The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You by Mike Dooley

the influences behind your unexplainable urges and fears, the likely ancient connection between you and the parents you chose, and the people you loathed and adored and why.
    You’ll radiate pure ecstasy over your every triumph and conquest, beam proudly for your bravery and valor, savor and relish your tolerance, celebrate your dogged perseverance and sheer guts; your compassion, empathy, and tenderness. And all you feel will be amplified 1 million times as you see your good perpetuated by others, rippling outward, your smile and strength contagious, spreading like a wildfire through space and time—indeed, into eternity, reaching more lives than you ever might imagine could exist.
    “W HOOPS , I D ID I T A GAIN ”
    Yet you’ll also watch in near disbelief at the times when you were bathed in love, supported by angels, and pushed on to greatness with dominion over all things, yet because of your own naïveté, ignorance, or misunderstanding, you knew none of these things. And then you’ll watch as you took it upon yourself to right perceived wrongs, correct sensed imbalances, and claim for yourself what others were too daft to give you. Trying to effect change by manipulating the illusions and other people rather than going within. Being critical, judgmental, and hurtful—mentally, physically, and emotionally—while surrounded by a loving, adoring Universe. Huh! Me? You’ll wonder, stupefied, whether the images have been distorted, because you remember all of the hurt and confusion you felt in those times but none of the love that surrounded you.
    Such instances will be few and far between compared to your finer moments; nevertheless, they’ll cause discomfort. In spite of so much support, in spite of how obvious it always could have been, you allowed yourself to go “caveman.” And your remorse will be amplified as you see that your actions became excuses for others who cowered, blamed, and withdrew from the infinite possibilities of their own lives. And then you’ll see how their actions cast shadows over an ever-expanding circle of others.
    Ain’t pretty.
    Yet … you’re strengthened by the “good.” You see it expanding wider and faster than the “bad,” bolstered by everyone’s more powerful inclination to choose love. You see that there’s time within eternity for all to majestically rebound. That nothing goes wasted and every experience expands God. That everyone eventually learns whatever they came to learn and returns to love; that everyone makes it “home,” whole and complete, more than who they were. That there are an infinite number of second chances. And unmistakably, even as you see your greatest disappointments and mistakes, you feel that you’re still absolutely adored. You physically feel it. And while you can’t begin to understand this, you know it’s true because you’re understood . You know that everything is going to be okay. You understand that healing, for everyone, including you, is nonstop. That the setbacks were foreseen as possibilities. That everyone who crossed paths (or “swords”) with you did so aware of the probabilities involved; they knew what might happen, and from the zenith of their brilliance they issued a commanding “YES!”
Everyone eventually learns whatever they came to learn and returns to love.
    H ELP T HEM H ELP Y OU H ELP Y OURSELF
    But just as you wobbled, slipped, and made mistakes that brought pain to others, those who’ve done so to you are deeply sorry for the interactions in which you suffered. Interactions, in fact, that made it possible for them to see what they formerly couldn’t. The dead are pressed all the more in gratitude to help those in pain halt or completely avoid a series of unfortunate events, especially as they now see what you can’t: how easy it is, how strong you are, and how much more life has to offer those who let go of the past.
    A S ERIES OF U NFORTUNATE E VENTS
    If you, dear reader, are in a place of continued