In this week’s 15-minute episode, I talk about my spiritual response to tragedies & disasters, specifically Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Whenever disaster strikes, we naturally ask why. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow such suffering and devastation? So I was moved to share passages from my books Answers About the Afterlife and The Magic Mala that address these very questions. I think they are relevant, comforting and hopeful. Take 15 minutes to listen and let me know what you think. I hope you and your family are safe.
Check out THE MAGIC MALA and ANSWERS ABOUT THE AFTERLIFE, both available on Amazon. I’m always excited and honored to hear your feedback. Feel free to reach out to us on social media – I love to interact with you all on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Afterlife TV. As always, the beautiful photos in this episode are some of the most recent taken by my lovely wife, Melissa. Much love, Bob Olson ~ AfterlifeTV.com & BobOlson.com
If you’d like to watch this video, When Bad Things Happen to Good People… In The Wake Of Tragedy!, visit www.afterlifetv.com/?p=3130
Afterlife TV is presented by Afterlife Investigator & Psychic Medium Researcher Bob Olson, who is the author of Answers about the Afterlife: A Private Investigator’s 15-Year Research Unlocks the Mysteries of Life after Death.
Check out Bob Olson’s other sites: BestPsychicDirectory.com (a directory of hundreds of psychics & mediums by location with reviews & Instant Readings) & BestPsychicMediums.com (his personal recommended list of tested psychics and mediums) or visit Bob’s Facebook Page. Bob also has a popular workshop for psychics and mediums at PsychicMediumWorkshop.com.
JOIN BOB’S NEWSLETTER: Don’t miss Bob’s latest content about life lessons and life after death on his newsletter called, Bob Olson Connect.
Bob: Hey everybody, Bob Olson here with Afterlife TV. You can find us at afterlifetv.com. This is where we talk about life after death and the answer to the meaningful questions you have around that subject. Today’s episode is sponsored by Best Psychic Directory, this is where you can find over 900 psychics and mediums and animal communicators all in one place right there where you can read reviews written by you, the public who have had readings with these people. You can also search them out by location or specialty so please check out my site bestpsychicdirectory.com.
Now, today is a very interesting day because I just spent the weekend where I could think of nothing more than the people who have been affected by Hurricanes Harvey or Irma. I just want you to know I’m praying for you all, have been…suddenly have been somewhat glued to the television to sort of follow what’s going on, and I’m sure many of you have been doing the same. You can’t help but worry about your fellow human being.
And I know that so many of you, especially those with religious upbringings, who were lead to believe that if you were a good person and you just followed certain rules that were given to you by your religious leaders, that everything was gonna be great in life, that you are going to have all ups and no downs. And, of course, we know that that’s not true. But many people when bad things happen to good people they start to question their faith and their foundation seems to crumble below them.
I kept thinking about this and while I have great empathy and compassion for everybody who has been suffering due to this hurricane, I also am not questioning God. I am also not questioning what is it about these people that lead them to deserve this. I don’t think anybody deserves this. But that is what happens when your only foundation is based in religion, and it gets very confusing. In fact, today’s the anniversary of September 11th as I record this. And I remember right after that tragedy, seeing a documentary on the subject where a 60 some odd-year-old priest was being interviewed. And he said, you know, he’s at the end of his calling here as a priest.
He only had so many years left and yet this particular tragedy shook his foundation to the point where he now is questioning everything that he believed, and I found that extremely revealing. Today because we’ve now gone through two major hurricanes, one in Houston, Texas basically and one in Florida among other states like Georgia, I have decided that I’m just gonna read from actually my two books, the first being, “The Answers About the Afterlife” the very final chapter of that. And then I’m actually gonna read you a little section from, “The Magic Mala” which is fictional but it also teaches the things that I learned about life.
So I’m gonna read to you from these two books, and just keep in mind this is really what’s it’s all about because I know many of you have questions as to why, right? We’re asking ourselves why when we see these horrible things happen to these beautiful people out there. So I’ll start with, “The Answers about The Afterlife” it’s the final chapter. The chapter is just called Final Words, how learning about the afterlife teaches us about life and this is what it says. “So often I have heard the comment that I should focus more on life than I do death. What many people don’t know is that my investigation of what happens when we die has taught me as about life as it has the afterlife.
I can honestly say that my experiences researching this field have made me a better human being, I’m more loving and more compassionate and I feel a greater sense of inner peace and purpose than I ever did when I never gave the afterlife a second thought. And I attribute this transformation to the knowing I gained about life and death from my research. This knowing did not occur as one event it came as a process, more importantly, it was a subtle process that enveloped me gradually as a result of my experiences. Said another way what I learned about life during my investigation of the afterlife was less intellectual and more experiential. Rather than memorize information, I instead became aware of an internal wisdom that I never before knew existed.
I didn’t notice it right away, I first recognized this wisdom in my behavior. I was responding to life in a new way. I was making choices differently than I once did. Without planning it or expecting it, my spiritual experiences stemming from my research of life after death had changed me. And before I knew it I discovered that my work inadvertently had taught me how to live a fuller life with greater, love, joy, and inner peace regardless of whatever drama or chaos might be happening around me. My most significant growth resulted from my understanding of the concepts I stated in the “big picture section,” at the beginning of this book.
I’m not sure at what point it happened, but when I came to know that the purpose of life is to have experiences which can include negative experiences. And I shifted my paradigm of God from entity to energy I stopped looking at my challenges in life as signs that I was unlucky or was being ignored or punished by God for some reason. Now, I saw myself as a spiritual being on a human adventure where everything has purpose even when bad things happen because every moment is an experience. I’ll never forget one story told by near death experiencer Natalie Sudman which is the perfect metaphor for understanding how our souls think about human suffering.
Natalie’s near death experience had pretty much ended and she was waking up after a roadside bomb had exploded under her vehicle in Iraq. She was in a dream like state of mind, half in the spirit world and half in the physical world when she realized that she might be blind in one eye due to her injuries. Because she was still strutting the ethereal veil, Natalie recognized that her soul was quite excited about this possibility of being blind in one eye because her soul had never had that experience before. Natalie’s soul wasn’t concerned, fearful, disappointed, or frightened. It was enthusiastic about this possible new experience that it had not yet known in any other lifetime.
Before I began investigating the afterlife, I might have thought that this idea of our souls being excited about an experience that could involve suffering was appalling because I believed that life was meant to only be light, laughter, and lollypops, I would not have been able to wrap my mind around this concept that life is about experiences. But now that my research has taught me otherwise, I am free from the suffering that comes from interpreting challenging experiences as punishment, bad luck, or being ignored by God. And while this change in perspective will not eliminate all suffering, it certainly reduces the mental and emotional anguish that comes from these beliefs.
My investigation of life after death has taught me that experience is what happens to us, and it is our free will that gives us the choice of how to respond to what happens to us. Take any experience that most people would consider as negative, and I can find you one person who reacts to that experience as a victim and one person who reacts to that experience by making the best of it. The first person will experience more misery than the second, and all due to a single paradigm shift. Because of my fascination with death and what follows it, I now understand why sores and our souls allow such tragic events to happen. And I also understand the spiritual depth of these people who keep smiling in spite of their suffering.
They inspire us of course, but even more, they exemplify the power of our spirit. These people respond to life with love which is all that our souls know in the spirit world. And they remind us through our free will choices that we can be joyful and loving in the face of challenges too. I don’t know how I would respond to every tragic possibility in life, but I know that my investigation of the afterlife has given me a greater chance for making the best of what happens rather than falling into victimhood. Even in my daily life, I live with less fear and greater inner peace when faced with challenges, my understanding of why bad things are allowed to happen to innocent people, children included helps me to focus my compassion on their suffering rather than get paralyzed by blame, fear, and judgment.
And so, I believe that learning about life after death does teach us about life which is one more reason why I wrote this book.” So that’s all I’m gonna read you from that section and that’s in my book, “Answers About the Afterlife” by Bob Olson. You can find that on amazon.com. Now, “The Magic Mala. ”The Magic Mala,” a story that changes lives” is a fictional story but it’s a fictional story that teaches and as I have said many times if you liked, “The Alchemist,” or, “”Way of The Peaceful Worrier,” or, “The Celestine Prophecy,” then you’ll probably love, “The Magic Mala.”
In relation to what we’re talking about here on the heels of these hurricanes which many people are still dealing with at this moment, here is something that I thought was relevant in, “The Magic Mala.” There’s two characters, Ruth and Dave and they’re having some conversations and Dave is teaching her about metaphysics. They’re having this conversation, and this question comes up from Ruth, “So how do illnesses and injuries including tragedies of all sorts that cripple or kill human beings fit into metaphysics Dave?”
Dave says, “Things will happen to us that we cannot control, some tragedies and suffering cannot be avoided, you can call it fate, you can call it being in the wrong at the wrong time, it doesn’t matter what we call it. We have to surrender to the fact that bad things might happen to us in our lives. Metaphysics teaches us to accept this truth and understand that there is only one question we can ask ourselves if something bad happens to us. Do you know what that question is, Ruth?” “I probably don’t,” she says.
“The only question we can ask ourselves after something bad has occurred is this, “Given my current circumstances what can I think, say, and do to move forward in the best possible manner? And this is where the laws of metaphysics empower us. What can I do in this new situation to make the most of my negative circumstances?” Ruth turned from looking at the babies cocked her head to reflect and then looked at Dave, “So you’re saying that the laws of metaphysics help us with what we are able to control which is the present moment, and not with what we cannot control which is whatever has happened to us in the past?”
Dave’s eyes lit up, “You said it a lot better than I did. It’s not that I don’t believe that we can attract undesirable people, events, and circumstances into our lives with negative thinking, I do. It happens all the time which is why we must become conscious about what we are thinking. I’m just saying that not ever bad thing that happens to us is a result of our thoughts, words, or actions I still believe in fate.” “Fate being what exactly?” Said Ruth. “Well, that’s a big question, isn’t it? Let me just say that to me I still believe in a higher power that knows what I came into this life to experience. And if getting ill or injured is going to lead me towards that destiny then who am I to question it?”
“So you don’t believe in asking why, why did this happen, why me, why now?” Asked Ruth. “Precisely, why questions never lead to answers, more importantly, they leave us facing backward toward the past. People can ask why questions all their lives and never more forward, what? Now, that’s a better question. What can I do now to get better, what can I do now to improve my life, what is needed in this situation for growth, healing, love, and a more joyful tomorrow?”
Okay, so that’s, “The Magic Mala, a story that changes lives” by Bob Olson. And those are two passages from two of my books that I just thought were relevant, and appropriate for what has been going on recently with Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. And I think it’s just something important for all of us to think about. I certainly have recognized that there are two different types of people and tragedies and events like these that occur certainly bring out the best in people. I think we all can attest to that.
And the people who are out there just doing what they can not only to make the best of their lives but to help their neighbor, to help their family members, to help anybody that they can, certainly the volunteers who have traveled for miles across the country maybe even the world to help out with the situation that’s going down in Texas and in Florida. These volunteers are just very special people. I think I can speak for the entire world of how proud we are of those people and how they inspire us and how they make us recognize that we do live in a very wonderful world when you see that kind of human inspiration I guess, the triumph of the human spirit, people wanting to help other people.
Anyway, that’s really all I have to say for this week. I hope it was helpful to you. As usual, check out our sponsor Best Psychic Directory, check out my books, “The Magic Mala” and, “Answers about the Afterlife.” Leave your stories and questions on afterlifetv.com and talk to us via social media, all the social media that you prefer.
Thanks again for listening and have a wonderful week. Bye- bye.
Afterlife TV is presented by Afterlife Investigator & Psychic Medium Researcher Bob Olson, who is the author of Answers about the Afterlife: A Private Investigator’s 15-Year Research Unlocks the Mysteries of Life after Death.
Check out Bob Olson’s other sites: BestPsychicDirectory.com (a directory of hundreds of psychics & mediums by location with reviews & Instant Readings) & BestPsychicMediums.com (his personal recommended list of tested psychics and mediums) or visit Bob’s Facebook Page. Bob also has a popular workshop for psychics and mediums at PsychicMediumWorkshop.com.
JOIN BOB’S NEWSLETTER: Don’t miss Bob’s latest content about life lessons and life after death on his newsletter called, Bob Olson Connect.
