What Near-Death Experiences may teach us about success

During the midst of my cancer treatment, I had a lot of grief come up about having a sensitive nervous system and so much chronic pain in my body in this life. It's difficult to make any plans because I never know how my body will feel at any time. It so often feels like I take one step forward and three steps back. I know that this is not the case, but as someone who is a high achiever, it always seems like I'm trying to not compare myself to others who are able-bodied, and have more capacity and everything that they are able to achieve.

If you also have achievement as a core value, maybe you've experienced this in one way or another. This feeling of frustration around what you want to create in this world vs. what you have the capacity for, or what is actually happening.

If you know me, you know that I'm an avid researcher. I like the mysterious, I love gathering information. My own philosophy on life is not a belief or faith but more like a coalescence of concepts that I've researched and studied that I've found to be true in my own life and in others' lives.

In 2009 I picked up Raymond Moody's book Life after Life in which he interviewed 150 people who had Near Death Experiences or NDE's in a qualitative study. Since that time I've probably read or listened to thousands of people talk about instances in their life when they were pronounced clinically dead and had experiences outside of their body or in another realm. Now, there are a ton of books from researchers and scientists who have gathered these stories.

These researchers found that there were common elements in many of these cases. One of these elements is that when people are on the other side, they find out that they actually planned this lifetime. They chose their parents, where they would be born, and what lessons they would be learning. From their vantage point on the other side, pain wasn't a bad thing. It was simply a tool for growth. Also, there is no failure, no good or evil and the main lesson that we are here to learn is how to be ourselves and love each other.

In my studies of Yoga philosophy, the themes of dharma and karma speak to this. Dharma is your unique path in this lifetime. We can think of karma as not so much a debt that you need to pay, but a balancing out of what you are meant to learn. The yogis and philosophers recognized that trying to go against the natural flow of your path creates suffering. And putting energy into what you are here to learn brings presence and joy to you and others. My unique dharma is about finding the balance between surrendering and creating and helping others to do the same.

It's natural for us to compare ourselves to others. Maybe you see someone on their own path who seems to be really successful in their creative career. Maybe someone who always seems to be making more money than you or who is in a happy relationship. And you begin to beat up on yourself. You ask yourself "Why can't I get it together and find my own version of success". Maybe you've even tried to follow the tools or techniques of other people and it hasn't worked out.

I just want to remind you that your Dharma or life's path is yours and yours alone. Your view of success is yours alone. In most of the NDE's that I've read, success was not based on what they DID or achieved, but on learning the lessons that they've come to learn. Success was based on living a joyful and love-filled existence and creating the work that was calling them so they could share their uniqueness with the world.

Every week I help my clients to connect to their own sacred dharma. The path that THEY are on. As we work together they begin to see that they have unique gifts to share with the world. And the wild thing is, once they begin to embody their uniqueness and embrace their own path, they begin to manifest 'success'. It might not look like what they first thought it would look like when they were comparing themselves to others. But their successes are much more fulfilling because they come from a deeper place of knowing themselves. And life begins to help them with each step along the way, because when you are living your Dharma, you are in the flow of life, not fighting against it.

I currently have 2 open spots for 6-month coaching available. This is a sacred journey in which I help you to move from where you are now into what is calling you next. It's an exploration, an embodiment of your authentic self. It's a radical change. My clients are badass, high achievers who want to learn how to surrender and listen to their intuition. They want to learn a new way of creating. They want to allow life to help them and live in the flow of their Dharma.

Does this sound like you? Click the button below or send me a message with any questions you have.