I’ve just finished a book “Journey of Souls” by Michael Newton, and it’s about where souls journey after they leave our body when we die. It’s a fascinating perspective, but if you’re not into this, please feel free to stop reading now.

For those who don’t know, I’ve always been interested in what’s going on “out there,” and while I know I’ll never get to the bottom of it, I definitely have a yearning to understand as much about “the Universe” as I can – the really really big picture. So I read a lot, have successfully learnt to meditate (at last) and try to spend time with interesting people who are also asking similar questions.
 But getting back to the book. The essence of the book discusses numerous stories of people under hypnosis and the “stages” they go through when immediately leaving the body after death. Then, once in the soul “world,” how they learn and grow, how they reflect on the life experience they’ve just had, and then the process of coming back to a new life/body and why they choose the life they choose.

I suppose the thing that got me about this was a comment that all of us are here, in this life and every life we’ve ever lived before, to learn a specific lesson, or to experience something very specific that gives us insight and a chance for growth. It’s not always nice the lessons we choose, but that’s not the point, as all souls are seeking advancement and you can only advance by experiencing the full spectrum of emotions and experiences.

In the book, for example, one person had lived a life as a physically strong Nordic Viking in one life and later as a little girl who had her legs crushed and was crippled for the rest of her life. One was abandoned in this life only to find that the person who abandoned him was the same person he condemned to death in a previous life. There are lots of case studies in this book, which makes it even more personal and revealing I suppose.

But it’s gotten me thinking. What is my “soul’s purpose” in this life? Why did I choose my parents? Why am I like I am – always on the go, moving and changing things, ambitious but not in a traditional way, in a rush, curious, never satisfied and wanting more – not money, just growth I suppose – and then why did my boys choose me as their Mum? What’s our connection? And I know that Steve and I are soul mates (that was a foregone conclusion the night we met), but what has been our past connection? Actually I did a past life regression not long ago and Steve and I were lovers then – he the woman and me the man – me a warrior of course. It’s interesting stuff.

So am I doing what I need to do in this life to grow? Am I working towards what my soul set out to achieve when it took up in this carcass? Or have I missed my purpose? Am I supposed to learn to be calmer? And if so, is that why my boys chose me as their mum to give me the hardest patience lesson of them all? I mean many people I know have chilled out kids, I don’t, which isn’t a surprise, but is that why? Are they part of my tool belt for learning the lesson to chill and be more peaceful? I’m trying boys, but you certainly push me over the edge sometimes – thanks!!! Or is it compassion that I’m supposed to learn? But I think I’m compassionate. Am I supposed to learn the lesson of freedom from society’s constraints? I think I’ve got that down pat and I’m working hard to find a new path. Maybe it’s to calm down my frantic mind once and for all and not be in a rush all the time? I don’t know. I obviously need to meditate on that question.

But when you think about this stuff, it makes you look at everyone you meet with different eyes. If you think about it, sometimes you meet people who are lazy bastards, who have no drive, no ambition and often you find it hard to understand how they can’t be more driven. However, if you believe in this stuff, maybe that person’s soul decided to have a rest this time round because the last life was so intense? I wonder about people who reincarnate as human monsters, such as most members of the Taliban appear to be. Imagine making that decision? Or the women born into these societies and the horrendous shit they endure? If you consider many of the arguments about souls, the victims were often the perpetrators in past lives and have made a choice to experience the “opposite.” Whereas the perpetrators in this life might have been victims in a past life and need to “see” things from the other side? Who knows…

Of course, some souls decide to be born with a disability, understanding that life will be harder for them and that, by making this decision, their goal is to grow beyond physical limitations – a tough one. Some are born into abusive situations to learn the lessons there. Some are born into incredible wealth and power, loving and consuming it all for themselves, or maybe in this life, they learn to be generous with their wealth? Gaining soul “points” I suppose. If you look around your community or the world, many people have made hard life choices with the world in its current state huh?

One of the things I’ve been coming to understand in the last 12 months is that there is no right or wrong, there are only perceptions. We all decide what is wrong or right every day, many times a day, but I’m coming to the conclusion that all I need to do is uncover my purpose in this life and work towards it with focus – ignoring all opinions about my decisions. But to really do this, I must allow others to live their lives in their own way, because I can never understand the lesson they are trying to learn anyway.

If you believe this stuff, envy and jealousy should just go away because what’s the point? The person you envy will almost certainly have a different experience next life and you might be the one who has everything and they might be jealous of you?

Who knows, who really knows? In the meantime, I’ll keep reading and pondering and trying to draw my own conclusions from everything that’s said, because the truth is, no one knows the whole truth. Unfortunately the “truth,” as a lot of the spiritual “masters” are promoting it around the world today, is still their truth which has been diluted by their life experience to date because we all add our own experiential dimensions to everything anyway… I think I need to find that wise hermit in the hills and hang out with him/her for a while???

But I ain’t got no time for that. So my journey into my heart and soul continues, however it will, and here’s hoping I learn the lessons I’m supposed to learn. But if I don’t, I’ll just do it next time I suppose.

Yours, without the bollocks
Andrea