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Thursday, August 23, 2018

Mindful Living

There are patterns of Aftereffects of Psychological Changes associated with near-death-experiences (NDE) according to P.M.H. Atwater, L.H.D.  These are:

Loss of the fear of death, more spiritual and less religious, easily engage in abstract thinking, more philosophical, more generous and charitable than before, form expansive concepts of love while at the same time challenged to initiate and maintain satisfying relationships,  less competitive, convinced of a life purpose, rejection of previous limitations in life and "normal" role-playing, heightened sensations of taste-touch-texture-smell, increased intuitive/psychic abilities plus the ability to know or "re-live" the future, charismatic, a child-like sense of wonder and joy, less stressed, more detached and objective, easily absorbed ("merge into" whatever is focused on), hunger for knowledge and learning, highly curious.
An Early Escape '84

When you might ask, did Rhonda experience an NDE? My NDE occurred between the age of 50 and 60 and is not attributed to a one-time event. I did not stop breathing nor did my heart stop in a hospital ER. Neither did I have a floating above myself while undergoing heart surgery. My NDE is a little more complicated. 

I lost my father and mother to cancer before either reached age 50. I lost one grandparent before he reached 40 and another in her late sixties; cancer again. Needless to say, longevity has not graced my family. As a matter of fact, I never thought I would reach age fifty based on family history. Certainly never fathomed sixty and now seventy.  

Just as a catastrophic event could awaken one to seeing life differently, my NDE occurred over a decade. I am not minimizing the trauma of a true NDE, however there does not need to be one-time NDE to cause one to “reject previous limitations”. In my case, the realization that every day going forward is a gift to be lived, germinated and took root over a decade.    

Surviving into my sixties and now seventies is exhilarating. Forget thinking about getting older as declining and limiting. Every day is a privilege and is to be lived/enjoyed. I am not living in some land of denial and know full well that limitations will occur. Just not today.  

As a child I would repeat a prayer “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep...”; You know the rest. Anything could occur at any time. What will it take for you to wake up and see the world differently and take advantage of your "today?" 

What would you like to do that you have not given yourself permission? The most precious gift of all is "time" that you now posses in this moment. Given that gift, what do you want the next day, month, year, decade to become?     

Escape if necessary. However, by all means enjoy your gifted life today and tomorrow and hopefully many, many more tomorrows. 




7 comments:

  1. What a truly beautiful, positive, and uplifting story, Rhonda! You are absolutely right. We really should enjoy and appreciate the lives we are given, especially in today's world where too often we have our noses stuck in our smartphones, tablets, what-have-you.

    Sometimes it just takes a nice story like this to remind us.

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    2. Hi Janet. Thank you for the comment. There are times we can get so busy we forget to live and enjoy the moment. Great point about our electronic gadgets.

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    3. Being mindful in life is very important, and there is a whole area of study around mindfulness and meditation.

      I'm including a link here to a video by Roxy Rose, a transwoman who introduces some nice meditation techniques:

      https://youtu.be/rhubqPydMRk

      Hope you and your readers find it helpful.

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    4. Oh, and for mindful living, I would also suggest books by the a wonderful author named Eckhart Tolle.

      In addition, the venerated Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has written many popular books on the subject. I had the great privilege and pleasure of meeting him many years ago and he is something special.

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  2. Beautiful! Just what I needed this morning. Thank you Rhonda!
    Marci

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  3. Living is something we do when we don't let life get in our way. :-)

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