Child-rearing

Finally, there are two ways I would like to offer for using NDE research to help growth. The first is that our individual sense of self has its foundations in what we are told and how we are treated in childhood and adolescence. How often does hearing “you’re bad, you are no good, you will never amount to anything” trample a child’s sense of self? If we can make it a priority to tell our children the greater view of who they are, that their true nature is good, that love can guide their actions, and that they have been given this gift of life to help bless the world, we will do much for their self-esteem.

Secondly, NDE research not only can help us to die consciously and to live consciously—it also can help us to be born consciously. The last way that I have applied the NDE perspective has been to help parents conceive their child in greater conscious awareness. This involves helping parents realize that bringing a child into the world is the greatest and most sacred responsibility they will ever have, so their decision to have a child becomes a more profoundly conscious process. It also includes that the future parents be very aware, and in a loving feeling, while they are conceiving the child. Furthermore, though it may feel awkward to some, talking to their fetus and its incoming soul with messages of honor and love can do much to offer the child the best start; and research has shown that this does indeed have a positive effect on fetal development (Joseph Chilton Pearce, The Magical Child). Wouldn’t anyone want to have been conceived and born in awareness and love? Though the soul may enter life in a small body, it still needs to be acknowledged as the soul it is, and it still needs to be given the love, light, and guidance that will help it to grow.