As I’m looking at this guy sitting up in the air like that, I’m thinking “there is no way I would do that!” I don’t do well with heights.

My next thought was “that must be a scary job”. Oh? Wait a minute! For me it would be scary. I know people who would love to fly like that. They might even pay for it. (The photo to the left is from Haverfield Corporation, who build helicopters just to do this.)

Hmmmm . . . interesting. There are so many ways to look at any one experience. The experience is neutral until we look at it or experience it ourselves. We know it’s neutral because different people experience it differently. Just ask. Police have known for years that they will get different reports of the same event. We all see things just a little bit differently.

We see things differently based on what we have learned and experienced in our life. We see life through filters that we have created over time. My filter said, “That looks like a scary job”. Some else’s filter would say, “That looks like a dream job”. Same event, different view.

For the most part, we simply think that how we see things is part of “who I am.” We don’t question it or even really look at it.

As an experiment, pick some ordinary event that you notice today. Become aware of what you believe about that event, what you saw, how you felt about it.

Now, here comes the fun part #1: how do you imagine someone else might see the event? How would they feel about it? Let your imagination run all over the place with this. It’s pretty amazing what you come up with!

For fun part #2: ask yourself two questions about how you responded to the event:

1. Is my response part of  how I know myself, “who I am”?
2. Who would I be if that response wasn’t part of “who I am”?

This little experiment can give you some valuable information about how you view your world, ways you have created limitations . . . even with things you really like. It’s also a way to get a clearer picture on what some of your subtle belief systems are. Once you know what they are, you can decide if they stay or go. What’s important is: you get to choose!

When she first came to see me, she was feeling overwhelmed and, given her druthers, would stay home all day and isolate herself. She is also very sensitive to the energy and feelings of others, having difficulty separating what her feelings are and when she’s picking up on someone else’s feelings.

During her regression, she specifically wanted to know about the past life history she has had with several people. It turned out they were all interacting in the same past life. She was madly in love with a man who couldn’t/wouldn’t commit himself. She married someone who loved her dearly and she didn’t care. Her phrase was that she had a “life long pout.”

She brought the energy of that pout into her current life. (This often happens when we have a very strong feeling in a past life that we haven’t worked out or have held on to.)

Immediately after the regression, she began to notice that things were working more easily. For example, instead of having to go to three ATM’s to find one that would work, the first one worked. She wasn’t sure she was going to share the information with her husband, and then did. It helped them both understand some of the dynamics of their relationship — like putting in a key piece in a jigsaw puzzle that lets you see what the picture REALLY is.

In the month and a half since her regression  (and the two follow-up coaching sessions) she has reclaimed her life and her energy.  She is eating differently (more organic and more healthy foods, less snack food). As she has re-engaged with her life and her dreams, it has become easier for her to tell the difference between what she feels and what others are feeling. She and her husband are looking at a possible joint business venture. They are reaching greater and greater clarity about what they want to do. She is excited and happy, feeling engaged and vibrant.

What made this so powerful for her?

• She knew what she wanted to explore in the past life session
• She was open to the information and worked with it after the session
• She did her homework assignments
• She paid attention to an internal pressure that wasn’t going away, that she was supposed to be doing something and she needed to get going

BTW — she’s not alone in feeling this internal pressure to be doing something different than what she was doing. I’m hearing from more and more people who are feeling this pressure. It isn’t so much about the time of that person’s life as it is about this time in human spiritual evolution.

Turns out that receiving really can be a challenge.  Why? Because you have to give up control. Yeurrkkk! But . . . but . . . but . . .  Does this sound familiar? Even a little bit? What I’ve found is that it still boils down to letting go and surrendering.

The surrendering part comes in when you let go of how something actually shows up.  What you desire may show up in a different form and way than you had imagined. Often, it’s way better than you imagined.

About 6 months ago, I was looking at my tires and said to myself “I need some new ones pretty soon.”  Not too long after, a neighbor gave me a set of  almost new tires (only 3,000 miles on them — that’s new in my book). He had upgraded his rims and they used a different size tire. His old tires fit my rims. It all happened so easily and naturally.

One of my favorite receiving stories is about a fellow Chamber of Commerce member. He would win the monthly door prize 3 out of 4 months, or at least it seemed that way. It got the the point that the Chamber President announced that, with his permission, if his business card was drawn, they would draw another instead. Why did he keep winning? Because he knows how to receive.

As I’ve looked at my own experiences and talked to others, they generally have at least 3 of the following things in common:

• Clarity. We know what we want. We also have a feel for it.
• Relaxation. We let things come to us, instead of rushing right out to make it happen
• Action. From this relaxed place, we take the actions that present themselves.
• Receiving. We receive it when it shows up. Sometimes it’s just like we imagined, sometimes it isn’t. Be alert to the different ways the Universe can fulfill your desires.
• Gratitude. We are happy and grateful to have our desires fulfilled.

We all have stories like this. Just take a second and think back. You’ll remember them.  Make a list and express gratitude again. I invite you to play with this.

Be open to receiving what you desire in unexpected ways. We so often box ourselves in, thinking that it has to happen exactly as we imagine it.  The Universe is infinitely creative. Our job is to imagine and feel the what. The Universe handles the how. Then we surrender and receive.

When we were born, we had a very clear idea of what we were going to do, here in these brand new body suits. Then we started getting bigger and bigger, learning words, learning what was a no-no and what got us hugs and kisses.

And we sang and we played and most of all, we pretended. Oh the fun in pretending! Then, somewhere along the way, we got the message loud and clear that pretend wasn’t real and we had to cut it out.

And along about the same time, we began to lose track of what it was we really came here to do.

Take a moment here to just get comfy, wriggle your shoulders around a bit, take a deep slow breath. Let yourself remember back to when you were a child, some time before you were 10 years old.

1. What really caught your fancy?
2. What did you keep doing, whether the grown ups thought it was a good idea or not?
3. What did you have fun pretending?
4. What did you really really really want to be when you grew up?

The answers you just told yourself are your clues to what you came here to do.

For me, I was always listening to people. I loved listening to grown-ups telling their stories, talking about their lives. I would ask questions and then listen, very carefully, to what they would say. Sometimes, I even asked questions that other grown-ups didn’t think were “appropriate”. Oh well. I kept on.

They didn’t call it coaching then, I was just a curious kid who thought people were really wonderful and interesting. Most of all, I wanted to know what they thought and why they thought that way. I learned a lot (still am).

As a grown-up, I’ve spent a lot of years dancing around that, doing all sorts of other things. What’s really interesting though is — every single one of those “other things” (one way or the other) involved listening to people, asking questions, and then really really really listening to their answers.

I’ll bet, once you start looking, you’ll discover the same thing.

So . . . what are you here to do? I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Elmdea

She and her husband lived in a remote area, near Boston. For some reason, they weren’t completely safe. He had been out somewhere and she went looking for him. He was dead, obviously brutally murdered. Alone, she got his body back to the barn. Something in her went numb at that point. She just quit feeling things as much. She died a few years later, still numb, after eating mushrooms. There had apparently been a poisonous one mixed in with the edible ones. It was accidental.

After the past life regression, Diane could see how she has carried the numbness forward into this life. She was also aware that the intertwined feelings of deep love, hopelessness, grief, and anger were directly related to how she felt after her husband’s death in that past life. She is reporting that the past life session is helping her de-numb. She also feels she has let go of a belief that she was both unlovable and unable to love.

This past life regression is a wonderful example of how we can carry a mixture of strong feelings from a past life into the next life or lives. Past life regression therapy is invaluable in healing these kinds of past life memories.

Please note: I have changed names and any identifying information to protect this client’s privacy.

This morning, a new client went to a life when she was deaf and dumb, apparently from birth. The time period seemed to be the mid 1700’s, in either the Netherlands or the American Colonies. The where and when weren’t that important to her. She had, at some point, been sent somewhere away from home to live. There was a special thing that she always hoped to be chosen for . . . and never was. Always, she was left behind, thrown away. She died when she was about 20, choking, perhaps in the midst of a seizure.

After the session, she was glad that she now knew where that feeling had come from (being left behind/thrown away). It had been a constant feeling her whole life. With this new information, she can now make a choice when that feeling comes up again, knowing it’s from a past life and something she brought to this one to work on.

This is the gift of past life regression: the opportunity to learn where some issue or pattern came from and then to make an informed choice, rather than merely reacting.

Stop fighting what? Myself and what I’m here to do and experience. I’m lucky, I’m pretty clear what “it” is.

It’s such a universal theme for us spirits in body suits. I’m meeting people almost daily who either have a good idea what they’re really here to do or know that what they’re doing isn’t it. Most people (no matter how old or young) are feeling increasing pressure to be themselves, full out, doing the work they came here to do.

This issue is generally a combo of fear and confusion. Fear that nobody (maybe including themselves) will get it or want it. Confusion about how to make whatever it is happen.

Did I mention frustration? That’s in there too. That aarrgghh feeling you get when you’re doing the best you know how and . . . and . . . and . . . (aaarrrggghhh!!!)

Which brings me back to surrender. Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago in a yoga magazine.

• First panel: young woman, sitting in meditation pose.
• Second panel: young woman asking Spirit to remove whatever it is that’s blocking her.
• Third panel: ZAP lightening bolt out of the sky and the young woman zapped out of existence.

Durn, there it is again – we’re our own worst enemy, throwing up our own roadblocks. How do we work with that instead of against it?

Here comes surrender again. “But how do I DO that?” you ask. Trust . . . you practice trust. Still not very helpful? (It wasn’t for me.)

Give this a shot. Imagine yourself in a huge golden field of expansive (friendly) energy. It’s vast, really big. You are a small focused point in the middle of that field. Become aware of how you are resting in that golden expansiveness.

Notice that you aren’t falling, you aren’t zipping around, you’re just there . .  . here . . . now. Notice how you feel. It may be relaxation . . . or relief . . . you may even notice that it feels easier to breathe. You may also notice that you are being moved, gently, surely. It can be quite a surprise.

Now . . . just let yourself rest here for a few minutes. Let yourself become aware of how it feels (physically, emotionally) to be carried and cocooned in this lovely golden field of energy. Feel the gentle strength of this golden field.

Resting in this field, letting yourself be moved . . . this is surrender and trust. You’ve no idea where you’re being taken and, wonder of wonders, it actually feels more than OK. And, for some reason, you may also feel you can trust this. Hmmmm . . . easier than you thought? Or more difficult. If more difficult, play with it some, customize it to YOU. Some people prefer to imagine an ocean. The key here is that you feel totally supported and safe, surrendered and trusting.

Blessings,

Elmdea