“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”― Maya Angelou
I love so many of the words that Maya Angelou has strung together through the years, but this quote is particularly poignant to me today in the wake of her passing. Her words have made so many of us feel deeply over the years, and the feelings most often evoked by her words would have to be hope, joy, and resilience. Her life story reflected these very things.
I have to assume that when Maya Angelou left her earthly body she experienced a rush of good feelings that you and I could never imagine. Why do I say this? Because one of the well known hallmarks of the Near Death Experience (NDE) often referred to as a ‘life review’ affirms that when we die, we feel what we made others feel. For those who have returned from death’s doorway they describe the life review as being a highly charged emotional re-living of their own lives- where they take stock of their cumulative life experiences. In this re-living, they are not judged by an outside source, but instead made to feel exactly what they caused others to feel.
When considering this notion of the life review, can you imagine the immensity of the positive emotion Maya Angelou must have been met with? She offered hope, healing, condolence, encouragement, and a plethora of other deep and positive emotions to millions of people for most of her 86 years.
I can only imagine the splendor that was hers as she moved on to her next place in the universe. God speed Maya, and thank you for the words you left behind, they will continue to light our way.