Past lives can be fun or they can be dreary or they can be a bit horrifying.  People love to dig into them for a variety of reasons.  Some want to relive a glorious lifetime of wealth or fortune or fame.  Some want to know why they are fascinated by a certain topic or hobby or profession.  Others want to heal something they feel is a hold over from another life or to deal with a debt they feel they owe to someone.

Most people have lived hundreds of past lives and while they may never have been famous, there are a finite number of ‘famous’ people and a gazillion souls living lives, most have had fun or cool to hear about lives that make us feel less ordinary or mediocre.  It’s fun to relay things of that nature even if the specifics of the life don’t have a lot of relevance to the current life. What I find interesting in looking at past lives is that, as much as the experts talk about Karma and constantly living in order to work out issues and deal with debts, most people I read for aren’t doing that.  They don’t have the Sword of Damocles swinging over their head waiting for them to forget that they owe someone or that they have been horrible in a past life and forcing them to suffer in this one.

Some people have issues, memories that they carry over in their body or in their emotional body, which affect them now.  Fear of birds, memories of torture, the need to read and explore everything about the American Civil War, a dislike of Europe that is visceral and has no relation to the present as they’ve never been there.  These usually abate when the relevant life(ves) is found and explored.  It is usually a reminder of something that they don’t want to have happen again.  Like a token you wear to remind you not to date losers any more or to keep you from making hasty financial decisions, it is a reminder not to choose that path again. Annoying and sometimes debilitating in this life until it’s figured out.  But helpful in keeping you on the path you have chosen this time around.

Something I find fascinating about past lives is the patterns that they highlight.  Again, with hundreds to choose from, why is one life more important than another?  Sometimes they’re not.  Sometimes it’s the group as a whole that tells the story.  Like the person who chooses adventure each lifetime and having a relationship is secondary to that.  They only take one on if that person is going to adventure with them.  Or they take one on to see if they can keep themselves from adventuring and they do that over and over until they can see that the relationship is the adventure.  Or someone who chooses quiet family life over and over even though they have amazing skills and gifts.  Then they begin choosing more difficult lives of service and alternate between family lives and service over a period of time to build up positive experience.  The variations are fascinating and endlessly unique.

Just because you weren’t a world-renowned artist or political figure doesn’t mean that you are ordinary or bland.  Your past is a rich tapestry that has helped you develop into the being you are today.  Just don’t get sidelined trying to relive the past.  It’s the now that’s most important. You can always look back but you only have one chance at this now.