Past life memory as a child

[whathaveidone]

Hi everyone, I am new here. I am 24 yr old young woman, and this happened when I was around 4. I was one of the children who say things about their past lives. That went on for another 2 yrs, I guess.

Briefly, I told my parents that I came from a small town (I had never been to that place before, but I could not remember if I had heard of the town before I was 4) which is about 500 miles away from where I live. I was a jeweler, had 2 houses, I was the oldest of 6 siblings (remembered my name, my parents names and all of their names but only remember 3 of them now), I remember the numbers of my houses, 34 and 36. I wasn't married and I was vegetarian.

At age 4, I already knew all those names of gemstones, ruby, sapphire, etc... even some of the less famous gemstones. My parents thought it was strange for a child to know all these. I was always fascinated to play with stones around my house, pretending that the red one is ruby, the dark blue one is sapphire. I believed I spent my life taking care of my younger siblings.

Remember the name of the neighborhood where I lived and I claimed that there was a small temple in the neighborhood. My mom got her friend, whose parents live in that town, confirmed the street's name and the location of the temple, just like what I said. I believed I died young, in my 40's.

Since they confirmed that the neighborhood existed, I have always wanted to go find some day. Last night I was telling about this to my other half. He does not believe in reincarnation though. We did a little research on wikipedia and finally stumbled on this forum.

We talked about whether I should look for it some day, as I planned. We came up with this conclusion -- better not. Say, we find someone who knew me, everything was true and existed, it could be painful to find out, how I died, especially if I died young (car crush?) or what happened in that life. I am aware that it is very unlikely to find anyone though. :tongue:

But I have this irresistible feeling inside of me -- what happened? How did I remember? Since not everyone remembers about their past lives, I suppose we are supposed to have a fresh new start in this life. Right? But why did I remember?

Although he found it interesting and very strange with my story, my better half came up with this argument. Why all those who claimed they remembered their past lives, reborn with the same gender and mostly likely in the same country. He asked me if there was a case that happened , for example, a child was reborn with a different gender ( a boy in the past life and a girl in present time) or an African being reborn as a white or Asian. He asked me a few things I can't recall right now though.

Also, the studies show that most of these cases are found in south east Asia where reincarnation is strongly believed. Could it be that, in SEA, a child is more encouraged to tell since parents believe reincarnation and consider it as a natural thing, where in the west, it would be easily ignored as children fantasy?

My question is what my other half questioned me. I want to know if any of you experienced/knew the cases that children are reborn with different gender/different country/ different ethnicity. For me, I am completely confused and sad with my story if I think now.

 

[pixarfan]

If I had been as lucky as you to remember past life memories as a child, you'd bet I'd try to find out! There have been many cases where a child was reborn as a different gender or ethnicity. Read Carol Bowman's "Children's Past Lives" for a good start. You may want to show your other half the works of Dr. Ian Stevenson for "proof" (several thousand documented cases) of reincarnated children.


I believe everything happens for a reason, and that you were "supposed" to remember. If you feel that it would be painful to find out how you died, that's up to you. If it were me, I'd be really interested, though. Good luck!

 

[ChrisR]

Hi whathaveidone, welcome to the forum, and thanks for sharing your past life experience, you've come to the right place


After reading your story, I think it sounds very likely that you were remembering a past life when you were a child. Childhood is the time when we are most susceptible to remembering past lives, one theory is that we have so little life experience in our present life as a child, that past life memories are more prominent. As we get older, and more drawn into our present, the past gradually sinks down into the subconscious mind and remains buried beneath a layer of present life memories.


Your fascination with gemstones is certainly an indicator of a past life, especially as you were able to remember the names of all the stones at such a young age. Have you ever considered a past life regression to uncover more information? It doesn't work for everybody so easily, but we all have the capability to remember.


As for returning in a different country, gender, culture etc., it happens all the time, and most likely to every one of us in the past and in the future. For me personally, I was female in my most recent past life (1940/50's) and I lived in a remote region of South America. I live in England in my present life, and I'm male. I don't think there is any particular trend, I think we choose before birth a suitable body, whether it be male or female, black or white, whatever best fits our purpose for each life.


I think you're spot on with your reasons for belief in reincarnation being more widespread in Asia. For thousands of years, reincarnation has been a part of their religion, and it is accepted as a natural phenomena there, rightly so. In the western world, reincarnation is still a relatively new concept, which goes against the fundamentalist views which are deeply ingrained into western society. However, as you read through this forum, you can see plenty of evidence of how reincarnation can be (and is) incorporated into the Christian faith, and it was indeed prevalent throughout the Bible, until it was removed by Christian leaders centuries ago.


One thing is for sure, and that is, you are not alone with your memories. Actually, the majority of us remember past lives in one form or another, but we dismiss it as imagination, or we simply don't question those memories or feelings at all. So you're not alone here, and you're free to discuss your memories and ask any questions, and we'll do our best to help.


Chris

 

[Kristopher]

Hello Whathaveidone, welcome to the forum!


I agree with everything Chris has said. You definitely have a strong case there. I believe that these really are passed life memories.


As Chris said, most people do remember past life memories. They may not be as strong as memories such as yours and that's why these can easily be forgotten about or just ignored.


You are right about, due to a cultural belief, more reincarnation cases are reported in SEA than in other places. I think that this is indeed due to the parents encouraging their children to talk about other lives. I feel that, in many cases, it's the parents job to encourage these memories that a lot of children may remember. I we take, for example, USA and the UK, we know that christianity is the biggest religious belief there. If a child starts talking about past life memories to the parents who have a strong christian faith, it's easy for the parents to ignore them out of fear and confusion. They would simply put it down to a wild imagination as it goes against what they believe in, then it remains an unreported case. Even on this forum we have had mothers rather confused about the information their child is giving them.


Children's past life memories can go from staying close to the same area as their current life, to remembering a life at the other side of the world. Supposedly, most souls do prefer a certain type of gender, but many children with past life memories have claimed to be of the opposite gender. Some children are also born into the same genetic family and some aren't, It's really fascinating.


If you want to uncover more about studies carried out on past life memories, you should have a look in the book section. You could also try having past life regression. Many people find this a great way to uncover their past lives and also find out the purpose for their current life.


Good luck and keep us updated Whenever you need assistance, we are always here.

 

[Nightrain]

I was a jeweler, had 2 houses, I was the oldest of 6 siblings (remembered my name, my parents names and all of their names but only remember 3 of them now), I remember the numbers of my houses, 34 and 36. I wasn't married and I was vegetarian.

Hi Whathaveidone, and a very warm welcome to the Forum!


Whenever I read about such cases as yours, I usually notice a certain period in which someone, like yourself, either has difficulty believing what happened, or doesn't realize the importance of such recollections. As a result much detail is lost. I would say this is the case with even real events and traumas in this lifetime where people experience real events. After the initial shock wears off, they move forward with their lives until something happens years later and they ask themselves, "Did that really happen?". In your case, conversations with your husband have triggered some of these memories.


Usually I recommend that people try to learn what they can about the phenomenon in order to try and reduce the cognitive dissonance which inhibits memories. But, I strongly suggest, beforehand, that you develop the habit of keeping a journal and writing down everything you can remember, as you remember -- even in the middle of another conversation with your husband,if necessary. Then, periodically, mail copies of your notes to yourself, but leave the postmarked envelopes unopened for future validations. You may not think it necessary, now; but it may come in handy when you need to prove something to someone else later on. There are various stages of doubt, which can cause us to question our own judgment and one of those is when we need to share our experience with someone. Sitting alone with our knowledge allows doubt to creep in at one stage, and sharing our knowledge with someone else who doesn't believe us promotes serious doubt at yet another stage. Just knowing that those sealed post-dated envelopes are in your files can be most reassuring.


So, what can you prove to yourself with those sealed envelopes? Well, it's clear that you have remembered specific names and places. Before doing any research, write that information down along with other impressions, hunches any other information that you can think of, no matter how unimportant. Then, when you do your research and discover that some of those people and places really did exist, you won't have any reason to doubt your own sanity and you won't have to worry about someone claiming that you subconsciously confused your research with your memories.