Heaven & Hell

I’m not a particularly religious individual but recently I was reminded about heaven and hell. Most of you reading this will think of heaven and hell as something for the after life. The concept being that heaven is good and hell is not pleasant.

But what I would like to put forward to you is how we can, and often do, create our own heaven or hell on earth while still alive (heaven being pleasant and hell being not pleasant). Yes there are some external things that can make our lives seem like heaven or hell such as disease, war and natural disasters. But the truth of the matter, and the creation of our heaven or hell, is how we react to the situations which are put before us. And these reactions involve thoughts based on your frame of mind at the time.

Let me give you an example that has been prevalent as a result of the financial crises that the world has experienced recently. Retrenchment. The job that you have had for a number of years is suddenly taken away. You now have a choice to make based on your thoughts which create your reaction to this event. Will this be a heaven (pleasant) or hell (not pleasant) for you? How will you choose to react, positively or negatively? The choice you make will be based on the thoughts that you have at the time of the occurrence.

Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up one morning knowing that there actually is no hell; that the world is really a heaven. Of course there may be some cloudy days occasionally but generally in heaven the days are sunny.

Here s a little exercise for you to try. Next time you have a negative or unpleasant thought about an occurrence, stop yourself from reacting to that thought. Quickly replace that unpleasant thought with a pleasant one and act upon that thought instead.

Isn’t it nice to know that heaven is only a thought away.