Don't pass me by; don't make me cry (The Beatles)

Photo by A n v e s h on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Me?

It's been six weeks since my NDE and people can still surprise me by asking how I'm doing. 

Well, I'm still getting over the seatbelt crush on my sternum. It still twings when I get in and out of a car, when I tighten the belt on my trousers, and when I put on my seatbelt I know why I still feel it.

Aside from that, and my nose injury which continues to remind me of July 5, I'm really feeling fine physically. Mentally as well. No PTSD. Although I still get a flash from time to time of the moment of impact.

Behaviourally, the NDE has had clear repercussions for my driving. It's not like I was speedy pre crash, but I did get impatient with drivers going slower than me and I'd get agitated and itchy to pass them. Now that I stick rigidly to all speed limits and cars mount up behind me and eventually pass me by, sometimes in risky moves, I am much more patient and philosophic about the craziness of driving. 

New Zealand drivers on State Highway 2 from Takapau to Hastings are dumb as a bag of hammers. Just to be one car length ahead of me they will risk their safety (and mine). Invariably, ahead of us will be a truck (there's always another truck on the highway) or someone else driving to the speed limit. The gain is arriving at a destination a second or two ahead of me.

There's nowt so queer as folk.

Thanks for asking.

Love and peace - Wozza

The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates)

Wie geht's? 

A Near Death Experience (NDE) is bound to have certain affects.

Although I have not had any sensation of being outside of my body, or any visions of angels, or feelings of transcendence, I still feel changed in some sense as a consequence of that serious car accident.

As it happened, after the Tuesday accident I got back into my life quite quickly: Thursday, I went to a scheduled hospital appointment; Friday I returned to work; and Sunday I flew to Brisbane with family for a long planned for reunion in Noosa.

Fearless is a 1993 movie starring Jeff Bridges as a person who survives a plane crash. He develops an extreme preoccupation with a new perspective on life as a result. 

According to the article I read on Wikipedia, this is consistent with certain changes associated with those who have had an NDE, such as  a greater appreciation for life, higher self-esteem, greater compassion for others, less concern for acquiring material wealth, a heightened sense of purpose and self-understanding, desire to learn, elevated spirituality, greater ecological sensitivity and planetary concern, a feeling of being more intuitive.

I can identify with two aspects of these (higher self-esteem and a feeling of being more intuitive) but in my case it feels more like a reiteration and enhancement of my existing perspective on life.

Without being too egotistical about things, I really do appreciate the life I live, and I've never been that concerned with material wealth. At various times, I've written about my sense of purpose and awareness around what motivates me, as well as a continuing desire to learn and challenge myself. 

Weirdly though, in the last three weeks, I have felt higher self-esteem and a new kind of confidence in myself and my special set of skills as a consequence of the NDE (that swerve at the right time). It's difficult to quantify, but it's been a definite feeling.

The other, more tangible thing, is that I am a lot more mindful of my driving now. As a poster I used to have says 'Win The Rat Race - You're Still A Rat!' So passing maneuvers and what the idiots ahead of me and behind me are doing are much more front and centre in my thinking.

Again - a reiteration of Be Here Now, really.

Love and deep peace of the flowing air to you - Wozza