Let Heaven Be Familiar Again
Letting our nervous system and mind receive more of Heaven each day.
Last year, my wife and I were listening to a personal development program when we heard a statement that made us both pause.
"People will often choose a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven."
I remember stopping the recording.
Something inside me stirred.
Why?
Why would anyone knowingly choose suffering over joy?
Why would we choose fear over peace?
Why would we choose scarcity over abundance?
Why would we choose anything but the “best” for us
Then I remembered...
My experience of Heaven.
As a child, I drowned.
In those moments between life and death, I encountered a love so complete, so safe, so infinitely alive that it forever became my reference point for what Heaven truly is.
Not clouds.
Not distance.
Not religion.
Not judgment.
Love.
Light.
Complete belonging.
A place where fear simply didn't exist.
So hearing that phrase landed differently for me.
I suddenly realized how often we all do it including me.
Familiar Feels Safe
Our nervous systems are beautifully designed to recognize what is familiar.
Unfortunately...
familiar isn't always the same as life-giving.
Sometimes familiar looks like anxiety.
Sometimes it looks like constant striving.
Sometimes it looks like people-pleasing.
Sometimes it looks like exhaustion.
Sometimes it looks like believing peace is something we'll experience later.
We didn’t choose those things because we love suffering.
We choose them because somewhere along the way...
they became familiar.
And familiarity often masquerades as safety.
The Voice I Heard in Heaven
Religion often asks,
"Why would you choose wrong?"
Love asks something entirely different.
"What has made this feel safe?"
That question changes everything.
My experience of God was never condemnation.
Never disappointment.
Never pressure.
The voice I encountered sounded more like this:
"Take all the time you need.
I'm always here."
That's the voice of Heaven.
The ultimate nervous system exhale.
Grace in its truest form.
The deepest embrace imaginable.
A love that never rushes you.
A Father who isn't threatened by your pace.
A Presence that remains with you whether you feel close or impossibly far.
As the psalmist wrote,
"If I make my bed in hell, You are there."
Love doesn't leave.
It simply keeps inviting.
Making Heaven Familiar
Today I realize something beautiful.
Heaven has always felt familiar to my spirit.
For a season, it didn't feel familiar to my mind, or what i saw and experienced around me.
Much of my journey has simply been allowing my nervous system to remember what my spirit already knew.
That's why I write.
Why I coach.
Why I speak.
Why these next four books continue exploring Heaven.
Not as somewhere we'll someday go.
As the reality Jesus continually pointed toward.
"The Kingdom of Heaven is within you... and among you."
I've found Heaven isn't only present in extraordinary moments.
It's in walking beside the sea with my wife.
It’s in just “being with“ our children.
It's in laughter around the dinner table.
It's in creating something beautiful together.
It's in receiving goodness without needing to earn it.
It's in a quiet breath.
It's in kindness.
It's in peace.
It's in love.
The Child Already Knows
Children rarely need to be convinced that wonder exists.
They expect beauty.
They expect possibility.
They receive freely.
Before fear teaches us otherwise...
Heaven feels natural.
Maybe that's why Jesus said the Kingdom belongs to those who become like children.
Childlike.
Open.
Receiving.
Trusting.
Wonder-filled.
Returning isn't about becoming someone new.
It’s simply remembering someone we've always been.
Let Heaven Become Familiar Again
The invitation isn't to force yourself into a better life.
It’s much gentler.
Simply allow Heaven to become familiar again.
Receive goodness without apologizing.
Notice beauty before rushing past it.
Let peace become more familiar than pressure.
Let rest become more familiar than striving.
Let love become more familiar than fear.
If today peace still feels unfamiliar...
There is no judgment.
Only an invitation.
Love meets us exactly where we believe is safest.
And from there...
gently teaches us that there is so much more.
Five Gentle Invitations
- Welcome one beautiful moment today.
Instead of rushing past it, pause for thirty seconds and let yourself fully receive it. - Ask your body a simple question.
"What feels familiar to me... and does it truly feel like love?" - Revisit your childlike wonder.
Do one small thing today that your younger self would have delighted in. - Practice receiving.
Notice where goodness is already finding you—a kind word, a breeze, a meal, a sunrise—and simply let it in. - End your day with this prayer.
"Father, help Heaven become a little more familiar to me tomorrow than it was today."
Perhaps that is what transformation has always looked like.
Not earning our way into Heaven...
Allowing Heaven to feel like home again.
Infinite love and blessings,
Nicholas