One of the reasons I was so intrigued about doing a Life-Between-Lives research project is because I have often encountered individuals who believe that the issues going on in their lives have nothing to do with them. It’s always some random act being done TO them by others. Spouses, family members, friends and colleagues are often mentioned as the source of suffering and unhappiness, but when it comes to the principle players in the blame game, mom and dad are usually front and center. That’s why one of the areas we explore in the life-between-life research project involves the choice of parents. The fact that the choice of parents is left to us is a huge surprise to most people new to this work and protests abound. Once they settle in to the idea, I ask the name of their current mother and father, who they were in a prior lifetime, WHY the participant chose them for parents in this life, and what they will bring to the parent-child relationship that would best serve the child’s soul in this incarnation. As you can imagine, this is a rather thought provoking question, but it is also the question that gets the most “ah ha” moments. “Oh…no wonder….” often follows the realization that mom and dad were not randomly chosen–that a lot of thought and reason went into that decision–and that BOTH sides agreed to come in together to set up the family dynamic for the lessons their union would bring about. Here’s an example. Say you decide to work on the issue of abandonment in your next life. You would most likely look for parents who would abandon you at some point–whether that abandonment takes place physically or emotionally. Or let’s say your issue is acceptance and approval. You may select a mom or dad who will never accept you for who you are, or approve of anything you do. And in this latter case, it may be because the lesson for you is that acceptance and approval do not come from the outside, but rather from within and from above. When you learn that lesson, you graduate and don’t have to repeat it again! Now that’s something worth working toward! That same dynamic exists for other members of your soul family–souls who have repeatedly incarnated with you in various roles. Upon finding out what lessons you want to work on in the coming life, they may step forward and agree to come in with you to play a specific role in nudging you toward completing the lesson. Your husband in a prior life may be your sister in this life; your mother in a prior life may be your brother in this life. We change roles. We change sexes. The bodies change. The souls do not. One of the things to remember about karma is that it is self-inflicted. It’s all about the choices you make and the attitude you have toward the life lessons you are working on. And it’s always justified. Make fun of obese people in this life and you may find yourself in an overweight body in the next life where people make fun of YOU! Sometimes it’s tit for tat. Sometimes it’s a lot more complicated than that. So, no matter what life lesson you chose to work on in this life, keep in mind this sobering thought. It’s all your doing. Once you understand and accept that, you can sit back and look at your life with new eyes and a totally different perspective. When that happens, suddenly everything becomes quite clear. You go from playing the blame game to playing the acceptance game and that’s a freedom unlike any you’ve known before!
