Heaven

There's a place where we all want to end up. 

We know it by name but where is it?  Where is Heaven?

I was thinking about Heaven yesterday while attending the wake of a man who was one of my father's best friends.

This man was a good man, worked hard, had a wonderful wife and children and tried to do his best for others.  I'm sure he is in Heaven, wherever that is.

I'm also sure that other people that I knew and loved are in Heaven: my husband, all of my grandparents, my aunt and uncles and some friends.

I believe in Heaven but the idea of not knowing where it is nags at me.  It's a concept that rolls around in my head.  Maybe it is up above us, waaay up above us, but who knows? And what do they do there?  I imagine that people in Heaven are different ages, not the age they were when they died, and that they do things that they loved such as playing baseball, or having parties or being at the beach.

 

This is my idea of Heaven

 

I also like to think that they are with us and try to guide and help us.

I think not knowing where your loved one is located is one of the big frustrations about grief.  You are physically cut off from a loved one when they die and there's no way to find out where they are or even how they are doing.

Is it asking too much to know these things?  I don't think so.

I think it's the least they could do after leaving us.  They should at least call, email or text us about what's going on with them.  They must know that we wonder.  They must know that we think about them all the time.

People who have had near death experiences have described what has happened to them and that is probably the closest we will come to finding out what Heaven is all about.

A lot of people talk about seeing a bright light and also seeing people they know.  Katie Couric aired an episode on her daytime show addressing the subject of Heaven and interviewed people who had been through traumatic experiences and spoke of going to heaven and then coming back to their lives.  In an interview Katie Couric did with Dr. Mary Neal, Neal describes being trapped underwater for  15 minutes and losing consciousness.  Neals' description of heaven is of a place filled with love, a love we have not felt here.

Maybe your ideas about Heaven are completely different.  Please share if your thoughts if you would like to!

Here is the link to the Katie Couric interviews with Dr. Mary Neal and others:

http://www.katiecouric.com/on-the-show/2012/10/08/to-heaven-and-back/

Robin Roberts' Message

Robin Roberts is courageously showing us how to be "all in" about life.

 

Over the weekend, I read Parade Magazine's interview with Roberts, ABC's news anchor for Good Morning America.  It is no secret that Roberts was diagnosed five years ago with an aggresive form of breast cancer and for the past year she has been fighting a rare life-threatening disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) which affects the blood and bone marrow.

 

 

 

 

Roberts is now back on the job which is miraculous given the physical and emotional toll of her chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant and fragile immune system.  But life changing events can sometimes make us stronger and Roberts' message resonated with me.

 

When you lose someone you love or you fight with all of your resources to overcome a disease, life becomes heightened.  Things that happen in your daily life that you once took for granted are no longer things to overlook and expect to have happen to you over and over.

 

Every day I try to make myself conscious of what the sky looks like, how the flowers smell, how good it feels to be able to walk down the street and breathe deeply and feel healthy.  I have a precious life and I am going to try and be mindful not to waste it.  Because I know that those are things that can be taken away very quickly.  And so does Robin Roberts.

 

Asked by Parade Magazine how her experience has changed her, Roberts says, "I am stronger than I thought I was.  My favorite phrase has been 'This too shall pass.'  I now understand it really well."

 

And here's the really cool part.  Roberts does something I do a lot when I am feeling stressed at work: visualization.

 

When work is piling up, I try to mentally check out for a few minutes before I dig in.  For me, I visualize myself standing on the beach.  I love the beach so much that I visualize myself there at all different times of the day.  I try to hear the waves pounding the shore and bring the smell of the ocean back to my memory.  After I mentally visit the beach, I take a deep breath and put my head down and just do my work until it's done.

 

Roberts told Parade Magazine that to fight her fears, she practices yoga and visualization.  "When I close my eyes, my happy place is Key West, coffee in hand, sunrise over the pier, Roberts said.  "I can visualize that in the studio and it has helped calm me."

 

No matter what today brings you, you will survive it, and if you feel yourself becoming anxious then visualize your own "happy place."

 

You are fortunate.  You are alive and a new day awaits you.

 

What will you do with it?