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Obsessing over past life

AOSpare

Zos Kia Cultus
I do not know how to put this delicately but it seems many people are a bit obsessed about past life events/trauma memories. I am not entirely sure if this is a healthy attitude. For one the past (if there is such a thing in the context of PL) is not to be dwelled on.
The only thing is real and comforting is the NOW. Similarly, the future or worrying about what might happen or how things will turn out in once life is also destructive and can lead to worry and anxiety. The only healthy information to gain from PL, is a lesson to avoid past actions or situations. Of course often it is not at all apparent and well hidden(so we obsess about that). We were a different persons in the past and we should forget and forgive. Everything NOW is the way it is supposed to be!
 
I couldn't care less about what Ekhart Tolle says, as many other people who write "spirituality books" and are far from having direct experience remembering past lives.


From what I've seen, most people who remember past lives aren't "obsessed" with it. Most of them don't even choose to remember. They just need to remember to come to terms with events from past lives. You just can't focus in the "now" if you haven't resolved those past life issues, which in my case were the ones causing me anxiety and depression.


Forget and forgive is not the solution. REMEMBER, RELEASE EMOTIONS AND INTEGRATE are the solution. Only then we will be able to leave behind whatever is troubling us and concentrate in our future. And another thing, I don't think we are different persons in the past. We are essentially the same.


If you think you have nothing to worry about from your past, that's all right, but others may need a different way to deal with their current issues.


I hope I've replied delicately enough.
 
This is your opinion. See what other have to say...


(I was not looking for YOUR reply....but it seems that you always chime in, every thread.... :( )

Eowyn said:
I couldn't care less about what Ekhart Tolle says, as many other people who write "spirituality books" and are far from having direct experience remembering past lives.
From what I've seen, most people who remember past lives aren't "obsessed" with it. Most of them don't even choose to remember. They just need to remember to come to terms with events from past lives. You just can't focus in the "now" if you haven't resolved those past life issues, which in my case were the ones causing me anxiety and depression.


Forget and forgive is not the solution. REMEMBER, RELEASE EMOTIONS AND INTEGRATE are the solution. Only then we will be able to leave behind whatever is troubling us and concentrate in our future. And another thing, I don't think we are different persons in the past. We are essentially the same.


If you think you have nothing to worry about from your past, that's all right, but others may need a different way to deal with their current issues.


I hope I've replied delicately enough.
 
AOSpare, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You have posted your opinion, as has Eowyn. You may not like her opinion, as she may not like yours, but as this is a forum for open discussion we have to be prepared for differing opinions and views from our own. It is hard to see the whole coin just by looking at one side. :)


In my opinion (another one ;) ) obsessing excessively over any subject can ultimately become unhealthy. All things in moderation. However, as Eowyn says, when a PL comes out of nowhere and over-whelms you with emotions, thoughts and feelings, it can be hard not to think about those and try to understand where they come from. In that case, I can’t help but think that brushing it all under the carpet and focussing on the present is a very un-healthy thing to do.


Imagine you have broken your foot and it is causing you pain, you stop, give it rest and tend to the source of the pain (the break) so it can heal properly and you can move on and go about your life; Consciousness is similar, it can be hurt and give us pain, so it can be healthy to slow down, search for answers and tend to the source of the pain (by remembering and releasing the emotions), whether that is in past lives or earlier events in our current one, in order to gain understanding and healing.


The way I see things, to know where we are going, it helps to understand where we have come from.
 
AOspare said:
I do not know how to put this delicately but it seems many people are a bit obsessed about past life events/trauma memories. I am not entirely sure if this is a healthy attitude. For one the past (if there is such a thing in the context of PL) is not to be dwelled on.
There are a few things going on with all the 'drama' of the past life 'trauma'.


1. People usually remember the 'highlights' of a past life. It might be an intensely happy moment, or an intensely painful moment. Just as in the present life, we don't usually remember the 'boring bits'. The soul has to 'compact' all the memories into the mind so as not to take up too much 'space'. Like a zip file on your computer.


2. Consequently, a lot of people who come into the forum are those who have had some kind of memory that is bothering them and won't go away. They are often not believed by others, and if they are, not understood. So, there is often a lot of discussion helping people work through difficult memories and the associated feelings.


3. Is it healthy to dwell on all this? Yes and no. It's healthy to talk about it and to think about the patterns in life and the workings of karma, love, cause and effect. Once people work those things out the memories often 'settle down' and they feel better. Without an opportunity to talk about it, with people who don't judge, but do understand, the memories could easily become harmful, if they did not have a way of being understood.
 
helz_belz said:
...The way I see things, to know where we are going, it helps to understand where we have come from.
Indeed. Having a sense of life as a continuum, rather than an isolated event, is an overwhelming idea for a lot of people. It takes some working out to get your head around what it means to be immortal.





:)
 
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AOSpare said:
(I was not looking for YOUR reply....but it seems that you always chime in, every thread.... :( )
Really? In every thread? No, I'm afraid I don't have that much time to waste.


Anyway, if you don't want to listen to my opinion, please just specify so in every thread you start, and I promise to keep my opinion to myself locked1, seeing you're not interested in what other people have to say, especially when it's not what you want to hear. And then, everyone happy! :thumbsup:
 
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No, I specifically do not care of the opinion of the usual bunch. It seems that most regular people do not respond to threads only those who are somewhat affiliated with the forum (mods, whatnot). I am open for discussions but I do not need hostile, self-serving, and closed minded ones. Further, I am not here to convince anyone, if you want to dwell, or be the "professional victim", be my guest. I visit here seldom and perhaps that is a mistake.

Eowyn said:
Really? In every thread? No, I'm afraid I don't have that much time to waste.
Anyway, if you don't want to listen to my opinion, please just specify so in every thread you start, and I promise to keep my opinion to myself locked1, seeing you're not interested in what other people have to say, especially when it's not what you want to hear. And then, everyone happy! :thumbsup:
 
Why 'dwell' on the past?


Because it helps us to understand the present and the future. If we h0m0 sapiens are to evolve, we need to learn from the past and figure out how to do things differently in future.


My friend X taught me that (not just this life).

..I think, ultimately, love in all its glory and complexity is one of the finest lessons we can learn on this Earth. There are others - forgiveness, patience, courage, grace, pity, compassion - the list goes on, but ultimately at the root of all these things is love. I think the more 'developed' we become the more subtle the lessons become, but they are no easier to master than some of the harsher ones - violence begets violence, anger will not solve your problems...
 
tanguerra said:
Because it helps us to understand the present and the future. If we h0m0 sapiens are to evolve, we need to learn from the past and figure out how to do things differently in future.
That is so true! I feel like every life we have has a valuable lesson to be learnt, and through remembering our past, we relearn those lessons all over again for our current self. (Does that make sense?)
 
The NOW is important, but, for myself, seeing past lives has nothing to do with obsessing. its more about coming to terms with the past and understanding my lives. Its an inward look. Being shown a past life, in the form of a dream or vision, etc., shows there is something important to learn from it, otherwise the dream or vision wouldn’t have occurred. This may have nothing to do with finding out what did not work in the past. Ignoring such dreams and visions and being only concerned about the present is missing a large piece of who I am.


In the past, for example, I have asked my guides questions about personal feelings, and have been shown the answers through a vision of past lives. This is not obsessing about the past, it is trying to understand the NOW. Past lives are important. They make us what and who were are in the NOW. Failure to understand that makes the NOW confusing and misunderstood. If past lives were not important I fail to understand why my guides would bother to show me past lives to answer my questions. This has been an ongoing process now for the last 45 years.


The bottom line is that its not up to anyone to pass judgement on what a person focuses on in their life. If a person is focused on a past life, or past lives, that is probably what they are suppose to focus upon in their present life. Perhaps it is the inward focus of a mature soul, who, up until now, used to fret about how others saw them in past lives — now this soul is turning their focus inward, upon themselves, trying to see who they are and what processes or experiences made me who they are in this life.

AOSpare said:
I do not know how to put this delicately but it seems many people are a bit obsessed about past life events/trauma memories. I am not entirely sure if this is a healthy attitude. For one the past (if there is such a thing in the context of PL) is not to be dwelled on.
The only thing is real and comforting is the NOW. Similarly, the future or worrying about what might happen or how things will turn out in once life is also destructive and can lead to worry and anxiety. The only healthy information to gain from PL, is a lesson to avoid past actions or situations. Of course often it is not at all apparent and well hidden(so we obsess about that). We were a different persons in the past and we should forget and forgive. Everything NOW is the way it is supposed to be!
 
Who is(was) passing judgement? It is my impression of reading some of the posts here, I am so sorry if some sensibilities were rattled. I am fully aware of the benefits of processing past traumas and not ignoring any past event. However, there is a saying "let sleeping dogs lie". If you're "processing" something all your life that is when perhaps it is time to move on...however it is just my humble opinion....

PastPilot said:
...The bottom line is that its not up to anyone to pass judgement on what a person focuses on in their life. If a person is focused on a past life, or past lives, that is probably what they are suppose to focus upon in their present life. Perhaps it is the inward focus of a mature soul, who, up until now, used to fret about how others saw them in past lives — now this soul is turning their focus inward, upon themselves, trying to see who they are and what processes or experiences made me who they are in this life.
 
AOSpare said:
If you're "processing" something all your life that is when perhaps it is time to move on...however it is just my humble opinion....
Its best to do what you feel is right for yourself.
 
Its best to do what you feel is right for yourself.
Yes. I agree with this. What is right for one person won't always be right for others. We are all a bit different and I'm not in favour of telling others how to live or what to do. I am happy to offer advice if asked, or share an example or something like that, but what people choose to do with that is up to them.


I am always one to say 'there's a middle way' about just about everything. Obviously 'obsessing' is not necessarily good, although sometimes, when your 'psyche' is trying to tell you something, it's almost possible to avoid. I find, personally, that if something is nagging at me, it's better to acknowledge it and get to the bottom of it rather than try to ignore it.
 
hulk said:
That is so true! I feel like every life we have has a valuable lesson to be learnt, and through remembering our past, we relearn those lessons all over again for our current self. (Does that make sense?)
Hi Hulk.


Yes, that makes perfect sense. Although I hope we don't have to keep learning the same lessons over and over. Perhaps it's a bit more like once we find ourselves in the same situation (e.g getting in trouble with the law, faced with a dilemma over fidelity, having a health problem, or whatever it might be) hopefully, by using our past life memories, or 'intuition', or spirit guides, or whatever works for the individual, we can try doing things differently for a change and get a different outcome.
 
The obsession over past lives is the reason for this forum. For me it was an avenue for greater understanding, a step that needed to be taken for greater spiritual growth. Like many others I came here because I was troubled by memories of times and lives that in one sense were not my own, but in another were mine. Instead of trying to block these memories I started to let them flow. Then I started to take a look at myself, to discover who I was past the flesh and bone. By understanding who I was I came to understand what reality is. I'm not willing to share them at this time. Ironically as the originator of this post stated I now know I should enjoy this moment, this life. There really is no need for me to dwell on the events of my past lives.
 
I think it can be really tough to come to a tipping point, make a decision and move on. Which is ideal, I believe, but when that's supposed to happen is when it's right for each person. There's also plenty of reasons why it may appear that people are dwelling, but that's more or less seen through the "lens" of the internet. I would wager to think that for people that don't have a lot of access to information about their past lives, they may have a harder time moving past their issues and it may be a bit of therapy to come back and vent or add a new piece of information to their documentation online. And maybe some people don't have any issue with anything and those are the ones you don't hear about; that can skew your perspective as well.


I will say though, research like this isn't easy and I agree 100% that if you have memories, you didn't ask for them. I had several years of "remember's guilt" as I called it; wanting to know why I was different and not understanding it. And even with a documented life like mine, I've been researching it for a decade and still counting. Think of how hard, frustrating and confusing it can be for someone without any documentation to understand and put a "face" on what they are feeling.


I think for a lot of people, it's hard enough as it is to legitimately cope with past life issues. If being here helps and they aren't bothering anyone, then wine** is all I can say.
 
I'm finding this tread very interesting.. Its fascinating to me how people process previous lives.. We are all on our own journeys so comparing is good but irrelevant to others and their previous lives. This is also another way of seeing how different my journey is. Since discovering my most recent previous life, which was the first I had remembered my beliefs have been reinforced. At present I'm searching for answers about Ancient Egypt, but my search has nothing to do with the physical entity I was occupying back then, its all about who I am spiritually and my journey. All of the physical entities I occupied are dead and will never return, they were nothing more than a physical vessel I was occupying and I have no feelings of loss or attachment to them.They were John Smith and I'm John Brown. Since finding out about my most recent physical entity I occupied I now know many of the countries I have occupied physical vessels.. I have no need to search for who these long gone and long forgotten physical vessels where


In my mediations with my pure spiritual self I sometimes visualize lessons learnt by me, the spiritual me. I see the vessel I was occupying at the time but that means nothing to me. Its what is happening that matters nothing else.. So I'm neither interested or stressed about any previous physical vessels I was occupying . That is why this tread is so interesting to me
 
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