Don’t be scared. God, spirit, the One, Christ…. what ever you want to call it, IS a loving energy that created all of us, and there IS a PLAN. Of course we don’t always see it. It’s easy when one has a long, successful life, free of a major disease or tragic event, and then dies in their sleep, or is surrounded by love ones as they pass peacefully.

But in reality, everyone goes thru trials of some sort in this life. Disease in this day and age of pollutants in our food, air and water, toxic lifestyles, and even the stresses we’re asked to endure are out of our control. Accidents and war bring death so quickly, without preparation. And now a pandemic is effecting us in so many ways, death being the most difficult to accept. But since time began, everyone who lives, eventually dies, and YES, I do believe in an afterlife.

I believe our souls move into a spiritual realm where we are free from all the physical manifestations here on Earth, and we join the spirit world of love and understanding. There is an immediate freedom from physical pain. And from this place we can see with full spiritual vision, still influence our loved ones and often times be seen or felt by them.

There are many, many books about the spiritual afterlife. Many theories. But one thing I do believe is that we are surrounded by the spiritual beings we believe in, at least at first, and we go to the “place” we’ve always believed in where we are guided, comforted and helped. And in this place there are clarifications and new choices.

We may choose to stay in spirit to rest from our physical life and receive higher insight on our life lessons.

We may be able to become guides for our loved ones.

We may choose to come back and inhabit another body, perhaps because we want to be born again into the same family, or we want to be born into a different situation to learn other lessons and experience life from a different perspective. Many call that Karma.

Sometimes we have lived a lifetime so loving and giving and close to the energy of angelic beings, that we get to become angelic beings, like being a master guide to be with someone and guide them for their whole life. In spirit, time is not measured like we measure it here on Earth, in the physical. A lifetime is but a moment to our soul’s existence.

When experiencing a “difficult” death with someone, think of how difficult it is to be born? We leave the safety of the womb only to endure a difficult physical experience called birth. And even if difficult, we celebrate birth. In death we return to that beautiful place, and like birth, sometimes it is painful. But often, I’ve seen people’s energy leave their body in those most painful times. A hospice nurse friend of mine explains that the groaning and expression of pain in the days and hours before death is likened to labor pains, the spirit moving in and out of the body as it “tests the waters” before finally leaving… going home.

Many cultures, (I included) believe death should be celebrated. We get to go to a much more beautiful and loving existence. The sadness we feel is our own loss.

So why do we get so afraid when someone is dying. Some say it is because we have memory of the physical pain of dying in another lifetime. Some say it is fear of the unknown. Some just don’t want to leave their loved ones, but in reality, we are always connected to them. And some of it is cultural. We use terms like loss (they are not really lost), failing (dying is not failing, it’s actually more like graduating) or transitioning (a term often used to soften the term dying). Death is not a word to be afraid of. It’s the next passage. The next realm.

I’ve read and listened to those who have had near death experiences as well. They are usually so beautiful and warm and comforting, an expanded awareness of what it’s like on the other side. And I listen to my heart and my gut (especially as I too deal with death or illness with my own loved ones, and there I have always been able to find peace).

Sometimes, we go through diseases and illness as a kind of lesson or wake up call. Sometimes it is our way of slowing down our lives to embrace our final years.

As I get older and I am seeing so many of my friends and family caring for, dealing with and experiencing death. And in these times of pandemic we are made aware on a daily basis. Continue to live your life as fully and lovingly as possible and don’t fear death, it truly is the final reward for living.