Lifetimes Within Lifetimes

Tonight is a time when some spiritual traditions remember those they know who have crossed the veil this year, and for me this year, the veil opened a long time and stayed open. I could sense the opening earlier than usual, and more powerfully than usual.

During this time, there has been a growing influence in my reading sphere, opening the way even deeper. Saying farewell to those who have crossed always feels like it brings the closure to just the right note.

Since this is a perfect time for reflection, it often seems as if there are lifetimes within lifetimes. When I think back on certain segments of my life, it feels as though I have lived more than one lifetime in this lifetime, and that it might actually have been some other person who lived through some of those other chapters, since I no longer feel or look like that person now.

Have you ever noticed how often when you listen to a recording of your own voice, you ask, "Do I really sound like that? Is that really my voice?" Yet how many times do we look in the mirror and ask, "Do I really look like that?" Photographs really startle us at times, when we do not easily match our photos with our memories.

It is almost easier at times to recall past lives and match our experiences and feelings to those long ago stories. Oddly, sometimes it seems easier to believe scenes of a life hundreds of years ago in a different time and place that it is to believe what we were doing 20 or 30 years ago. Sometimes we may feel strongly that we wished we had made a different choice at various turning points, but of course, it is never possible to go back and change them. All we can do is choose to proceed with full focus from where we are now to where we would like to be next.

At each juncture, we have the power of free will and free choice, and so if we have drawn wisdom or inspiration from our past, our powerful positive or negative motivations can shape what is next in our life.

What a perfect time to reflect on our past and peer into our future. Just as the colorful fall leaves give way to reveal the skeleton of the tree underneath, so our colorful stories give way to reveal the essence of our life.

I love pumpkins, pumpkin pie, violin music, red wine, smoke and colorful leaves. And I love all the stories, all of the stories, the magic of how the same story you have heard or told before may mean something different to you this time.

It is magic, isn't it?