Beautiful
by George Anderson

I've conducted thousands of sessions, with people from all walks of life and many different circumstances.  I've also heard from souls who have encountered many different joys, struggles, accomplishments, problems, differences and resolutions.  Many of the circumstances in people's sessions are the same--the way we live, the way we love, and the way we pass from this existence to the next.  But there is a humanity in each of the stories I hear that make them unique and special, because of the things the souls have learned after having lived, loved and lost on the earth.  The similarities in life are what make us human--but the differences in each of our lives is what makes us truly extraordinary.

There is a understanding that many of the souls have come to, once they have made the transition and communicate a full picture of a life on the earth.  It's a perspective what none of us on the earth can completely understand or concur with--we have simply not yet finished the portrait of a life on earth.  But the souls, from their unique place now in the hereafter, can look back on their lives, and see the finished work.  Some of their statements make us think, others make us smile, but a few make us completely rethink our lives and our purpose here.  I suppose it's why the souls feel so compelled to keep talking to us.

In sessions, I hear from souls who make their loved ones laugh when they say they are "finally on the vacation they never had" on the earth.  It's funny, but it's tragic at the same time.  These were people on the earth who truly struggled--they worked hard, they raised children, they gave when they themselves had nothing, and they lived sometimes on the edge of disaster.  Many report having lived in poverty, where the only thing of value they owned was their faith.  Others lived with the tragic circumstances of loss through violence or turmoil.  Still more gave up the idea of themselves to be everything to their children, their spouses, their family members and their community.    I listen to the stories told so matter-of-factly that it's astonishing to realize their isn't an ounce of sarcasm or regret in their voices.  Quite the opposite--these souls say that despite the struggle, the hard times, and the challenges, they look back on their lives and the faces of their loved ones here, and they say 'It was all so beautiful."  And they mean it.    Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful to hear--but it's just surprising.  But the souls are adamant about it--now that they are out of the struggle, and now that the struggle has brought them such joy and peace, they can look back and only see the beautiful moments with their loved ones, the happy times, and the meaningful journey.  And that, they tell me, is more beautiful than they ever imagined.

I started really thinking about that statement, and wondered if that perspective is only relegated to the hereafter.  What I found out startled even me.  I read the stories of Holocaust survivors, who lived through one of the most terrible times him history, and after recounting the awful times, the pain and the devastation, they seem to have found a peace within themselves that looks for beauty now, instead of hatred.  I have also talked to mothers, especially those who had a difficult pregnancy or a painful complications during birth,  and though they didn't forget the circumstance, all they know is that they had a beautiful child, and to them, it was worth the pain.

Maybe this is what we are missing when we struggle--maybe we are not looking at life as a means to an end.  The souls have told us that each struggle we endure, each heartache we live through, and every reversal of fortune we suffer is a brick in the road that takes us to our reward.  maybe once we receive that reward, the road doesn't seem so awful after all.  I hope each of us can take away the message from the souls to see our lives as a work in progress, and to understand that tragedy, loss, suffering and struggle is a means to an end.  If we can understand that, then maybe we can understand our lives a little more, cope a little better, and continue a little lighter than we were before.  Maybe it really is beautiful.