This is a guest post by a good friend of mine, Jeff Janssen.
Jeff's official bio reads like a dream life for anyone who loves sports. President of the acclaimed Janssen Sports Leadership Center and author of numerous leadership books, Jeff's focus has been on helping teams at all levels create a championship culture. But then in 2011, his life changed dramatically (in his words):
"Very few people know this, but I almost died of a heart attack in 2011. After I experienced crushing chest pains, shortness of breath, and pain radiating down my left arm, doctors discovered a 99% blockage in my Widowmaker artery and surgically placed two stents in my heart to save my life. It’s amazing how a close brush with death can really wake you up to life!
Being granted a precious second chance at life, I got passionately curious about Life’s BIGGEST Questions like: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? What would have happened to me if I died? Questions we all ask, or are forced to ask, at one time or another."
Jeff has written an amazing new book called Ten Life Changing Lessons from Heaven. In it, he brings together thoughts and wisdom about some of life's biggest challenges, from people who have had life-altering spiritual experiences. I'm honored to have been interviewed for this transformational book. But here's Jeff, to introduce it in his own words:
10 LIFE-CHANGING LESSONS FROM HEAVEN
By Jeff Janssen
What have millions of Near-Death Experiencers like Nancy Rynes, Eben Alexander, and Mary Neal learned about life, death, and the Afterlife from their death-defying visits to heaven?
After nearly dying myself from a heart attack in 2011, I felt compelled to go on a serious quest to try to answer Life’s Biggest Questions. Fortunately, I found solid and soul-satisfying answers from studying the accounts of over 2,500 Near-Death Experiencers from all cultures and walks of life. Despite their unique experiences, they came back with ten inspiring and enlightening principles I call the 10 Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven.
1. Love Unconditionally
Unequivocally, the #1 message NDErs (near-death experiencers) come back from the Other Side with is the overwhelming importance and power of unconditional love. They get to fully experience God’s powerful, pure, and profound love and are totally blown away by it. They tell us that God loves each and every one of us wholly, universally, eternally, and unconditionally simply because we exist – with absolutely no strings attached. Our primary purpose on earth is to learn all about being, giving, and receiving love and to try to emulate God’s unconditional love with ourselves and each other.
2. Live Fearlessly
NDErs also learn that our Creator wants us to live our lives fully and fearlessly. So many of us let our self-created and unfounded fears restrict and rule our lives. We let our false fears limit us as we settle for the safe path rather than boldly living our dreams. We also create masks and fake personas to try to hide our imperfections, doubts, dysfunctions, and faults because we fear people won’t like, friend, date, or marry us if we show them our real self. Further, the stress and “dis-ease” we feel from our fears is often the root cause of many of the diseases we suffer. NDErs implore us to courageously face and break through our fears, and to consciously make our numerous life choices from love rather than fear.
3. Work Purposely
NDErs adamantly insist we all have a unique and important purpose for our life. God encodes and entrusts us with a special task to complete for our time on earth that fits perfectly with our passions. This essential purpose aligns with our gifts, serves others, and fulfills God’s Divine Plan for our life and the world. Many NDErs either choose to come back to earth or are sent back because they have not yet completed their crucial life purpose. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to discover, develop, and deploy our purpose to serve each other and the world at large, grow as souls, and do God’s sacred work on earth. It is up to each of us to patiently yet persistently find and fulfill our God-given purpose.
4. Choose Compassionately
NDErs learn the importance of choosing compassionately when they experience a review of their life in heaven. In this comprehensive Life Review we get to see, feel, and experience how all of our thoughts, words, and actions impact others from our birth until our death as we review our life with God by our side. We re-experience our life not only from our own point of view but amazingly from the points of view of every person with whom we ever interacted. Through this intensive Life Review, we indelibly learn the value of the Golden Rule as we see and feel how our words and actions impact others as if we were them. The Life Review instructs and inspires us to treat others with much more compassion, love, kindness, patience and forgiveness – because we now know we will eventually feel it ourselves!
5. Accept Non-judgmentally
NDErs inform us that heaven is not an exclusive, restricted, members-only club for God’s “chosen ones” but that God loves and accepts all of us equally. Despite our different appearances, politics, religions, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, etc., God loves and accepts all of us equally. Similarly, we should non-judgmentally accept each other because we are all one interconnected family. Further, NDErs surprisingly learn that God does not judge us despite our many human faults, failures. God unconditionally loves and accepts us; we judge ourselves.
6. Learn Continuously
NDErs often use the analogy of life on earth being much like attending a one-room boarding school for the education of our souls. We come here to experientially learn lessons about love to help our souls grow and develop. Some of the lessons are easy but many of them involve hardship and heartache. We experience and endure things like the death of loved ones, divorce, disease, and downsizing that can lead to doubt, despair, and depression. These difficult situations encourage us to stretch our souls, understand who we are at our core, learn what really matters, and ideally become more loving people because of them. NDErs advise us to learn continuously and believe that the course of our life is truly the course of our life.
7. Serve Selflessly
NDErs quickly learn that heaven and earth define success very differently. Earthly success is often measured in terms of money, status, advanced degrees, fame, social media followers, expensive cars, and huge houses. Heaven, on the other hand, cares infinitely more about a person’s significance rather than their success. God values how we use our gifts to serve and help others, not about our professional success or material possessions. NDErs say the best service comes from the heart and is done simply, selflessly, and sincerely. We don’t need to create a huge non-profit organization, just lovingly and generously serve those who need our help and can benefit from our time, talents, and/or treasures.
8. Appreciate Regularly
While many of us get our undies in a bundle because of First World Problems like slow WiFi or only getting a few likes on a social media post, NDErs learn in heaven that the little things in life are actually the BIG things – playing with our kids, connecting with our spouse, enjoying a sunset, savoring warm chocolate chip cookies, etc. Unfortunately, many of us take our lives, our relationships, our miraculous bodies, and the awesome beauty of nature for granted. We typically don’t fully value these special gifts until we lose them. NDErs remind us to recognize, appreciate, and express genuine gratitude for all the things we have in life rather than dwelling on and complaining about what we don’t have.
9. Forgive Fully
NDErs discover one of the best ways to demonstrate unconditional love is to forgive fully – both others and ourselves. As we go through life, people will inevitably say and do things that disappoint, hurt, anger, frustrate, humiliate, and devastate us. Rather than seeking our revenge against them, we should strive to be the more spiritually evolved person, realize that “hurt people” hurt people, and forgive them. Further, as hard as it is to forgive others, sometimes the most difficult person to forgive is ourselves. We must understand that God made us perfectly imperfect people and that we do the best we can with what we know at the time. We should resolve to let go of our mistakes, learn valuable lessons from them, forgive ourselves and others, and make more loving choices moving forward.
10. Trust Completely
Finally, despite the heartaches and hardships we face both personally and globally, NDErs assure us that we can and should trust God completely and believe that there really is a Divine Plan in place and a method to this madness called life. Even though we may not understand situations from our limited, ego-based, earthly perspective, we can trust in a benevolent Universe and believe everything happens for a reason – for either our spiritual growth or a greater good we may not yet see or understand. By rising above the chaos and confusion of the world and seeing it from heaven’s omniscient vantage point, NDErs gain a valuable perspective on our crazy world and reassure us that no matter what happens – all is well and will be well. God loves us unconditionally, our souls and loved ones’ souls are safe, and we will all be back together again with God in heaven when the time is right.
Imagine if we could more consistently think, live, and love in these 10 Life-Changing ways?
What would our lives be like?
What would our families be like?
What would our communities be like?
What would our world be like?
By visiting heaven and hearing directly from the Source, NDErs show us how to bring heaven to earth by living and loving according to these 10 Life-Changing Lessons.
For information on Jeff’s new book, 10 Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven, visit LifeLessonsFromHeaven.com
Article: Seven Lessons That Dying Taught Me About Truly Living (Aspire Magazine)
Article: Lives Changed by NDEs (Boulder Daily Camera)
Article: Awakening to Life(Pages 6-10, Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Summer 2016)
Article: The Meaning of Life (Excellence Reporter)
Archive: Past Newsletter Issues
Jeff's official bio reads like a dream life for anyone who loves sports. President of the acclaimed Janssen Sports Leadership Center and author of numerous leadership books, Jeff's focus has been on helping teams at all levels create a championship culture. But then in 2011, his life changed dramatically (in his words):
"Very few people know this, but I almost died of a heart attack in 2011. After I experienced crushing chest pains, shortness of breath, and pain radiating down my left arm, doctors discovered a 99% blockage in my Widowmaker artery and surgically placed two stents in my heart to save my life. It’s amazing how a close brush with death can really wake you up to life!
Being granted a precious second chance at life, I got passionately curious about Life’s BIGGEST Questions like: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? What would have happened to me if I died? Questions we all ask, or are forced to ask, at one time or another."
Jeff has written an amazing new book called Ten Life Changing Lessons from Heaven. In it, he brings together thoughts and wisdom about some of life's biggest challenges, from people who have had life-altering spiritual experiences. I'm honored to have been interviewed for this transformational book. But here's Jeff, to introduce it in his own words:
10 LIFE-CHANGING LESSONS FROM HEAVEN
By Jeff Janssen
What have millions of Near-Death Experiencers like Nancy Rynes, Eben Alexander, and Mary Neal learned about life, death, and the Afterlife from their death-defying visits to heaven?
After nearly dying myself from a heart attack in 2011, I felt compelled to go on a serious quest to try to answer Life’s Biggest Questions. Fortunately, I found solid and soul-satisfying answers from studying the accounts of over 2,500 Near-Death Experiencers from all cultures and walks of life. Despite their unique experiences, they came back with ten inspiring and enlightening principles I call the 10 Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven.
1. Love Unconditionally
Unequivocally, the #1 message NDErs (near-death experiencers) come back from the Other Side with is the overwhelming importance and power of unconditional love. They get to fully experience God’s powerful, pure, and profound love and are totally blown away by it. They tell us that God loves each and every one of us wholly, universally, eternally, and unconditionally simply because we exist – with absolutely no strings attached. Our primary purpose on earth is to learn all about being, giving, and receiving love and to try to emulate God’s unconditional love with ourselves and each other.
2. Live Fearlessly
NDErs also learn that our Creator wants us to live our lives fully and fearlessly. So many of us let our self-created and unfounded fears restrict and rule our lives. We let our false fears limit us as we settle for the safe path rather than boldly living our dreams. We also create masks and fake personas to try to hide our imperfections, doubts, dysfunctions, and faults because we fear people won’t like, friend, date, or marry us if we show them our real self. Further, the stress and “dis-ease” we feel from our fears is often the root cause of many of the diseases we suffer. NDErs implore us to courageously face and break through our fears, and to consciously make our numerous life choices from love rather than fear.
3. Work Purposely
NDErs adamantly insist we all have a unique and important purpose for our life. God encodes and entrusts us with a special task to complete for our time on earth that fits perfectly with our passions. This essential purpose aligns with our gifts, serves others, and fulfills God’s Divine Plan for our life and the world. Many NDErs either choose to come back to earth or are sent back because they have not yet completed their crucial life purpose. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to discover, develop, and deploy our purpose to serve each other and the world at large, grow as souls, and do God’s sacred work on earth. It is up to each of us to patiently yet persistently find and fulfill our God-given purpose.
4. Choose Compassionately
NDErs learn the importance of choosing compassionately when they experience a review of their life in heaven. In this comprehensive Life Review we get to see, feel, and experience how all of our thoughts, words, and actions impact others from our birth until our death as we review our life with God by our side. We re-experience our life not only from our own point of view but amazingly from the points of view of every person with whom we ever interacted. Through this intensive Life Review, we indelibly learn the value of the Golden Rule as we see and feel how our words and actions impact others as if we were them. The Life Review instructs and inspires us to treat others with much more compassion, love, kindness, patience and forgiveness – because we now know we will eventually feel it ourselves!
5. Accept Non-judgmentally
NDErs inform us that heaven is not an exclusive, restricted, members-only club for God’s “chosen ones” but that God loves and accepts all of us equally. Despite our different appearances, politics, religions, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, etc., God loves and accepts all of us equally. Similarly, we should non-judgmentally accept each other because we are all one interconnected family. Further, NDErs surprisingly learn that God does not judge us despite our many human faults, failures. God unconditionally loves and accepts us; we judge ourselves.
6. Learn Continuously
NDErs often use the analogy of life on earth being much like attending a one-room boarding school for the education of our souls. We come here to experientially learn lessons about love to help our souls grow and develop. Some of the lessons are easy but many of them involve hardship and heartache. We experience and endure things like the death of loved ones, divorce, disease, and downsizing that can lead to doubt, despair, and depression. These difficult situations encourage us to stretch our souls, understand who we are at our core, learn what really matters, and ideally become more loving people because of them. NDErs advise us to learn continuously and believe that the course of our life is truly the course of our life.
7. Serve Selflessly
NDErs quickly learn that heaven and earth define success very differently. Earthly success is often measured in terms of money, status, advanced degrees, fame, social media followers, expensive cars, and huge houses. Heaven, on the other hand, cares infinitely more about a person’s significance rather than their success. God values how we use our gifts to serve and help others, not about our professional success or material possessions. NDErs say the best service comes from the heart and is done simply, selflessly, and sincerely. We don’t need to create a huge non-profit organization, just lovingly and generously serve those who need our help and can benefit from our time, talents, and/or treasures.
8. Appreciate Regularly
While many of us get our undies in a bundle because of First World Problems like slow WiFi or only getting a few likes on a social media post, NDErs learn in heaven that the little things in life are actually the BIG things – playing with our kids, connecting with our spouse, enjoying a sunset, savoring warm chocolate chip cookies, etc. Unfortunately, many of us take our lives, our relationships, our miraculous bodies, and the awesome beauty of nature for granted. We typically don’t fully value these special gifts until we lose them. NDErs remind us to recognize, appreciate, and express genuine gratitude for all the things we have in life rather than dwelling on and complaining about what we don’t have.
9. Forgive Fully
NDErs discover one of the best ways to demonstrate unconditional love is to forgive fully – both others and ourselves. As we go through life, people will inevitably say and do things that disappoint, hurt, anger, frustrate, humiliate, and devastate us. Rather than seeking our revenge against them, we should strive to be the more spiritually evolved person, realize that “hurt people” hurt people, and forgive them. Further, as hard as it is to forgive others, sometimes the most difficult person to forgive is ourselves. We must understand that God made us perfectly imperfect people and that we do the best we can with what we know at the time. We should resolve to let go of our mistakes, learn valuable lessons from them, forgive ourselves and others, and make more loving choices moving forward.
10. Trust Completely
Finally, despite the heartaches and hardships we face both personally and globally, NDErs assure us that we can and should trust God completely and believe that there really is a Divine Plan in place and a method to this madness called life. Even though we may not understand situations from our limited, ego-based, earthly perspective, we can trust in a benevolent Universe and believe everything happens for a reason – for either our spiritual growth or a greater good we may not yet see or understand. By rising above the chaos and confusion of the world and seeing it from heaven’s omniscient vantage point, NDErs gain a valuable perspective on our crazy world and reassure us that no matter what happens – all is well and will be well. God loves us unconditionally, our souls and loved ones’ souls are safe, and we will all be back together again with God in heaven when the time is right.
Imagine if we could more consistently think, live, and love in these 10 Life-Changing ways?
What would our lives be like?
What would our families be like?
What would our communities be like?
What would our world be like?
By visiting heaven and hearing directly from the Source, NDErs show us how to bring heaven to earth by living and loving according to these 10 Life-Changing Lessons.
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For information on Jeff’s new book, 10 Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven, visit LifeLessonsFromHeaven.com
Stuff You Might Have Missed
TODAY Show: Nancy's Interview on NBC TV's TODAYArticle: Seven Lessons That Dying Taught Me About Truly Living (Aspire Magazine)
Article: Lives Changed by NDEs (Boulder Daily Camera)
Article: Awakening to Life(Pages 6-10, Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Summer 2016)
Article: The Meaning of Life (Excellence Reporter)
Archive: Past Newsletter Issues