life gained from learning about the afterlife.

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.

Photo by Tyler Quiring on Unsplash

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with death. When my wife, Melissa, and I began dating, she recognized this fascination and gave me a book titled Don’t Be Afraid to Die. That is especially weird because I was only 14. But even at that age, I knew there was something to learn from this subject that nobody wanted to discuss. For instance, when I was 10 years old and my grandfather passed, nobody told me that he’d died. I just happened to notice his room was empty for a week, given that he was living with us at the time. Not until I asked where he was, did anyone tell me what had happened.

When I was 34 years old, my father died. It was 1997, and for the first time in my life, I wondered if there was life after death. Where did Dad go, if anywhere? I was a private investigator at the time, and Melissa suggested I use my skills as a private eye to investigate the afterlife. It was at this time that I realized that my fascination wasn’t with death; I was fascinated with what was beyond death. I just never had enough experience with death to make the connection.

My investigation of the afterlife led me to have extraordinary experiences. I’ve experienced spirit communication with mediums, past-life regressions, between-life regressions, after-death communications, spirit communication using hypnosis, as well as interviews with people who’ve had near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, deathbed visions, dream visitations, and so much more.

I’ve now investigated life after death for 26 years. During that time, I often heard the comment that I should focus more on life than death. What many people don’t understand is that my investigation of what happens when we die has taught me as much about life as the afterlife.

At some point along the way, my experiences researching this field have made me a better human being. I’m more loving and more compassionate, and I feel a greater sense of inner peace and purpose than I ever did when I never gave the afterlife a second thought. I attribute this transformation to the knowing I gained about life and death from my research.

This knowing did not occur as one event. It came as a process. More importantly, it was a subtle process that enveloped me gradually because of my experiences. Said another way, what I learned about life during my investigation of the afterlife was less intellectual and more experiential. Rather than memorize information, I became aware of an internal wisdom I never knew existed.

I didn’t notice it right away. I first recognized this inner wisdom in my behavior. I was responding to life in a new way. I was making choices differently than I once did. Without planning or expecting it, my spiritual experiences stemming from my research of life after death changed me. Before I knew it, I discovered that my work had taught me how to live a fuller life with greater love, joy, and inner peace regardless of whatever drama or chaos was happening around me.

I’m not sure at what point it happened, but when I came to know that the purpose of life is to have experiences—which can include negative experiences—I shifted my paradigm of God from entity to energy (Source Energy). It was then that I stopped looking at my challenges in life as signs that I was unlucky or was being ignored or punished by God for some reason. I now viewed myself as a spiritual being on a human adventure where everything has a purpose, even when bad things happen, because every moment is an experience.

If you’ve been reading my work, you know the profound effect Natalie Sudman’s near-death experience had on me. It helped me complete the puzzle on this subject that was missing a few pieces. Her experience is the perfect example of understanding how our souls think about human suffering, so I will repeat her story here.

Natalie’s near-death experience had pretty much ended, and she was waking up after her car had been hit by a roadside bomb. She was in a dreamlike state of mind—half in the spirit world and half in the physical world—when she realized that she might be blind in one eye due to her injuries. Because she was still straddling the ethereal veil, Natalie recognized that her soul was quite excited by this possibility of being blind in one eye because her soul had never had that experience before.

It's important to pause on that epiphany. Her soul wasn’t concerned, fearful, disappointed, or frightened. It was enthusiastic about this possible new experience that it had not yet known in any other lifetime.

Before investigating the afterlife, I might have thought that this idea of our souls being excited about an experience that could involve suffering was appalling. Because I believed that life was meant to be only light, laughter, and lollipops, I would not have been able to wrap my mind around the concept that life is about experiences. But now that my research had taught me otherwise, I was free from the suffering that comes from interpreting challenging experiences as punishment, bad luck, or being ignored by God. And while this change in perspective does not eliminate suffering, it certainly reduces the mental and emotional anguish that comes from these beliefs.

My investigation of life after death has taught me that experience is what happens to us, and our free will gives us the choice of how to respond to what happens. Take any experience that most people would consider negative, and I can find one person who reacts to that experience as a victim and one person who responds to that experience by making the best of it. The first person will experience more misery than the second, and all due to a single paradigm shift.

Because of my fascination with death and what follows it, I now understand why Source Energy and our souls allow such tragic events to happen. And I also appreciate the spiritual depth of these people who keep smiling despite their suffering. They inspire us, of course, but even more, they exemplify the power of our spirit. These people respond to life with love, which is all our souls know in the spirit world. And they remind us through their free will choices that we can be joyful and loving in the face of challenges, too.

I don’t know how I would respond to every tragic possibility in life. Still, investigating the afterlife has given me a greater chance of making the best of what happens rather than falling into victimhood. Even in my daily life, I live with less fear and greater inner peace when faced with challenges.

Equally important, understanding why bad things are allowed to happen to innocent people—children included—helps me focus my compassion on their suffering rather than be paralyzed by blame, fear, and judgment. Consequently, I believe that learning about life after death teaches us about life, which is why I encourage everyone to investigate the afterlife in whatever way works best for them.

Without a doubt, learning about the afterlife comforts our grief after loss and even eliminates our fear of death. But I never would have guessed 26 years ago that it could also teach us to be kinder, more compassionate, and more loving human beings as well.

Happy Friday, and have a wonderful weekend!

With love,
Bob

PS, I write my Tuesday articles to teach others to understand life after death as a stepping-stone toward improving one’s life. We have hundreds of members who benefit from those articles, like taking an ongoing course that offers weekly lessons for continued learning and growth. Members are also able to comment on articles and ask me questions. Below is a sampling of the articles our paid subscribers have been reading, which are instantly available if you choose to upgrade.

Ten Signs that Spirits Send Us: Are your deceased loved ones trying to tell you something?

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Why Does God Allow the Tragedies and Sufferings That Exist in the World?

Cremation or Burial: How do I know if my loved one in spirit wanted me to bury, cremate, or even keep his ashes at home or spread them somewhere?

Age in the Afterlife: Will I Recognize My Loved One When I Get There?

What Life is Like in the Afterlife: What we do after we’ve died and have gone home to the spirit world.

Was Your Loved One’s Death Painful, Scary, or Dark?: What the evidence reveals about the experience immediately following death.

The Big Question about Suicide: What happens in the afterlife to people who take their own life?

What Happens to the Soul after Miscarriage or Stillbirth: What I learned about the souls of children who pass due to miscarriage or stillbirth.

The Five Key Factors That Determine How and When We Die: A clear and digestible explanation to a complex question, offering a new level of inner peace around the subject of dying.

Will I See My Pet Again in the Afterlife?: What I discovered in my investigation of the afterlife to establish if pets have souls.

The Question of Hell: If there’s an afterlife, does that mean there’s also Hell? What I've learned in my 25-year investigation of life after death about Hell.

Will You Wait for Me in Heaven? How to Know if Your Loved One Will Reincarnate Before You Arrive.

The 7 Common Messages from Deceased Loved Ones During Readings with Mediums: This is what your loved ones in spirit most want you to know.

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.

If you know someone who might find comfort or peace from these articles, consider giving a membership to them as a birthday, holiday, or “Thinking of You” gift.