Discovering Past Lives

BY CHIM LI YEN

Do you sometimes get glimpses of your previous incarnations in your dreams? Do you find certain places very familiar despite it being your first visit there?

In certain religions, the human narrative is relatively straightforward. You were born. You lived. You died. After a judgment, you went to heaven (or hell) forever and ever. Eternity was the end: no appeals allowed.

The Hindus, Buddhists, the ancient Greeks and certain Jews believed in something entirely different. Theirs is a cyclical view. You are born. You live. You die. And because nobody’s perfect, your soul is born again right here on Earth.

We all have past lives. Some of us are able to remember specific experiences from our previous incarnations and some of us don’t. In fact, you might have a hundred or more incarnations behind you. When your soul came to the Earth, it was on a mission seeking knowledge. Your soul has experienced some significant barriers to growth along the way as each lifetime allows it to evolve.

If you think of your soul as choosing to come to a school that specialises in a specific discipline on which you need to work on, many things will fall in place. For example, you would enrol in an architectural course if you wanted to learn how to build a bridge. Likewise, a soul would be born into a family where the themes of betrayal and loss are played out so it can learn the lesson of trust.

Depending on how well we have learned our lessons and whether we have passed our courses, our soul may choose to return to Earth and take an advanced course or it might decide to take a totally different subject. The concept of past lives can be helpful to understand life in the present. Accessing former lives can help bring release from past situations that may be holding us back now. The purpose of past-life regression is to clear baggage from the past and make way for a happier future.

A major trauma in a past life can create a fear that will follow your soul across many incarnations. When an accident acts as a trigger, the fear will surface as a reminder of what once happened to the soul. Triggers sometimes cause a dormant past-life fear to explode with great intensity which can create a disproportionate reaction to the event. These experiences called ‘resonances’ can be relatively minor or they can be large enough to cast a giant shadow over someone’s life. Resonances signal the existence of a past life that’s trying to get your attention.

Healing can occur after you explore, understand and forgive everyone involved in the past experience which has caused the trauma. Past life therapy offers another way in which you can accomplish what you need to learn. After experiencing the failure of a particular life during therapy, you are able to release the repressed emotions and see the situation from the paradigm of your current life.

The ultimate goal is to overcome your fears and step into a life of greater spiritual fulfilment and deeper meaning. The purpose of reincarnation is to provide opportunities for us to recall our true nature. You are an evolving, unlimited spirit created in the image of God. You are given the choice to act, react, create and be co-creators with the Divine.

When you accept full responsibility for your thoughts and actions and free yourself from the limitations of the physical existence, you no longer need the lessons to be learned in the physical world. There is no need to continue in the cycles of death and rebirth so you may claim your birthright as unlimited spirit.

Many people are curious about their past lives. However, one is recommended to explore past lives only with a clear intention to heal and the genuine desire to learn from the mistakes made previously. Past life experiences can be used to make positive changes in the present and to avoid repeating similar paths.