The process of incarnating into all sorts of human beings and situations over and over teaches us tolerance.  Having many past lives gives credence to the saying, “Walk in my shoes awhile and you’ll understand.”  The reality of reincarnation is that indeed we have walked in many shoes.  With each experience, the scope of our awareness broadens.

Once we start looking back at our different past lives, we can know first hand what it is like to be the opposite sex of what we are right now.  We can understand what it means to be rich and poor, to be single and married, to be of a different race, to live in different parts of the world, and to die in a variety of ways.  One of the ways in which we find clues that we all change our identities in different past lives is through a study that Helen Wambach did.  As a psychologist and college instructor, she hypnotized and regressed 1088 people.  Of the 70% who were able to access past lives, the descriptions of the lives they lived fell into the established statistical pattern of historical times.  Therefore, the probability that we each have experienced all these different situations is high – or we will in a future lifetime.

I recently made a presentation at a retirement community about how reincarnation gives meaning to life.  The repetitive cycle of lifetimes provides us with many opportunities for our souls to mature and develop.  Someone in the audience made the comment that reincarnation can be a healing process.  We are not limited to one lifetime to make it the best we can and that is the only chance we have.  Rather, we have many chances to fix the mistakes we made in previous lifetimes.  That is how our souls learn.  Compare this process to what our children go through.  Each child has his or her experience and must learn to deal with it.  Out of those trials, the child learns; it doesn’t help to shield the child from all such experiences because then the child would not learn and evolve.

I was led to review a past life recently.  In this previous lifetime, I was a black man who lived during 25,000 BC, in what is now Africa.  I engaged in a ritual that was part of my religious belief and took pleasure in being a faithful participant.  This ritual wasn’t something that would be acceptable in today’s world, but back then it was the norm.  The purpose for my recalling this past life was two-fold.  First of all, I needed to appreciate the positive legacy of my soul’s desire for a deep religious belief and my faithfulness to it.  Secondly, understanding the wide gap between my behaviors back then and now increased my tolerance for differences.

With each lifetime, we can increase our tolerance.  We know what it is like take on different roles.  We know what it is like to have good intentions and yet fail.  We know what it is like to live in all kinds of circumstances.  We’ve walked in those shoes.  How can we be prejudiced when we’ve been that, done that?

Next time, I want to write about prejudice, those instances when our souls don’t learn tolerance.

Soul growth actually does occur through challenges and adversity.  The situation may create a lot of anxiety, but out of the experience, we move forward and our souls mature and develop a little bit more.

These situations may be exactly what were chosen between lives in the spirit world for us to deal with.  Therefore, instead of mumbling and grumbling about challenges and adversity, perhaps we need to welcome them as opportunities.  I have to admit that often times I start out resenting the intrusion into the life that I (emphasis on “I”) thought would be nice.  However, by the time I have worked the issues through, I’ve come to terms with them and am grateful, or at least more at peace.

How many times have I awakened at 2:30 A.M. and spent the next two hours working through issues?  Countless times.  After one such session, it dawned on me that each time I wrestle with challenges, my soul is benefitting in the long run.

In my book and articles, I’ve written so much about soul development and maturity.  Never did I connect these nocturnal sessions with soul growth.

You may not work through your challenges in the middle of the night.  Goodness knows that’s not my preference.  There are many ways to do the work:

*While exercising

*During meditation

*While praying

*In journaling

*In talking with a friend or therapist

However you do it, I invite you to celebrate the time as well spent.  You are accomplishing just what your soul needs for soul growth.

April Crawford channels Veronica, whose messages she posts on her website, http://www.InnerWhispers.org/ discusses how important it is to align with the soul’s intention.  I like the idea of viewing challenges as part of our soul’s intention.  Conceptualizing it this way provides a purpose to what may look unfair or a nuisance.

I invite you to experiment with this approach.

I am pleased to send you the news that the paperback version of my book, “Hidden Treasures from Past Lives”, is now available.  Many of you have expressed an interest in wanting to have the book itself in hand, as opposed to seeing it as an e-book.

The paperback can be ordered on Amazon and Barnes&Noble, as well as some smaller outlets.  I will have a limited supply at my office and some at home, so if you would like to buy one from me, that is also an option.  No shipping costs and I’ll autograph it.

This is the Press Release sent out by my publisher:

Brighton Publishing LLC releases “Hidden Treasures from Past Lives” by author Barbara Folts

Brighton Publishing LLC announced the release of debut author Barbara Folts’ highly-acclaimed book “Hidden Treasures from Past Lives: Techniques for Discovery and Healing of Past life Legacies”

CHANDLER (AZ)—Brighton Publishing LLC announced the release of “Hidden Treasures from Past Lives: Techniques for Discovery and Healing of Past life Legacies,” by author Barbara Folts. Heralded as both a breathtaking spiritual journey and guidebook for readers seeking illumination of their own past lives, Folts’ breakthrough work is now available as an eBook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other leading retailers.

Early reviews are already pouring in and Folts’ book is a great success:

“A remarkable work of personal, spiritual and metaphysical genius! Barbara Folts doesn’t just open doors for her readers, she kicks them down with gusto in this tour de force into the part of human history most often ignored or misunderstood.” (“CLC Book Review”, KFNX, Phoenix)

Join Barbara Folts on a journey unlike any you’ve ever before taken. With “Hidden Treasures from Past Lives,” readers experience the rare opportunity to explore experiences from past lives that are actually altering their lives today. Within these pages, Folts offers the chance to discover, challenge, and heal what lingers from past lives, often preventing us from living more fulfilling lives now. This is a chance to turn those past life moments into treasures.

Author, psychologist, and therapist Barbara Folts has helped many clients resolve the issues that seem out of reach if only current life experiences are considered. Opening the door to allow the concept of reincarnation to play a part in our healing and growing provides the path toward a more fulfilling life now. Through her unique combination of intuition, energy psychotherapy, and hypnotherapy techniques, she invites you to go on a journey into the past.

“Barbara Folts has delivered a fascinating, captivating look into past lives with a voice both invigorating and knowledgeable. Her case studies are unlike anything readers are likely to have encountered before and the seven-step process developed through her clinical practice will take readers on a journey they’ll never forget,” said Kathie McGuire, director of Brighton Publishing LLC. “Readers will be amazed at the doors Folts unlocks, and the stories she shares along the way. This is unlike anything you’ve read before.”

In addition to her therapy practice, Barbara Folts is a frequent lecturer and workshop guest, and has appeared on television and in the media on numerous occasions. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association and the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology as well as being licensed as a Certified Hypnotherapist and Counselor.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?  Ah yes, a past life we shared.”  Wouldn’t that be an interesting conversation starter?   In fact, we do share past lives with the same souls repeatedly.

In my book, “Hidden Treasures From Past Lives”, I discuss at length this idea of reincarnating together over and over.  In Chapter Ten, “Repetitive soul Groupings”, I make the following statement.  “A soul does not operate in a vacuum. Instead, it repetitively incarnates with the same souls over many lifetimes. Souls choose to incarnate together into the same family, neighborhood, or larger geographical location, taking on a variety of roles.”

Is there a way to recognize the chain of same soul incarnations?  Here is a suggestion about a way to go about discovering who in your current life was also in a previous lifetime. Suppose we have an intuitive connection with someone.  We can begin by contemplating whether his or her soul incarnated previously in a relative from past generations in our family tree.  We have a little more knowledge about recent relatives because we may have known them before their death or have heard about them from our other family members.  The next step is to look at the characteristics of the person you feel connected with in this current life and see if these traits are shared by grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. These are clues that the soul is reincarnating into your current life.

Let me give you an example.  I am aware of a young child in my extended family who shares the same soul as my grandmother.  I intuitively sensed the connection and then saw how they shared some of the same characteristics.  My grandmother was a generous and kind person who had an inner strength that was exceptional.  In the face of a challenging marriage, she managed to keep her own counsel.  She was well liked and was a leader in an understated manner. Now I see this young person exhibiting the same traits and needing to deal with a challenging family member.  This current life person’s soul has been honed to meet the issues because he has experienced a similar task in a past life.  I believe that in both cases, the past life and the current life, the soul will not only utilize the strengths gained for itself, but also assist in the development of the challenging member.  Remember that the soul’s drive is to mature and develop throughout its many incarnations and thus accumulates treasures that can help it in future lifetimes.

So keep your eyes open for this chain of same soul incarnations.  In addition to understanding the logic of reincarnation first hand, it can be a comfort to know that someone you loved before is now back in your life.  If there was difficulty between you and this deceased person, this may be an opportunity to remedy the relationship.

From a reincarnation perspective, how do we make sense of the sacrifice that veterans and their families make?  Whether veterans die in action, are physically or emotionally disabled, or take time out of their lives to serve, the toll can be great.  Does reincarnation offer any answers?

This can be a difficult question because when we are in the middle of a challenging situation, it’s often hard to understand that there could be any benefit. Sometimes it requires us to step back from the experience and look at what we may be learning or need to learn.

For the caregivers, it may be patience and love.  The spouse who returns from war may be very different from the person who left, the adjustment very challenging.

For the veterans returning, life is never the same.  Any innocence regarding the cruelty and hardships of war is gone.  By the same token, awareness of the amazing acts of courage are indelibly etched on their minds.  The drastic adjustment from war to civilian life is like stepping into a time warp, a whole different culture.

In terms of reincarnation, if we remember that our souls chose these lifetimes for the purpose of maturing and developing, we can begin to accept that going to war or being the loved one of a veteran does have some greater meaning.  Our learnings and growth usually accelerate during times of stress.  It can also be comforting to know that this isn’t the only lifetime one will experience.  The next one may well benefit from the growth that your soul experienced when meeting these challenges.  By the same token, if you regret some of your actions in this lifetime, there is a future life during which you can make up for that.  This isn’t a lottery where the one who suffers the most difficult situations just happens to pick a losing number.  There is a purpose in all our experiences.

As an example, let me describe two of my past lives that involved wartime challenges.  In one of them, I didn’t deal with the issue of losing my leg very well and in another one, I met the challenge more appropriately.  The first past life occurred during the Civil War when I lost a leg, reducing my mobility to hobbling around on crutches.  In fear of the consequences to my family and me, I committed suicide.  In the other lifetime that occurred in a later war, my leg was amputated just above the knee and I was fitted with a prosthetic.  Since I owned a farm, my whole life style was altered and I needed to adjust.  This time, although the struggle was enormous, I worked my way through it.  My soul was given another chance.

On this day of 11-11-11, I offer my appreciation for the many sacrifices of veterans and their loved ones.  I acknowledge the many, many difficulties of dealing with the affects of wartime.  If the idea of gaining a perspective on the situation through the eyes of reincarnation gives anyone a bit of encouragement, I am pleased.  Just maybe, your soul will be enriched by the experience.

Coming from a background of membership in a mainstream church, I went through a period in which I struggled with how to incorporate my traditional faith with my reincarnation beliefs. Whatever your faith background, I imagine that many of you might be in a similar position.

To me, I have had a difficult time reconciling a loving and forgiving God with a God who tolerates such unfair distribution of life circumstances.  How can some people have easier lives than others, some living in poverty and some in wealth?  How can some people be born with crippling diseases and others enjoy beautiful, healthy bodies?  Why do some die within a year of birth and others live into their 90’s?  At what point does God even out these vast discrepancies?

In my view, reincarnation provides the rationale for what appears, to those of us who attempt to understand God, as favoritism for some souls and not for others.  However, if we look at the purpose of having many lifetimes as being opportunities to experience many different circumstances for the enrichment of our souls, the discrepancies take on a different meaning.  All souls need to know what it is like to live in poverty as well as wealth.  All souls need to know what it is like to live with disabilities as well as be in healthy bodies.  We grow more when we encounter hardships than when we are coasting along.  Challenges add depth to our souls.  Think back to some of the difficult situations you worked your way through.  Did you find strengths you never thought you had?  Did you develop compassion for others that you didn’t have before?  Did you learn something you wouldn’t have had the chance to do if you hadn’t encountered the difficulty?

People often ask the question, “Would you like to go back and be 20 or 30 years old again?”  Or if you are 20 or 30 years old now, “Would you like to be a child again?”  My answer, and that of many others I’ve talked to, is to decline the possibility.  Who we are now is enriched by all the experiences we’ve had.  There’s a depth to our very being now that we didn’t have back then.  Now transpose this current life rationale and extend it to the idea that having many lifetimes allows you to have a wealth of experiences.  That’s the value of reincarnation.  Remember that the goal of incarnating over and over is to mature and develop the soul.  Each of us will be challenged in a whole variety of ways from one lifetime to the next; no favoritism.  However, God does promise to love, strengthen and guide us through whatever we encounter – in all our lifetimes.

Thus, if we go back to the issue of why a loving and forgiving God would create a world in which there is such an uneven distribution of circumstances, we begin to find some answers to our question.  God wants our souls to mature, just as we want our children to do so.  To rescue our children from challenges is to rob them of the opportunity to grow.  How much more would God want His children to have those opportunities?  Isn’t it nice that we get many lifetimes in which to accomplish that?!

In my book, “Hidden Treasures From Past Lives”, I explore this topic with many case examples.  You can order the e-book now and in the fall, the paparback version will be out.  Hope you enjoy it!

I recently made a presentation about past life legacies that result in current life symptoms.  They can be frustrating because they often don’t lend themselves to healing unless looked at from the viewpoint of reincarnation. Here are two clues about how they can be recognized as past life legacies.

1. So often we have issues that appear out of context to our experiences in our current life.  Thus, they seem to have no point of origin.  My suggestion?   Perhaps they originate from unresolved situations in previous lifetimes.

2. Or perhaps we try to heal problems through the medical route, but no matter all the magnificent work medical professionals do, the symptoms don’t heal in a timely fashion.  At this point, many scratch their heads in frustration.

In my book, “Hidden Treasures From Past Lives”, I provide many case histories of people who have struggled with unresolved symptoms, finally chose to view them through the lens of reincarnation, and then healed the leftovers from the past lives.  Past life legacies are these leftovers, the experiences from previous lifetimes, which were never lived in a satisfactory way.  They are treasures in that we become stronger once we heal the legacies or at least put them in perspective.  We also have the opportunity to live a much more fulfilling life now and in future lifetimes.

What kind of issues lend themselves to past life legacies?  Almost any do, but this is how I divide them into categories in my book: physical, emotional, situational, phobias and relational.

Some interesting questions arose at the presentation that exemplifies how past life legacies impact our lives today.

1. If a person has a past life legacy and doesn’t address it through the lens of reincarnation, what happens?  My simple answer is that the person missed an opportunity.  The problem may persist in the current life, only to reoccur in a future lifetime, in the same or different form.  We choose each lifetime for the purpose of learning and resolving past life issues.  If we don’t do it now, we’ll just have to do it later.

2. Another question was asked by a person who has a physical/emotional problem, wondering how the issue might show up in the current life (for an understandable reason) and still have had a past life presence as well.  I explained that there is often a repetitive theme that expresses itself in a variety of ways, from one lifetime to another.  Each soul may have several themes.  In the case of this questioner, he has the chance to heal both the current life challenge as well as the past life legacy.  Often times, when I work with a client, I tackle the current life issue first and then, investigate whether there is also a past life concern.

My hope is that you will widen the perspective to include reincarnation when you focus on your symptoms.  You may just find that you heal the problem in a more thorough manner.  If you don’t, it may be like only seeing the tip of the iceberg and ignoring the greater mass beneath the surface.

For greater detail, I hope you will read my book, “Hidden Treasures From Past Lives”.  Right now, it is out as an electronic book only, such as a Kindle or Nook.  In the fall, it will appear as a paperback.

As you know, I’ve been writing a book, “Hidden Treasures From Past Lives”.  I am pleased to announce that the publication date is very near, perhaps as soon as 2 weeks from now.  It will come out first as an e-book and then 3-4 months later as a paperback.

I thought you might be interested in the announcement that my publisher, Brighton Publishing, put out. Click on the link below.

Of course, I’m hoping you’ll enjoy my work and that it answers the questions that many of you have asked me.  Feel free to tell your friends.  I believe that this topic of reincarnation has been very helpful to me, my clients and my friends.  I hope that works for you as well.

http://www.prlog.org/11566740

Thanks for your support and interest.
Barbara

Will an intervention change a major reincarnation choice? Suppose someone is at a crossroads.  She can choose a path that will fulfill one of her between life goals or opt for one that impedes her soul’s progress.  We’ve all heard about alcoholics whose loved ones set up an intervention, with the hope that the subject will stop the destructive behavior.  Can we do that when we see a person moving in a direction that appears to negate an important positive soul choice?

Studies show that prayer can alter outcome, even when the person needing help isn’t aware of the prayer effort.  We also know that sending out positive energy can change attitudes.   Positive or negative intention shapes outcome, whether for ourselves or for others.  That’s the theme of the books, “The Secret” and “The Power of Positive Thinking”.

The question is, can our intervention be successful when it involves a soul making a choice about a path that will affect soul growth?

Between lives, our souls make decisions about what we want to accomplish in the next lifetime for the maturity and development of the soul.  There will be many different paths that we, as human beings, can take in that lifetime.  Some paths will enhance our growth, while other paths will impede that process.

As an incarnated soul is confronted with a path choice, other human beings as well as their spirit guides can support and encourage a path that will increase the soul’s maturity in a positive direction.

What does an intervention look like? It can involve our praying, meditating, sending positive energy and doing healing energy work on behalf of the concerned person.  We can also seek the help of their spirit guides, asking them to provide insight and opportunities for decisions that will be in the highest good of the soul.

Let me give you a fictitious example based on a real life situation.

A woman was diagnosed with stomach cancer and some would see the cause of the cancer being a habit of holding in her anger.  Her gut reacted with a stage 4 cancerous growth.  After chemo and radiation, as well as some nutritional changes, a PET Scan revealed that the presence of cancer went from 15 to 6.

What was going on during that treatment phase that could have added to and supported the medical interventions? She prayed and meditated faithfully, realizing the impact of her emotional habit of overreacting to situations with anger and then letting it roil within her stomach.  In addition, many people intervened on her behalf.

Why did the decrease in numbers only go down to 6? In her prayers, she had made all sorts of promises to God that she would change the way she handled her anger.  It might be hypothesized that the spirit world decided to hold her to her promises; they wanted to see if there was any follow through on her good intentions once she was out of the panic mode.  In fact, she did make progress in her ability to handle her reactions appropriately and today is cancer free.

Caring people can intervene in many ways, but the final choice is always up to the individual. She had many path choices and in this case, she made a positive choice.   The choice appears to have been made easier by the support she received through prayer, meditation, the presence of positive energy and healing energy work.

Between lives, as our souls choose the next lifetime that will offer opportunities for growth, several choice points become apparent. How we react when we come to a crossroads can be assisted by the intervention of those who care about us.  In my mind, it is certainly worth the effort to work on the behalf of others.

Reincarnation is a complex subject.  We can’t expect to understand it completely and we have to take some of it on faith and the experiences of others.  There are many viewpoints, some remarkably similar and some divergent.  My opinion is that we each accept what resonates, keep an open mind about possibilities, and discard what appears totally against our belief system.

Somewhere I came across the following series of questions and thought they were very good ones.  My thanks to whoever wrote them.  I’m going to answer them from my perspective.  I hope they make sense to you.

When do we get to use the wisdom we have accumulated in this life?

The wisdom stays with the soul, which incarnates over and over.  I call these resources positive past life legacies.  For example, a person may have survived a difficult challenge through perseverance in a past life and now that determination and perseverance is part of the soul’s future lifetimes.

Where do we get to correct our mistakes?

The wonderful news is that we do have the opportunity to correct our mistakes in future incarnations.  We aren’t stuck in any guilt-ridden place forever.

If we can correct them in heaven, why did we come here in the first place?

Souls need the opportunity to mature and develop.  The best place to do that is to practice in many lifetimes.  Earth is a schoolroom and we’re not always going to get A’s.

Why should God punish people eternally for temporal sins: do we punish our children for the next fifty years for a penny stolen in the first grade?

If we believe in a loving God, of course He isn’t going to punish our mistakes forever.  As loving parents, we forgive our children over and over.  God’s love is so much deeper and more gracious than we can ever be.  Upon death, when we process our current lifetime, the review is done in a loving and supportive manner, not a punitive one.

What happens to mentally challenged people and those who cannot comprehend the laws of God.

Everyone is a child of God and He loves each and every one of us, whether we understand the laws of God, whether we throw them back in His face, or whether we never were exposed to them in the first place.

If God makes exceptions for them, what other exceptions does He make?

God’s patience is extreme.  I believe that He wants us to succeed and therefore gives us many opportunities to achieve a closer relationship with Him.

How do we account for the vast discrepancies in the lives of people, some living in poverty, some in wealth?

Souls need to have many, many different experiences in order to mature and develop.  Therefore, every soul will live a life of wealth and a life of poverty.  What we make of that lifetime is the crucial lesson.  If we abuse the wealth or succumb to the poverty, we may have to return in another lifetime to work on these issues.

At what point does God even out these unfair distinctions?

A lifetime may appear unfair, but it is only an opportunity to gain new learnings.  Suppose someone is blind or crippled, maybe that is exactly what that soul needs to experience in order for its soul to develop and mature.  Remember, we can only see a small piece of the overall plan.  This is where faith in the process of reincarnation can help us move through the challenges.

I’d love to hear your reactions to my answers.  What kinds of questions do you have?  Perhaps I can address them in future newsletters.