Are You Living in the Past?

by Sandy Penny

     When I was first learning about metaphysical subjects, I believed in reincarnation, but I had no particular interest in pursuing the subject. I figured, what’s in the past is past, and I was focused on improving my present and future.

     Then a funny thing happened. I met a person I felt so connected with that it was embarrassing how I was feeling. I felt like I was really happy to see him again, like a long lost friend, but we had never met before. The connection was so strong and mutual, I couldn’t ignore it. Some people would have immediately felt it was a romantic attraction because that’s how it felt. It was like running into an old friend and getting a rush of memory.

     One of my spiritual friends said, perhaps it’s a past life connection. Something in me resonated to that, so I scheduled my first past life regression just to explore the possibilities. I did indeed find a past life connection where we had been married, and he had died when I was only 28. In this time period, I was 28 when we met. Meeting at the age at which he had died in the earlier life was a kind of trigger to remember, and that was the beginning of exploring my past lives. Interestingly, once I knew the connection, the compulsion toward him subsided.

     Philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Finally I understood the reason for knowing about past lives—because they may be affecting this life. If you don’t know the driving force in a relationship, you may be unconsciously repeating old patterns. Instead of making forward progress, you may be going around a circle. You either evolve or revolve. The only way to stop the circle is to become conscious of the pattern and choose to interrupt it, complete it, take your right action and move on.

     Sometimes one particular lifetime is having the most impact on this life. Before incarnating, we choose the tools, challenges, limitations and opportunities for this life. How we use the tools, face the challenges, transcend the limitations and take advantage of the opportunities determines how we experience this life. After each life, there is a life review in which we assess how we did with the lessons we chose, and we integrate them into our soul energy.

     Anything that we judge or feel incomplete with, we are offered the opportunity to repeat or face in a different way. This is what we call karma. Karma is not about punishment and rewards. It is the results of what we feel about how we lived our life, and the path of learning. “What we feel,” not what someone else feels or judges us for. We examine ourselves from a place of love, compassion, understanding and a broader vision of what we were trying to accomplish. Then we choose what’s next. If we feel we completed the lessons or experiences we set forth for ourselves, we choose something new and different.

     Sometimes we are moving forward, and we have a few niggling little pieces that we want to address, so we incorporate an opportunity into our lives to address it. It could be something very small and seemingly insignificant, but has a powerful impact on someone we feel we owe a debt. Sometimes we feel so grateful for someone who was in a past life, that we want to do something nice for them in this life. So, when we meet them, we feel compelled to help them, even if there are challenges in doing so.

     Many of us do not have memories from past lives, but we may have clues that guide us.
Past life indicators:

1. Are you obsessively interested in a time period or place?
2. Do you feel emotions or energy (positive or negative) toward someone far stronger than the dynamics of the relationship?
3. Do you feel drawn toward or repelled from someone for no apparent reason?
4. Did you fall in love the minute you met?
5. After getting involved with someone that ignited super feelings, did the relationship turn out to be something totally different than you expected?
6. Do you keep getting involved in situations or relationships that reflect some kind of pattern, and you can’t track it to childhood experiences or anything from this life?
7. Do you fail to recognize patterns with someone that all your friends seem to be able to recognize far in advance of them showing up for you?
8. Do you have pain in your body that does not seem to be connected with a physical illness or recurring pain in the same area of your body?

     If any or all of these clues are present in your life, you could be dealing with past life challenges. So, what do you do?

     You can meditate and go inside and ask yourself for information and answers that will help with the situation. Sometimes it’s very difficult to connect with these patterns as they are buried deep within us, and were imprinted in your DNA before birth. However, you always have everything within yourself to address these situations if you’re committed to resolving them.

     Sometimes we are so enamored with our patterns that we can’t release them by ourselves, or we can’t even own them as patterns. When this is the case it’s best to choose someone you trust who conducts past life regressions and can help you connect with what is hidden within you.

     I prefer past life regression over past life readings because it’s easy to dismiss information that someone else give you, but more difficult when it comes form inside you.

     Regressions can be done in different ways, but my favorite way is to go into body memories and unlock the energy that resides within that area of your body. A past life trauma can represent itself as a pain or illness so that your attention will be drawn to it repeatedly to inspire you to heal it.

     I conduct a process called integration. It involves a deep level meditation and dialogue with various aspects of yourself connecting to whatever is going on inside you. It may result in a past life regression, or it may reveal trauma originating in this lifetime.

     I can guide it toward past lives, if that is what a client wants. The first past life I usually address is the one that is affecting this life the most. That gives a client the opportunity to make choices that will have the most healing effects in this life. Once you do a few regressions, you may begin spontaneously remembering prior lives when a karmic opportunity shows up.

     Neutralizing past life karma is easier now than it ever has been, as much of our current karma was created in the Piscean Age, and now that we are in the Aquarian Age, the lessons are different. It’s time to let go of the past.

     Many people are experiencing the return of old relationships and patterns they thought they were done with, for final healing and release, so they can make the big shift now at hand. If this is happening in your life, it’s time to focus on karma sloughing (forgive and release) and choose a new age blueprint for the rest of your life. Does that resonate for you? If so, it may be time to schedule your past life regression and get on with the new and good.

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Check back often for Sandy Penny's columIn The New Era Times called Traveler's Dream, where she discusses experiences, challenges and tools for expanding your consciousness, healing your body, mind and spirit, raising your vibration and manifesting your highest and best life.