Past Lives 101 – Part 2: Your Past Life Regression Timeline
By Linda-Ann Stewart Ct.H., Ct.H.A
Realize that our lives inhabit one long continuum that in past life regression we call a timeline. All of the incidents in this lifetime and all of our other lifetimes exist in a single, extensive timeline. Although the body changes, the spiritual entity remains the same. The only thing that’s different is that we’ve forgotten our earlier existences, as most of us have forgotten our birth and memories of infancy. But it’s all there. And the circumstances of our past lives influence us just as experiences of our present life affect us.
Many people talk of karma, cause and effect, saying that we’re reborn time and again to pay off or fulfill our karma. For instance, if we murdered someone in a past life, we’re doomed to be murdered at some point to balance the energy. But what is the energy we’re here to repay? It’s simply emotions. John Bradshaw called it “E-motion – energy in motion.” We carry them from lifetime to lifetime, recreating the same scenario over and over until we learn from it, and release the energy, thus resolving that karma. Karma isn’t a punishment by the Universe, but a lesson to learn as quickly or as slowly as we wish.
One of my clients had done atrocities to others in a past life long ago. As we explored that lifetime on her timeline through past life regression, she felt so guilty for what she’d done. Before this, we’d examined other lifetimes where she’d been victimized over and over. She felt she was still paying off what she believed was her karma, even though she’d learned the lesson from it. No karmic energy was punishing her. Her feelings of guilt were continuing to attract situations to her long after there was any purpose to it.
In a way, when we insist on perpetuating our self-castigation, instead of being the means of teaching us a lesson, it becomes an end in itself. The karma is erased, but we still punish ourselves for what we feel we’ve done wrong. Karma has nothing to do with punishment or reward, it’s simply so we learn. Once our actions are no longer helpful, they become self-destructive, and keep us from progressing spiritually. My client’s guilt had kept her in a loop of being a victim. Once she recognized that she’d learned the lesson, she could forgive herself for what she’d done and break the cycle.
Everything is energy, all that we do and think. Just as a situation that happened to us in childhood can continue to haunt and control us, so can things that have happened in past lives. The decisions that we’ve made on inadequate or incomplete information can follow us through lifetimes. Since energy attracts similar energy, we will attract situations that verify our attitudes. The same spiritual principles apply from past lives as pertain to our present life. Remember, it’s one long continuous life. You’re just in different bodies and times. The characters may change somewhat, but the theme remains the same.
As a child, Susie was punished severely for drawing on the walls. She concluded that creativity was unacceptable. Since all of our lives affect all the others, the beliefs we have accepted then show up in our current life. Susie might have been penalized in a past life for creativity. Her belief evolved into an attitude that creativity was dangerous. Bringing that idea into this life, she attracted a situation that reinforced that belief. When she’s able to release the fear in her present life, it’ll fulfill the karma of the original situation. The fear is simply energy that has followed her past life timeline from life to life, creating incidents that have triggered the original emotion.
