I have never quite understood the notion that this one life is all we get. It never felt right to me, because if that were true, all mistakes take on such crushingly huge proportions that we might never move. It means that childhood, especially if it is abusive, is just a waste of time that we do really need to rush through in order to get to something relevant. It can lead to the depressing thought that “If this is all there is, then there is really nothing”. And that leads to all the hub bub of live for the next life which was also confusing because then this isn’t the only life we have, but it is, but there’s another one, but this is all there is….. It made my head hurt. And it didn’t quite fit with what I felt in my body, with my subconscious knowing about myself and what I was experiencing.
Things began to make more sense for me as I started working with the Native elders and walking the Good Red Road of my own spirituality. I started remembering, while in sweatlodge or ceremony, lives that I had lived before. I reawakened experiences and wisdom that I had from times before and was able to hold onto them and incorporate them in this life. And I’m happy to say that to date, I have never been Cleopatra, Marc Anthony, a Pharoah, a King, or any important political or historical figure. Because, to be honest, I think that would be a bit creepy. Seeing myself as a fridge magnet would probably send me into a brain cramp that it would take weeks to get me out of.
However, the lives I have experienced and knowing about them has helped me understand who I am today and the background on why I tend to like this and not that, would choose this over that, and gives me more perspective on life in general. Having been a successful Roman soldier helps me understand my fascination for real swords and how I know at a glance between the fake and the real and all the facts about them that automatically run through my head although I’ve never studied them or worked with them. Although I’d really like to. And that combined several other hard-working lives also informs my pragmatic attitude towards things. Layer after layer of experience has taught me that you can get through it and well and without drama. As long as you are allowed to fall down in exhaustion afterwards and heal. I’m still looking for that life where I’m a pampered princess though….do I have to save up frequent flyer miles for that?