As time goes on, I have become wiser to the ways of life. When you are young and naive, you have the world ahead of you, and everything seems possible. It is only when you gain experience that you see who you really are, what the world is like, and how society really is. Something that I come to learn is that death is inevitable, life is fleeting, and to strive for materialism is futile.  

Everything in the physical will always be vulnerable to fall into a state of disrepair. The only combatant is to find ways to maintain a state of good condition to prolong its life. Whether it be one’s physical body, a pair of shoes, a building, or a piece of technology. All is aging, all is heading in the direction of ending. It is inevitable that all living beings will die. A pair of shoes will wear out over time, even if you do not wear them and keep them in storage, the materials itself will oxidize and become unusable over time. A brand new home will need repairs in the future, new roofs, new windows. And technological devices, no matter how precious you handle them and keep them in pristine condition, the technology will become obsolete over time. Nothing in this world is permanent. 

The first scuff mark on a brand new pair of expensive shoes can feel devastating, but if one’s views on objects can be adjusted to accept the inevitability, one can say “life goes on” and move on without much emotional drama. I am not saying that one should not enjoy the pleasures of life and what it has to offer. But rather that one should also learn to accept its inevitability of its physical demise, and not place an overstated value on material things, for there are things far greater to be concerned with; spiritual demise. 

It can feel so sad to learn of this truth. When you realize this, you can see the pointlessness in the lust of material objects. 

I think we live in a society that is afraid of death. As we have become more materialistic as a culture, we have neglected spirituality, and bought into believing that materialism is all there is. When we examine ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures, they all believed in some form of spirituality and they understood the “cycle of life”, and they had some concept of where one goes in the afterlife. It is only in modern time in the scientific age that we have become skeptical of the spiritual nature of reality. 

I used to feel very uncomfortable when I would hear people talk about heaven or the afterlife. In my naive way, I thought, what’s the point in talking about what happens after you die, when you can focus on living a good life now? It was only until I encountered Prince in his afterlife state that I began to become curious, and wanted to know more about what it is like. 

I came to realize how important it is to know about the afterlife, not only so that one can be mentally and emotionally prepared, but also because the way that you live your life now is what determines the path of what you will become in the afterlife. 

The character of the person is “moulded” during the course of one’s life through experience and life lessons. Who you become at the end of your life becomes “set” in like cement in a sense, when one transitions to the other side. Though it is a journey that never ends and the soul continues to grow in its evolution, but most of its growing takes place during life in the physical. To not understand this puts one in danger of the belief that one can live a life of crime and suddenly and insincerely repent in the last moments before death. The truth comes out in the spirit world and one’s insincerity can not be hidden. 

Knowing about the afterlife has made me look forward to the future, to the time that it is my turn to go. To people who do not understand, this will sound morbid. But in reality, it is because I am totally comfortable with death. I would not deliberately choose to shorten my life, but I do not shy away from exploring death. And at the same time, it has made me appreciate life, to value my time, and see the bigger picture. I have come to the conclusion that if you do not appreciate death, life will always disappoint you with its impermanent, fickle nature.  

Life is short in the grand scheme of things. To live life without any purpose and meaning to it is a waste. To spend time chasing material gain for pleasure is never ending and ceases to satisfy. True happiness comes from within, and knowing that there is a God, and one we will get to go “home”. 

To not know death makes you ignorant of what life is. This is why  I write about my experiences with the afterworld. I feel it is a necessary topic of discussion that few are willing to embrace and speak openly about.

Image above: “Tree stump” by Andrea Mai.

©2018 by Andrea Mai. All rights reserved.

The other day, a friend and I were chatting about how much easier things get when you know yourself and you stick with what works. The conversation had stared about shoes and the fact that some of us need more support on our feet than others. I personally, cannot stand a shoe with too much structure. Simple ballet flats with less support is more comfortable for me than that with lots of support. My friend then mentioned that she had gotten a fashion consultation for what clothes work best for her. She said it made her shopping so much easier because she simply avoided the things she knew didn’t work for her and sought out the clothes that did.

I think in both career and business, it’s best to take some time to get to know yourself better and to figure out what solutions work best accordingly. There’s no sense in trying to force something to work when it just isn’t ideal for you. Working like this is working in resistance to who you are, rather than working to your strengths.

For instance, I learned of a typing system called Wealth Dynamics. It’s an archetypal system to figure out what methods of wealth generating is suitable based on your personality. I discovered that I am the Creator type, and that part of my challenge is learning to delegate tasks to others so that I can do more of the actual creative work. This made me realize how much I need to enlist the help of others to promote and sell my work. I’m currently in the process of creating systems in place to help me with this. But one aspect had bee missing until now: People who will help me generate buzz. This is why I have created an affiliate program for selling my work. Affiliate members will receive 20% commission on sales for helping me to reach customers. Interestingly, in the Wealth Dynamics profiles, the people whom I think are likely to do well with referral sales are the Supporter and Stars. Supporters love to connect with people and they are great at netowrking. And the Star is great at being an influence on others.

If you want to find out more about Wealth Dynamics, click here. I recommend finding out what type you are and working with it. Are you good at connecting with people, list building and generating web traffic? Maybe you’d like to join my affiliate program. I offer a great commission rate compared to other affiliate programs, and all you have to do is help me get the word out there about my work. To apply as an affiliate, go here.