QOTW: Life Lessons

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
QOTW: Life Lessons
38
Sun, 07-23-2006 - 11:57am

I've been pondering something lately, ever since I read an article posted on another board about soul mates/families.  One of the statements made was that we make agreements with others souls before incarnating to accomplish certain goals during this lifetime, to learn certain lessons.  I've heard of this before.  DH fully believes he made a pact with his mother in this lifetime to become injured (he was severely burned as a toddler) in order to learn humility, because he'd been in a position of power in a past life and abused it.


I certainly believe in reincarnation.  And I believe that we sometimes reconnect with souls we've known before.  It's an amazing, exciting, sometimes un-nerving experience to 'recognize' someone instantly.  But I'm not sure how I feel about this idea of pre-incarnation agreements to work together.  I look at the soul friends in my life and wonder just what I'm supposed to be learning.  What the lesson is.  How am I supposed to even know?  Or am I supposed to know?


So what do you think?  Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, do you believe we come into this life to learn a particular lesson?  Maybe more than one?  Any ideas what yours might be? 


 



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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-17-2005
Sun, 07-23-2006 - 1:07pm
Great question Ginger cookie! It is something that I have been spending about 5 years wondering about. Yes, I do believe we are here to learn lessons. I think they are personal lessons, and yes, more than one. I'm finally realizing my lesson is learning to communicate better with people, to open myself up more to others, to not live in my own world but allow others into it as well. It is a major challenge for me. I am still having a hard time doing it.
I also strongly believe another lesson for myself is about spirituality and religion. I endured a long time of religion to realize it was not the right path for me. Now that I have embarked on a journey of awareness and openmindedness, I feel free and I feel God.
I do believe we re connect with souls from previous lives. I know without a doubt that all three of my daughters have been with me before. We all have a special bond. And lessons to learn together about so many things.
I know there are other lessons for me to learn that haven't come along yet. With each phase in each life, we are met with new teachers, new lessons, and new answers.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-19-2003
Sun, 07-23-2006 - 6:58pm

I come from a religion that believes that we lived as spirits before we were born and we chose to come to Earth to live and gain experiences as physical beings.

I don't think it's official doctrine, but some believe that we chose to come to Earth and have specific experiences to learn specific lessons, or to meet specific people that would have some kind of an impact in our mortal lives.

I've had an experience where I was given some insight as to who I was before I was born and what awaits me while I live on Earth. It's not totally specific, but I think it's supposed to be that way, so I can find out for myself. It'd be nice to just have it handed to me, but if life were always like that, I don't think I'd learn anything. That's why we're here, to learn.

Anyway, just my rambling thoughts...



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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 9:58am

With each phase in each life, we are met with new teachers, new lessons, and new answers.


I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense that each phase of a lifetime would have a different focus.


Community Leader
Registered: 09-14-1997
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 10:20am

I am not sure that we are here to learn lessons. I mean, if that is the point of all of this. I do think that lessons are here, if we choose to learn from them. Of course, I believe we can choose to run from them also.


I guess I am of the philosophy that we are the sum of our experiences, and that each choice we make opens up nth dimensions of possibilities.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2004
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 10:34am
I believe that we are here to discover who we are and what our gifts are, then use those gifts toward making this a better world.

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AcornLeaves
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2004
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 10:51am

Very thought-provoking question! I've not really thought about it before, although I do believe in reincarnation, I've not thought about pre-incarnation with souls enough to really take a stand either way. As for lessons learned, I've heard it before - but have NO idea what my lesson in this life is .. too many to count LOL ;)


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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2005
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 10:58am

Gosh what a good question! This is one of those that I'll be pondering for a long time.

I belive in reincarnation too. I don't have the feeling that I made a pact with any one person. I do have the feeling that I've tried and failed some of the same lessons. There are just some things I'm not getting and I'm not willing to get yet. I work on them but I'm not there yet. For example pacifism ... if we are meant to be forgiving and pacifistic (is that a word?) then I'm not even close! I'll take up arms to defend myself, my clan, my home. I can't see unconditional love for the entire world in my life time.

I do think we are here to learn lessons. I lean more toward we have several lessons to learn instead of just one but I'm on the fence with that one.

I think my infertility has something to do with a lesson that I have to learn in this lifetime. I'm not sure what the lesson is yet but I can't help but feel there is a reason that I can't have children. If I made a pact I'm not sure why. I used to wonder if maybe I lost a child or children in a previous life and the pain was too unbearable to try again so I decided to not have any in this lifetime. Maybe it's not some sort of lesson we need to learn but something happened that we are still dealing with ... like a shadow hanging over us or some great victory we are still celebrating ... some sort of residual effect.

Something to ponder I guess.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 11:47am

but have NO idea what my lesson in this life is ..


I've no idea either, though I'm leaning more and more in the direction of believing there's something I'm supposed to accomplish vs. just experiencing life.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 11:50am

Maybe it's not some sort of lesson we need to learn but something happened that we are still dealing with ...


I'd never thought of it that way; good point.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-16-2001
Mon, 07-24-2006 - 12:17pm

Funny that you should have this as your QOTW as it was just something that a friend and I discussed yesterday. She doesn't believe in reincarnation, but she does believe that we each have life lessons. She is suffering from breast cancer, and she's trying to see through this illness in as positive and meaningful way as possible.

Up till about 6 years ago, I didn't quite believe in reincarnation. For me it was fine if a person believed in it and they probably reincarnated, but it probably didn't happen to those who don't believe in it. It wasn't really something that I thought about or that was important or relevant to me. Then I had a spontaneous past life regression(s). It was an eye opener and it made me spend several weeks trying to sort out how I felt about that. Either my vertigo was bad and what I saw what the result of an overactive imagination, or it I saw snippets of some of my past lives. I was shocked, but what I saw made sense for me - it answered some questions of reactions to things I have had ever since I was a child. Documentaries and movies on war, for example, always triggers a deep sadness in me, the kind that you feel when you've lost a loved one. I couldn't figure it out, after all, until recently I'd known no one or lost anyone to a war. The regressions explained that, and some other things.

I feel we come back here not only to learn a life lesson (or several lessons), but also to make things better. Let me explain. I am a survivor of sexual abuses, and part of the regressions that I saw had to do with various violent incidents in my past lives. At the time I had the regressions, I wasn't at all working on the issues consequent to the abuses in this life, but was key in making me want to deal with them once and for all. At one point in my healing journey, nearly a year after I had the regressions, I arrived at a fairly stable place in life where I could stop the active healing and go back to life as it was previously. I figured that I could probably take a "rest" from the healing journey for about 5 or 10 years before going back there again. The year had been a very difficult, painful and lonely one, and I wanted something ressembling normality again. As I was pondering this in front of my computer, I clearly heard my voices in the past telling me that I couldn't stop. That I had promised them (well, me) that I'd come back in this life to stop the cycle of violence and start the cycle of healing. They said that if I stopped now, it would take me another lifetime to accomplished what I was supposed to do in this one. They also explained that any healing made in this life would also heal the wounds in the past lives, too. We can't change what happened, but we can heal the wounds, and make sure that any negative or violent patterns are stopped here. So that's why I continued on...

As for life lessons to be learnt... I think we learn or pick up things every day and incorporate them into our self and the way we are. Right now I'm learning to be gentle yet firm, enforcing the boundaries I've set but doing so with a smile. I'm supposed to learn about trust, and sharing, and keeping a healthy equilibrium.

I think the contract I made and the things I have to learn in this life was in the book I dreamt about a few years ago. The problem is that it was written in a language and writing that I don't know. The good news is that a voice said that I could learn to read the book, and if I could do that, the whole process of finding out what I need to know would be quicker and easier. So I let my sub-conscious figure that one out. The answers usually come one at a time, through a dream.

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