Sometimes a single incident can have a profound impact on how we view things.
A little over four years ago, as many readers of this blog might recall, I was restored to life after being clinically deceased for nearly 10 minutes following a sudden cardiac arrest.
It was a rather stunning and frightful event, to say the least. This was especially true for my wife Reneé, who had to witness the calamity in person while I was unconscious. Fortunately, I happened to be in a hospital emergency room when it happened, and I was able to receive prompt treatment from an expert medical staff.
Miraculously, not only did I survive the crisis, but did so without notable injury to my brain. Cognitive damage is a very common result of cardiac arrest.
I’ve had to deal with additional health issues since that time, some of them serious. But perhaps the most significant impact of the cardiac arrest has been on my worldview, the lens through which I see and interpret the world and reality.
It’s not so much a constant, day-to-day thing. I don’t dwell on that event or worry that it will happen again. There’s nothing to be gained from that. It’s more of a big-picture change. I have a much greater awareness of mortality—and therefore a greater realization of the need to make the most of this life and appreciate it while I’m still here.
Frequently I try to remind myself, while I’m doing something or when something positive is happening, to stop and acknowledge that I might not cross that path again. I tell myself to live it, enjoy it, soak it in.
Living “mindfully” has been a big topic of conversation, including in this blog. I often try to practice mindfulness and living in the moment. I think to some degree it’s having an impact, because time seems to be passing more slowly. Events that happened a month ago seem like they happened farther back in the past.
In this new worldview, I keep coming back to the idea that so many things we experience are trivial or random, so many points of stress we create for ourselves are so minor in the context of our overall existence.
And I keep returning to the same realization that being alive is an astounding, if not frequently painful, gift. It’s the only opportunity we know of for sure where we can experience all the wonders around us: the love of family, the kindness of strangers, a beautiful sunset, the embrace of a loving spouse.
I’m no expert on psychology or philosophy, but I have lived through some profound personal events. The cardiac arrest was not my first, nor last, near-death experience. Because of this perspective, I feel a need to impart some of what I’ve learned, particularly to people who might be struggling with the meaning and purpose of life.
It’s why I started this blog and wrote a personal development book based largely on my experiences—bad and good.
Life is filled with challenges. As Normal Vincent Peale noted, “There is only one group of people who do not have problems, and they are all dead. Problems are a sign of life, so the more problems you have, the more alive you are.” Indeed, those challenges can lead to new, unforeseen opportunities.
To sum up, life is a wonder. To a certain degree I’ve known this for much of my life. But it took an unexpected pause in that life to bring this understanding to a higher level than before.
Be sure to check out my new author website: https://bobviolino.com
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