By Nancy Rynes, author of Awakenings from the Light
All content copyright Nancy Rynes
"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
It was six days after the bicycling accident that put me in the hospital, and three days after my surgery and NDE. The beautiful morning sunshine just started to brighten my hospital room. I laid there, trying my best to feel grateful for simply being alive when a wave of self-pity and outrage arose from my ego. Why had this accident happened to me? Would the woman who hit me change her life, or get real justice? How in the world would I be able to come out of this OK?
In those moments, I had serious doubts that my life would ever be “OK” again, despite what my spiritual guide told me during my time in the afterlife. And I conveniently didn’t want to remember that this whole event was part of my life plan in the first place.
In between hours of feeling deep gratitude and seeing love all around me, I’d have these fear-filled moments when my ego wanted to bask in its victimhood. This feeling of victimhood, coupled with sheer panic at whether I’d be able to regain my independence, came and went for the next several days as I struggled to heal, to learn to walk again, and to regain a sense of who I was as a healthy, mobile person.
In hindsight, I think this basking in the drama of being a victim was my ego’s way of trying to regain the upper hand. The near-death experience (NDE) had invited me to live from my heart and Soul rather than from my ego. But my ego felt understandably fearful about what life would be like if it gave up control. After all, it’s one of the self-appointed jobs of our ego-consciousness to keep us safe.
So I prayed every day that something would shift. I knew I had to let all of this go and allow the Divine to transform my life.
The day before I was discharged from the hospital, about two weeks after my accident, I sensed that shift beginning to take place. It felt liberating, like a huge weight was being lifted off my ego and it could finally rest. I came to realize that I had been allowing my ego’s fears to overwhelm me, and that the only way ahead into a positive future was to embrace the gift that I had been given: the gift of an awakening. I knew I wasn’t completely transformed yet, not even close, but I allowed myself to understand that in order to make my life one that would become my version of bliss on earth, I needed to take full responsibility for my words and actions. That didn’t mean I had to do everything alone, but it did mean I had to own my life, my decisions, and actions, and approach daily life from standpoint of love and strength rather than fear.
In order for you to make positive and lasting changes in your life, to build a strong spiritual foundation, I urge you to give up your identification as powerless or a victim, and take responsibility for all that you say and do.
You have more power than you may realize. No matter what life is doling out, you ultimately have power over how you respond.
Does this mean that you always have to make the right decision, to be perfect, like a comic book superhero always saving the day? No, it simply means you do your best to be as responsible and be conscious in your words and actions as you can, while understanding that you, along with everyone else on this planet, is not perfect and will make mistakes. As you continue on your journey, you’ll have more and more successes and fewer mistakes, and you’ll be able to either laugh at your mistakes, learn from them, or both.
The powerless, victim role that ego often likes to bask in tells you that everything is happening to you, that you have no control over your life, and that others are making your life challenging. Please, don’t give anyone else that kind of credit or that kind of power over you. If you’re living in the developed world, you have a lot of choices. Choosing whether to live like a victim or a victor is one of those choices and it’s the most important choice you can make if you want to raise your level of vibration and consciousness.
Choosing solid ground on which to build your spiritual house is the first, yet most important step you can take in changing your spiritual life. The life you desire deep in your heart is available to you when you take that first step of responsibility.
The good news is that even if you have been indoctrinated into the role of a victim all of you life, you can still change things for the better. You may not be in a position where you can singlehandedly change who’s in power in your country, but you can singlehandedly change who’s in power in your own life.
Then when you are ready, take responsibility and give consent.
From today forward, I take full responsibility for everything I say and do.
I consent to have my life positively transformed by Spirit, with Grace and Ease.
Blessings,
Nancy
*One of the most commonly-reported elements of near-death experiences (NDEs) is the Life Review. A Life Review is just that: it happens after you die and is a review of your life, your decisions, words, and actions that you made and how they impacted others. Oftentimes you will also be able to experience the events your seeing not just from your perspective, but from the perspectives of everyone who was involved. You will see what they saw and feel what they felt. This is done so that you can gain an understanding of how your decisions have impacted others. The life review is a tool to advance your learning, not to judge or damn you. For anyone who has had an NDE and a life review, it’s common to report that it is the most life-altering part of the entire experience.
Archive: Past Newsletter Issues
TODAY Show: Nancy's Interview on NBC TV's TODAY
Messages of Hope with Suzanne Giesemann: Exploring NDEs with Nancy Rynes
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)
Simply Peace Part 1
Simply Peace Part 2
Downloadable, Audio-only versions of the webinar are available on my SoundCloud site: https://soundcloud.com/nancy-rynes
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