In today’s episode of Healing from Within, your host, Sheryl Glick author of The Living Spirit: Answers for Healing and Infinite Love welcomes Robert Kopecky author of How to Survive Life and Death. Robert is an Emmy-nominated art director for television who never dreamed of writing a book, but in a few short years, Robert had not one, but three near-death experiences and discovered exactly what lives on the other side of our fears about dying and… living.
Robert will share his amazing and challenging near death experiences and his discovery of the three keys to living more fully in life and perhaps more fully in death. Robert offers ways to find an inner strength and calm determination to view and live life more boldly.
Robert tells us he had a rough childhood punctuated by the deaths of all his grandparents by the age of twelve and all his aunts and uncles his twenties. Robert writes “….most of them lively, funny people mentors and protectors who showed me how a well placed humor could help ease me through difficult experiences… on top of that two young women I had been in relationships died early..tragic deaths. Now I was full of questions about life and death and had some cynical answers. I was married and that marriage ended 7 years later…years of confusion before my first near death experience.
Sheryl says… “I never experienced much loss early on and though my family was seemingly terrified of death as they thought it was final and irrevocable.. I sensed there was something MORE than this physical life Now working as a medium and intuitive healer I understand the sense of hope and need to be aware that we were more than just our physical being and I am now fully aware of that fact, but in my childhood I could not truly grasp and understand the sense of connection to everyone and an eternal life force before having had many coincidences synchronicity and going through the challenges of my everyday life. In time and with asking many questions to myself and Spirit I discovered the reasons that we all experience similar circumstances and are connected to a global consciousness or Universal awareness and also that nothing is random but part of an evolving Universal design and we are never alone. It took much inner work and the use my spiritual gifts to discover the helpers all around us both in spirit and here physically who help us remember our true soul essence which can help in the development of our greatest human potential for creating prosperity joy and health.”
Robert says “Are those voices that you can hear in there in your inner ear with quiet encouragement or your angels and ancestors and spirit guides, your father and mother, your heroes and higher self—all just figments of your imagination? Or are they all really standing right alongside you in another dimension that we’ll all be able to see soon enough? You can hear them in your mind when you’re not thinking and feel them in your heart when you’re open in that way. And they will all love you anyway whether you believe they’re only in your imagination or not.”
Robert tells us of the first near death experience he had. “After a hard day at work he stopped at an exotic looking cocktail bar and had two drinks. While driving home he turned down an unknown street going about 35-45 miles an hour. His car stereo ate the cassette tape that was playing and began to make robotic sounds. Robert pulled the cassette out and then the lights went out. Next, he was near the top of a telephone pole looking down over the street…there beneath him was his car he had been driving, smashed into the telephone pole and the hood was crumpled and people were running around crying. Robert tried to get their attention and tell them that he was fine but from where he stood or sort of “floated”, no one seemed to see or hear him. I couldn’t quite see the victims face but knew it was me and the blood on the ground was mine..yet I had no pain just a profound sensation of comfort and ease and no sense of time or gravity. Then I realized I was not alone but had been joined by a benevolent presence and I was prompted to move along and remember being in a place that seemed lovely and agreeable.”
Robert tells us that after two more near death experiences he finally began to make meaning of the events in his life and wrote “It actually took many more years to understand the deeper meaning that this experience brought to life inside of me and after 2 more brushes with death and being broken open by life physically and psychically I came to know an absolute certainty. The lesson of that first experience with mortality: I am a spiritual being having a physical life experience and that our actual transition from this life to the next is seamless, relatively painless and full of warmth, assurance and ease as I now believe most of Life is actually meant to be.”
Robert goes on to say that each dear death experience was different. His first NDE was in his 20’s, the second in his 30’s and the third in his 40’s. Part of the valuable knowledge he learned remained subconsciously until the wave of deaths including people in his own generation and peers happened. His near death experiences have given a wonderful never ending pictures and glimpses of the beauty and purpose of life that it is for our spiritual growth and not to spend energy and human potential figuring out clever ways to prolong this particular life experience. NDE’s showed Robert that death is not our obliteration..death is an expansion into transcendent being and a sacred rite of passage…the party is not over…our essential spirit remains generally young and energetic and hope and love is always there eternally.
Robert believes many people are afraid of talking about death or metaphysical ideas and ground themselves so completely in their ego based or physical world perhaps hoping they will never die. Even people who belong to religious groups may not embrace the idea of eternal life or life after death fully. They are afraid they will miss something if they are not competitive and so they buy into the group mores and are socialized and become part of the ego based reality that everyone else adheres to often determining success by the amount of education and or accumulation of money and the power that you hold.
Robert wrote “We know there are plenty of people confused people surrounded by discontent and the best that money can buy but who have not discovered there is an entirely different more fulfilling definition of success to be discovered by identifying with our authentic selves…a success that is experienced in our hearts.”
Robert goes on to describe that pain comes from fear and that by merely looking at things differently and waiting a bit you can recognize that the actual situation isn’t so bad.
Robert says there are three major pain groups:
1. Outer Pain (physical aches and breaks, conditions and procedures and so on)
2. Inner Pain (romantic heartbreaks, disappointments with yourself and others, perceived betrayals and loss)
3. Deep down pain ( Psychic pain or even trauma that may come from an unfortunate incident or set of circumstances in the past or by way of your genes)
Deep down pain can originate in childhood with some type of abuse or it may develop later on a dangerous job or war or natural disaster, surviving a criminal attack or succumbing to some innate form of self-destructiveness like alcohol or substance abuse….
Robert suggests he was like a lot of people refusing to accept what was clearly shown to him and what has been documented by extraordinarily well qualified and dedicated experts such as Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Dr. Raymond Moody and Kenneth Ring. Sheryl who rediscovered her sense of Self and soul essence later on in life after her own continuous stream of synchronistic and coincidental events and began to remember the feelings and connections to Universal source that were so strong in her childhood days. As she asked questions trying to know Who are we? Where do we come from? And Where do we return at the conclusion of our physical life she encountered many new teachers and experiences and developed her innate spiritual gifts which lead to becoming a Reiki Master Teacher/medium.
As a survivor of 3 near death experiences, either Robert and all the many others who have described an actual passage into an extra-dimensional world that follows on the heels of this one, or as some would suggest merely a complex set of vivid biochemical responses that everyone experiences as our common human form shuts itself down that you know something more definitely happens beyond this life in a conscious world that is very different but just as real…
Robert says his 3 Near Death Experience’s pointed to 3 simple possibilities…Expression, Evolution and Love.
1. Expression: finding your true authentic self and what real meaning your life is meant to have.
2. Evolution: as the process of evolving spiritually that personal and collective motivation to keep growing and expanding through this life to whatever comes next.
3. Love: as the most powerful underlying energy for living and for conquering the subconscious self-sabotage active in ourselves and our society.
Robert gives 3 keys to living a spectacularly happy life. The 3 keys are Radical Kindness, Radical Forgiveness and Radical Surrender.
Sheryl says, “In my new book “The Living Spirit Answers for Healing and Infinite Love” I have a section entitled “Taking Responsibility for Our Happiness” where I mention a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar…The fault dear Brutus is not in our Stars but in ourselves that we are underlings..In other words it is not the outside world or events that determine our perception of ourselves or others but within our own inner sense of reality and how well we are able to discover and merge the ego or physical view of life with our inner soul essence or the energetic spirit of life… It then becomes clear that our imagination and beliefs or values and unrealistic views of love along with thinking perfection is actually possible. The outside world influences suggest that we must follow the rules and values of our socialization processes and social mores.. that our true innate knowing of our interconnection to all living forces are not valued that encourage fear and limitation to thrive…therefore in learning to let go and surrendering and then following our heart instincts we realize our own true human and divine nature. The possibilities for a sustained healthy and happy life are then within our reach…the three words I discuss in The Living Spirit which can lead to peace, wellness, and a better view of ourselves and life and death are: allowing, accepting and surrendering. Much like radical kindness, radical forgiveness and radical surrender, they allow us to accept any circumstance and move through the emotions and fears knowing that each experience is only an opportunity to change and profit emotionally and spiritually.
Many people think to surrender means to quit and give up. Sheryl used to think it meant that and she had difficulty allowing herself to do that.
However surrendering allows us to flow in the natural order of events and to without judgment find benefits no matter what presents itself to us. Suffering on the other hand can be a result of resisting this natural flow and is the opposite of feeling content, at peace with yourself and with the world. Suffering is a man made choice. We can choose to be happy and whole or broken and downhearted. That emotion comes from within our heart as a result of our perception of others and what we see happening…just look past any disturbances or evil or presumed bad behavior and move forward to seeing something more favorable and lovely and so it will become that way.
Suffering could be as simple as living in the illusion of self-centered fear without Love in your heart and that is a kind of Hell already compared to how life can be….Heaven is an open-hearted world full of Love and light….Hell is a self-centered world without it.
As Gandhi said “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Robert states that he believes dying is really living too and Sheryl agrees. Sheryl as a former hospice care volunteer was able to help many and their families know that a new life awaited them and that as soul beings the most important aspect of our being goes on beyond the physical life. As living is a state of Consciousness and energy and consciousness survives physical death and is a transference of our inner soul energy to a different dimension of life, dying returns us intact but without a body carrying the memories personality and journey of our souls into the Afterlife.
Robert suggests people live in preparation for death whether death is tomorrow or forty years from now. By practicing radical forgiveness radical kindness and surrendering any kind of control attachment or judgment…then you will be aligned to the loving energy of Spirit and at peace.
Sheryl tells Robert, “Recently, last week in fact, I saw the television version of a live performance of Peter Pan and then opened your book and read the best and wisest interpretation of the meaning of that fable..Robert shares his interpretation of what he believes the story shows about life and how we must focus on the real values and beauty of love…”
Peter Pan’s mortal enemy is Captain Hook, a selfish pirate whose goal is to take control of Never- Never Land, enslave the indigenous people by capturing Princess Tiger Lily, and imprison or kill Peter Pan his hated ever youthful nemesis…Here we see Captain Hooks greatest fear… the fear of aging. He is the oldest character in the story who is vainly obsessed about looking good and what he can control in his physical environment. The crocodile who is after him with the ticking clock inside represents death and time coming to get him. Peter Pan is not about men who never grow up or about one child who never does, but is about the presence of the eternal ever youthful spirit that is always outside the view and window of “who we think we are supposed to be” and how to fly beyond the physical world of limitation and illusion of the ego and our cultural delusions to our development of imagination, creation energetic or a spiritual sense.
Sheryl and Robert have shared ways in this episode of Healing From Within to create new perceptions of our own lives, our reasons for living and dying and the values and virtues that may be developed when we allow ourselves to release the baggage, attitudes and inner chatter of our ego and physical life style and go “within” to the heart and soul of ourselves finding joy love and to live with ease and courage. The people events and challenges are not nearly as important as our inner view of the bigger picture of life and our own development. Robert and Sheryl have discussed that dying is for everyone and a better understanding through the many near death experiences documented over time by Robert and Sheryl’s own practice as a medium downloading messages from that higher plane of information work together to remove the conflict and confusion of this age old search into the meaning of life and death and offer us greater wisdom about our true spiritual nature and divine essence.
Robert wrote, “In the big, beautiful never ending picture that I feel I’ve been given a glimpse of we are required to grow up and grow out spiritually through this life, as is obviously originally intended….not to spend our energy and human potential figuring our clever ways to prolong this particular physical experience. If we can grasp and assume our roles as simple spiritual passengers on this remarkable planet, we may yet realize the unimaginable potential that our shared experience holds for us.”
Robert and Sheryl would hope that you remember that even though we may at times feel separate, independent, alone, it is definitely not the truth. Our lives and our actions and personal sacrifices and growth like ripples in a pond affect everyone and everything and in finding the Oneness or Unity, and the similarities and interconnectedness to each other we become Whole.. Alive… in any form whether in the physical or spiritual realm.
Robert Kopecky link to www.RobertKopecky.blogspot.com
How to Survive Life and Death link to www.RobertKopecky.blogspot.com
Sheryl Glick link to www.sherylglick.com
The Living Spirit link to www.sherylglick.com
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