No matter what religions say no one really knows what happens after death…the great beyond.  We have songs about it, whole religions about it, ghost movies and stories, and the list goes on.  And yet some people have a great fear of death and others don’t.  Why is that?

I know some people are thrill junkies and maybe death is the greatest thrill of all to them; but others simply accept it and know there is more, or they say they aren’t worried about it.

When you think of death, what happens?  If I thought too deeply about death for years I would basically curl up in a ball and sob, because death to me meant being nothing…being asleep without the dreams and never waking up.  Turns out my sister felt the same way in spite of my mom saying she had no fear of death.  But my best friend had a mother who said she had no fear of death, and she instilled that feeling in her child.

Number one, parents if you have no fear of death, please talk about it with your children in a natural way, helping them to not have this fear in the first place.  Because while most of us have fears of a whole lot of stuff, that one is a big one that can hold us back from living our lives to the fullest.

I got over most of my fear by doing a strange little tap dance with logic and sort of tricked my brain into letting go of the fear.  See if this helps…If death is real and there is nothing after life, I’m afraid because I’ll be nothing, so I’m afraid of the nothingness.  On the flip side, if there is life after death there is nothing to be afraid of.  (Clear so far?)

So if I live my life afraid of death and not moving forward, and there is nothing after death, I am wasting my life by not living the only one I have fully.  And being scared the whole time.  But if I live my life afraid of death and there is life afterward, I’m afraid for no reason because there is nothing to be afraid of – but again I’m wasting my life being afraid.  So I could decide I didn’t think being afraid of death was productive.

On the other hand, if I live my life unafraid of death, I live my life fully right now; whether I only have this one, there are more lives, or there is something else after death.  And if there is more, it will be an added bonus.  Somehow the logic worked out that being afraid of death was being afraid of…nothing and a total waste of time.  I had a big aha lightbulb moment that moved me forward and helped me try more and be more.

Whatever it takes for you to release that fear, give it a try.  Whether it is meditations to help you feel more peaceful, working through your fear with a life coach or a therapist, or tricking your subconscious to let it go…it is really worth the effort.  Your life will be much better for it.