The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You (28 page)

I
T’S
A
LREADY
B
EGUN

You’ve been there, when …

Nothing made sense,
except for life’s beauty.

Nothing made sense,
except for how much you loved someone.

Nothing made sense,
except for how much someone loved you.

Nothing made sense,
except that you just knew that it must make sense, damn it!

And through these cracks the light got in. Seeing the obvious, questioning the contradictions, and noticing how others seemed to live under very different rules with very different results, the sleeping giant began to awaken. Right on time.

When there was pain, sadness, illness, or lack, truth was summoned. Truth, however, that at first would inevitably contradict the things you believed in, that had brought about the pain to begin with! If the truth had been present in the beginning, there’d have been no suffering. And until you were ready to embrace the truth, cycles of painful or uncomfortable experiences repeated. Finally, too weary to continue, you surrendered, ready to let go rather than face further insult, only to find that when your resistance dropped, your heart opened, love poured in, tears turned happy, and you were lifted into a higher love orbit that ever before.

T
AKING
I
T FROM
H
ERE

Want more love, now, today? Fearlessly see more truth, in spite of appearances, no matter how much it threatens what you’ve been comforted by so far. Brace yourself. Love unimaginable awaits those who still, now, find “safe harbor” in lies:

“Safe Harbor” Lies

1. People are mean.
   
2. God decides who gets what when.
   
3. Life is a test, or life is not fair.
   
4. Materialism corrupts.
   
5. I want to be loved for who I am.
   

Likely Cover-Up

1. I am mean; others are my excuse.
   
2. I am not worthy.
   
3. I have no control and no responsibility.
   
4. I don’t like being human/alive.
   
5. I resist life and I fear challenge.
   

Liberating Yet Scary Truth

1. I can and have to change first.
   
2. I am already good enough.
   
3. I accept full responsibility.
   
4. Money is pure spirit.
   
5. Bring it on!
   

Go for love. Dare to see the greater truths. There will always be justifications for every point in the first list, but they are fleeting and narrow. Whether deliberately or through nature’s natural balancing act, however, gradual and subtle changes in your life will eventually deliver you to love’s door. Take the bait. Don’t wait. Seek the simple truth in all matters. Choose to expand your thinking, otherwise new circumstances brought about under your confusion (TBT) will do so for you.

T
HE
U
PWARD
S
PIRAL

With every success you’re emboldened. With every surprise you become wiser. You laugh more, work less, play longer, feel better. And then something peculiar happens. The larger your manifestations become, the smaller are your succeeding desires. You no longer have to justify yourself. You start to change from the inside out. Yet successes continue; even as you want less, you get more. This is how abundant life is. Your priorities begin to shift. Everything seems so easy. You arrive on a plateau that confirms it’s not the material things that bring you the most joy but the pursuit of them. And not because of what the pursuit promised, but for all that it didn’t—the hidden gifts: new challenges, fears, and enemies. These were your greatest gifts!
Gifts
because they were met, faced, and befriended. They became the milestones of each journey and what you recall with the greatest fondness. You are not the same person you once were, yet you are; the world also seems to have changed, but it hasn’t. Life suddenly makes sense and you want to live forever.

Nothing made sense,
except for how much you loved someone.

S
ELFISH
S
ERVICE

As the expanse of your worldview broadens, you become aware of dreams you didn’t earlier know to dream and love you didn’t earlier know to give, and being of service and making a difference in the lives of others suddenly become what you most want to do. You’re humbled not only that you have this opportunity, but that you can now see it. You cry happy tears almost daily. You physically feel lighter, as if you could float. You spiritually feel love in an entirely new way, not as a choice but as a channel for something far greater. You judge nothing because you see yourself in everything. You blame no one because blame is the evasion of responsibility. Animals are drawn to you. Trees communicate with you. Rainbows follow you on land. Dolphins follow you at sea. The unseen becomes visible, and there is not a spot in space that isn’t filled and gurgling over with God, love, perfection, acceptance, and, most surprisingly, you—paintbrush in hand.

Yet with truth flowering before your very eyes all the more each day, a lingering sadness nags at your heart. You realize that this unbridled love is always, everywhere, even now as you read these words. Yet there are so many who do not see or feel it. Their lives and experiences seem to be polar opposites of the good and love you now feel. Your life is perfect except for this new sadness, which leads to desire. Those things you once wanted for yourself, most of which you already have, you now want for others. The things they want for themselves, you want for them. What you most want, selfishly, is to ease their pain and lighten their load.

And still, even more love, more glory, more opportunity shower down upon you.

T
HE
S
HOCKING
P
ERFECTION

As you think about those who do not share in the joy that you know is there for them, and as you take action to correct this imbalance, you discover the unthinkable … that many of their minds are closed
by choice!
That, when offered new ideas to think and choose from,
most choose the old!
They’re blinded by their illusions and trapped by their fears—resistant, dogmatic, and unbending.

And then it hits you. You were once where they are, yet you found your way to the truth. And in hindsight you realize that you once needed to be where you were so that you could be pushed through it to where you now are. You also realize that your path and the enlightenment that followed were inevitable; it’s the path of all in time and space. And so you also suddenly realize that just as you once chose to go through all you went through, with your own closed heart and mind, to eventually stand in the love you’ve found today,
so, too, are they on their own custom-designed pilgrimage to reach the same love you’ve found.
You see the perfection. It’s so astonishing. Totally shocking. Utterly perfect. Everyone is where they most
want
to be; everyone’s living their dreams, right now, even when they claim otherwise, even when it hurts, which is exactly what will eventually lead everyone home to more truth, more light, more love. Just as it’s done for you.

Not that you won’t lavish yourself on serving others; the idea of reaching those who have not yet been reached,
who are ready or nearly ready,
of creating ripples of good that roll throughout eternity, is far too irresistible. You will never let a moment go by without your hands and arms fully extended for the chance to lift others higher into the light. But gone will be the days of
selfless
service, self-denial, or self-sacrifice. No longer saddened and dragged down by the chaos in the minds of others, you will no longer be disappointed by those who need more time. And never again will you put off your own happiness when those you love choose to be unhappy. Instead, you will honor all that speaks to your heart and shine your light for the joy of it, for the good it will do you and thereby others, and because your dreams are yours for a reason: to lead you forever more into greater and greater love.

T
HE
F
INAL
F
RONTIER

There was a time in space on earth when it was believed that violence was the only way to exert control, live deliberately, and claim what was rightfully yours. Accordingly, evidence appeared to those who believed. And for a very long time, few, if any,
thought
otherwise.

There was a time when it was believed that worshipping the correct gods or idolizing the right prophets was the only way to successfully rule an empire; just look at ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome,
and most of the world today
. Accordingly, evidence appeared to those who believed. And for a very long time, few, if any,
thought
otherwise.

There was a time when it was believed that slavery, dishonesty, or intimidation was necessary to be economically successful in the world. Accordingly, evidence appeared to those who believed. And for a very long time, few, if any,
thought
otherwise.

There was a time when it was believed that men were superior to women, certain skin tones were better than others, or certain nationalities, cultures, or values were superior to others. Accordingly, evidence appeared to those who believed. And for a very long time few if any
thought
otherwise.

Look to life’s beauty for truth. And look to what hurts for its beauty.

None of these views were ever true, except to those who chose to believe in them. They were and are fleeting paradigms that briefly became self-evident, causing great pain until giving way to greater truths. You have within you the faculty to discern from infinite possibilities the truth you need to live a happy and fulfilling life today. To deduce what you need—that you are of God, you chose time and space, you knew what you were doing, it will all make sense one day, and to really get your groove on and have the time of your life, seek comfort in knowing:

1. Everything is God,
   
2. Thoughts become things, and
   
3. Love is all.
   

You are adored.

From a Dearly Departed

Dear Wedge—

I’ve never cried as much as I have here. Or laughed.

I thought I knew what to expect when I died—you know, either “God, judgment, a few deceased relatives” or “lights out, game over, absolute nothingness”—but I had no idea. Nothing could have prepared me for all I’ve found. How the whole world had it so wrong is beyond me.

How is it that our mere existence alone didn’t prove to us there’s intelligence in the Universe? That the whole place has a purpose, that life is good, that people are awesome?

As if there was something to risk in believing what’s clearly obvious.

If I had had just an inkling of the truth about life and what I now know while I was alive, things would have been so different for me! Imagine living amid the all-or-nothing romance of time and space while learning how to change what you don’t like, add more of what you do, and never be afraid of anything! Where everything is so precious, ephemeral, and fantastic! Where there is so much love, love, love, everywhere, always.

Why didn’t I see it then? If I had known what I hope to convey to you, the magnanimous nature of reality, my confidence and optimism would have soared and I would have been unstoppable instead of constantly wondering about and searching for what was missing in me and what was wrong with the world.

Nothing is wrong, dear Wedge! You are gorgeous, life is beautiful, and everything is exactly as it should be. In the twinkling of an eye this will all be so clear to you, too, once your life is over. Except then it will be over. Don’t wait, Wedge. Go, live, and be the precious wonder that you are! Dance, sing, follow your heart, and know you are provided for. You are loved. You are where you most wanted to be, with those you most wanted to be with, doing the kinds of things you most wanted to be doing, and with infinite possibilities to do even more.

Of course, you still have unfulfilled dreams, challenges, and things you want to change! That’s why you’re there! To step up and move toward them, to go where you’ve never been, and to think what you’ve never thought. Let the serendipities of these goals and how they coincide so perfectly with your spiritual growth be evidence that this entire odyssey of life was and is divinely inspired, and thus at any time going forward you can count on divine intervention—your own!

It’s all so clear here: that life on earth is an ascension process; that everything you learn lifts you higher. That no matter what happens next, because it does you will be able to love more—someone else or yourself, same-same. That giving love eventually becomes an even greater need than receiving love, an addiction that afflicts all really old souls. And that this transformation is possible because we chose to “risk all,” going where we could not lose, fail, or be made less but where we thought we could!

Therein lies our test, Wedge, a test of perceptions: of what to focus on, of what to believe in, in spite of appearances, while remembering that whatever does show up is a symbol of what we understand and of what we don’t. Look to life’s beauty for truth. And look to what hurts for its beauty.