lifetime
The Mystery Of Soul Groups And Soul Contracts
In my work as a spiritual counselor to many people around the world, I have learned that we all belong to soul groups or families, and that each of us chooses to participate in our current lifetime in a certain way based on a pre-birth soul agreement or contract that we commit to before we come into this world.
I like to think of it as “auditioning for a play.’ Before we incarnate, we can choose to be in a comedy, a drama, an action, a horror, an epic adventure, or even a combination of all of these. We can also choose to take a central leading role, or just be a supporting cast member, or perhaps even a cameo or extra taking a background position.
What position are we willing and ready to take? This in itself can be a great karmic challenge as well as a profound learning experience. For example, if we have chosen a role that has caused grief or harm in a previous life, we will return in this life to try to resolve these latent karmic issues. If we are successful, it is wonderful because we can then pursue a completely different role or existence, or move on to something completely different in a future role.
Soul groups consist of a circle of souls with whom we have shared previous lives and are likely to meet in future lives. These groups are our spiritual families, and the members play different roles in each other’s lives through the process of soul evolution. We continually change roles in different lifetimes with other members of our soul group to facilitate learning and growth.
By interacting with these familiar souls from lifetime to lifetime, we create ongoing scenarios that karmically challenge us, assist us in our soul growth and evolution, and ultimately lead us to a state of spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment where our soul has transcended material limitations and reached its highest potential.
Understanding The Higher Self
In modern spirituality and metaphysics, the concept of the “higher self” is generally considered a cornerstone of spiritual awareness and conscious living.
The idea that we have a “higher self” is found in many spiritual and mystical traditions, although it may be called by different names and understood in different ways.
Despite these differences, the underlying idea is that there is a higher, more enlightened aspect of our being that we can connect with and embody.
Often mentioned in discussions of intuition, mindfulness, enlightenment, and the search for deeper meaning, the higher self is seen as a guiding force or eternal soure of wisdom that transcends our everyday consciousness.
Yet despite the common use of this term in modern spiritual communities and teachings, there remains a great deal of confusion and variation in how the higher self is understood and interpreted. There are many different opinions and beliefs. Some see it as our inner connection to the divine or universal consciousness. Others see it as the true spiritual essence, free from the limitations of the human ego. And some simply see it as an alternative term for our eternal spirit or soul identity.
In my experience, most of the confusion and misunderstanding arises because the higher self is mistakenly seen as a distinct and separate entity from the soul or spirit. From this perspective, the higher self is seen as entirely separate from our soul, representing our connection to something greater than ourselves, to the divine or universal consciousness.
Free Yourself From Karmic Debt
One of the most important things we must do before we leave this life and embrace the next is to ensure that our karmic debts are completely resolved. By doing so, we leave this world unburdened and ready to embrace our next existence with complete bliss.
Now, if the consequences you may suffer in the afterlife are not of much concern to you, and you feel that karma is not really your problem, you may want to reconsider.
Carrying the heavy burden of karmic debt can also cause considerable misery and struggle in our present daily lives, manifesting as recurring negative patterns and obstacles that hinder our progress and well-being.
Our unresolved karma often leads to dysfunctional relationships, financial difficulties, health problems, and emotional turmoil as past harmful actions generate corresponding negative consequences. An ongoing state of karmic debt fosters feelings of frustration, helplessness, and despair, making it difficult to achieve happiness, joy, fulfillment, and peace.
By carrying the weight of unresolved karmic debt, you may find yourself trapped in a cycle of suffering, unable to break free and achieve the positive, fulfilling life you desire.
Karmic debt is a concept rooted in the spiritual principle of karma, which is a fundamental belief in many Eastern philosophies and religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism. Karma refers to the universal law of cause and effect, whereby every action has a corresponding reaction. Our poor choices and negative actions create a spiritual debt. By acknowledging this debt and resolving our past mistakes, we achieve a state of inner peace, higher consciousness, spiritual growth and enlightenment.
Honoring Your Soul Contract
Each of us came into our current life for a reason that is relevant to our soul evolution. Regardless of how, where and when we arrived, we all came into this physical existence with a planned mission known as our soul contract, or pre-birth soul plan.
Before entering this life, our souls deliberately choose certain experiences and lessons to learn and contributions to make for the purpose of our own spiritual evolution. It’s essentially our cosmic to-do list!
We come for a variety of reasons: some to learn, some to teach, some to grow, some to heal. Some come to observe, others to participate. Some come to navigate a profound dark night of the soul. Some even come to influence the masses or change the world forever.
Whatever the nature of your soul contract, you can be absolutely certain that there is a divine purpose to it all. Never forget that your soul mission is your own doing. We owe our existence and our journey to no one. It is ours alone to experience and ours alone to complete.
One of the most empowering things we can do in this lifetime is to uncover the nature of our soul contract to ensure our ultimate success. We must reflect on our true purpose and the meaningful connections and experiences we encounter.
The Constant Battle Of Head Versus Heart
Have you ever second-guessed yourself, done or said something that went against your gut, only to realize in retrospect that your initial feeling or hunch was right? Had you acted differently, it could have saved you a lot of heartache and loss, emotionally, physically or financially?
If you have ever been in this position, know that you are not alone. The “head versus heart” dilemma can be very confusing and frustrating. Many of my clients struggle with it and some experience a great deal of confusion, stress and emotional discomfort as a result.
When faced with difficult decisions or challenging situations, we usually have a good sense of what the best course of action might be. But then we tend to look for concrete evidence to support our feelings and intuitive hunches, and when we cannot find any, which is often the case, our heads take precedence over our hearts. So we end up discounting our feelings and intuitions, usually to our own detriment.
The struggle between head and heart is a common theme in philosophy, literature, art, and popular culture, as we all regularly experience inner conflicts between reason and emotion, logic and intuition, responsibility and passion.
The Exit Points In Our Soul Plan
I believe that we have access to several ‘exit points’ throughout our lives. These are moments when our spirit or soul can separate from its physical form to return to the non-physical. It is said that we are given a few such exit points in our lifetime.
Planet Earth is not our primary home. I like to think of our physical existence in this world as a challenging ‘schoolroom’. This physical life journey can be very difficult at times, and I find that it makes things a little easier if we can look at it from this perspective.
I have yet to meet a person who has had a complete fairytale existence in their life. We have all had some magical moments, but not necessarily as magical as some far-fetched novels or films might portray. Sometimes we feel like we’re banging our heads against the wall just to survive on a daily basis, physically, financially or emotionally, but deep down we all have a built-in survival instinct to stay and complete what we incarnated to do.
Exit points are moments when we have the free will choice to stay in this physical world or return to the non-physical. These moments of choice can be a major health emergency, a near fatal accident, a traumatic event in which we are exposed to extreme danger, and so on. It is usually one of those profound life experiences that make us feel very lucky to still be alive!
Keep Seeking The Light Beyond The Darkness
I do a trivia quiz almost every day to keep my mind stimulated and strong. This morning the question was: What is achluophobia? Well, it is the fear of the dark, which is a somewhat reasonable phobia since we instinctively want to be able to see what is going on around us in order to survive. However, as I thought about it more, I realized that we also have the same need to ‘see the light’ on a spiritual level.
The darkness of evil, hatred and despair is always out there, lurking in the background, trying to sneak into our hearts and minds and take over. There is a spiritual war going on in our hearts and minds every day.
As we are increasingly drawn into the darkness, we are also increasingly hit with setbacks, hurdles, heartaches, and hardships. Then, in our entitlement and arrogance, we wonder why God, Source, Spirit, the Divine, is not doing anything to help us? Why have we been abandoned? Is there even a higher, divine power that can come to our aid?
It is amazing how many people at one time or another indulge in the thought, the notion that the very God, Source, Spirit, Divine, Universe that guides, protects and provides for us, actually takes the time to also hate, punish or destroy us.
All we have to do is observe the miracle of nature to know that this is not true. Every little miracle of nature, every tree and plant, every stone, every living being has a reason and a purpose to exist in the wonderful mechanics of our planet.