Personal Journeys
by Debra J. Taubenslag, D.C.H.
There comes a time when you just have to practice what you preach. Here I was conducting countless healing sessions for other people, and ignoring my own inner cries. I know what my clients call the safety zone…it’s much more comfortable being unaware than growing in spiritual development. It was time for me to concentrate on me. I knew I had work to do, because I was feeling those unexplainable blues. Of course, we always blame it on our moods or hormones, but I knew better. These feelings were something more that my higher self wanted me to look at, so I did. I met with a fellow hypnotist who believes that there is also a spiritual side to life. My first session produced an array of unexpected characters, and a series of past lives. I saw myself as a pitiful spoiled Southern grandmother who was rejected by her son and daughter-in-law, a frustrated Native American medicine man who procrastinated the feat of constructing a totem pole to initiate war with a neighboring tribe, and a jealous ancient Chinese male who murdered his brother for spite. My ugly past history took me by surprise, but I understood that everyone has a light and dark side.
This initial session gave me the chance to experience what my clients had been experiencing. My primary mode of receiving information was kinesthetic. I would feel things so intensely; I would have a sense of just knowing. Sometimes flashes of visual pictures would come to mind, and sometimes the words would just pour out of my mouth. There was never any kind of conscious thought to what I would say; it would just happen. Many of my clients would tell me that they saw whole scenes quite vividly, or that they clearly heard their own voice or others speak to them. I, on the other hand, received visual and auditory messages, but primarily felt intense emotions. These kinesthetic feelings were my higher self’s choice to assist me in absorbing whatever it was I had to experience for my highest good.
While processing my past lifetimes, I realized that each life had a profound effect on my present life. I too was recreating patterns, blocks, or desires due to past life experiences. In subsequent sessions I relived lives as a male Polish immigrant who abandoned his wife and children for the good life in America; I became a black native youth responsible for the care of his younger brother; and I was a farmer’s widow who gave up her kids in order to work to save her farm and in time realized that she would never see her children again.
These lifetimes were emotionally and physically painful, but necessary to relive in order for me to have a catharsis and for healing to occur. I knew that if I didn’t work through these spiritual blocks I would end up retarding my development and probably create some physical manifestation in my body that would not be pleasant. I thanked Pa for helping me to see that I too needed to clean house in order to move on with my life. Fortunately, not all of the lifetimes were unpleasant. Some, in fact, were richly rewarding and supportive to the work I do now. This helped me profoundly, because it reconfirmed that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing (in this lifetime)—that I was following my divine plan.
In most cases, I recognized someone I know now in this life. I have been given the chance to get it right with them, or the karmic ties that bind us are so loving and strong that out of pure joy we wanted to be together again. This is what I call chemistry; two old souls reuniting. In either case, it reminds me of the spiritual truth that souls travel together over and over again for specific reasons; either for love or lessons. How lucky we are that God gives us a million chances to learn love, and boomerangs it back to us a million times over.
A person who undergoes such spiritual awakening is always affected in a positive way. The effect may be subtle or it may be incredibly life altering. In whatever way it occurs, I have learned that souls develop at their own rate. The speed is not so important as the forward movement.
We are here to develop our souls, to become as Christ-like, Moses-like, Buddha-like, Mohammed-like as possible. This is our school. It is here, in the physical body that we learn how to love our fellow man, all of God’s creatures and, most of all, our selves. Some of us are very old souls who have taken many lifetimes to learn our lessons, while others are just starting out. We reincarnate in specific circumstances in order to facilitate our growth. This is why we choose our parents. They are able to provide us with the exact opportunities we need in order to fulfill our soul’s requirement. Life is like our school system: some enter at kindergarten, while others go straight to high school. That is why, in my opinion, there are no low-lifes in our society but rather low levels. These souls haven’t learned the meaning of self-worth and their connection to God. They haven’t a clue as to how their actions will directly affect their present life—and lives to come. They haven’t understood the reality of karma and how it can either hinder or help.
Through my work, I’ve been able to conclude that we all have the ability and opportunity to progress…if we really want to. The awakening occurs when the soul humbly asks for it.
