Many years ago, I heard Dr. Stuart Grayson refer to his hero Carl Jung. He said that Jung had given us great wisdom with the following concept:

First, you must realize you are asleep
Then you die so you can be born.
You cannot be born until you die
And you cannot die until you wake.

Dying and being reborn is such a paradox. Although it is necessary to wake up so we will not continue to die a little every day from our learned way of being robotic in nature, it is also imperative that we allow parts of ourselves to die so the greater self can become realized. I see this often with people in recovery. They have stopped drinking but are still unwilling to give up the misery the drinking used to give them. They no longer apologize about overindulging in alcohol, yet they continue to apologize about their lives.

It amazes me that somehow, through the processes I have written about in the first three chapters, I became in awe of my life—I, the one who could have easily died a physical death because of all the automobile accidents I had or the many times I drank enough alcohol to kill myself.

Each year when another birthday rolls around, I celebrate this journey on many levels: first, that I survived myself long enough to tell these stories, and second, that I actually lived long enough to discover aspects, gifts, and qualities about myself that are beyond my past imaginings.