Life

How To Remember Your Past Life

by Megan Grant

Not too long ago, a psychic told me that I was an old soul and had experienced many lives, which of course led me to wonder what these lives actually were. It was only recently, though, that I started looking into how to remember your past life. "You are spirit. You are not your physical body," Dr. Lesley Phillips, intuition development and personal transformation expert, explains in an email to Bustle. "So your physical life is a projection of your spiritual consciousness into physical reality." I know this kind of stuff isn't everyone's cup of tea, but personally, I am totally into it — and it turns out that if you believe in past lives, there are a few different ways you might go about trying to uncover yours.

Our spirit lives many times over, and digging in to these previous lives can reveal a lot about who you are today, according to Dr. Phillips. "A past life reading can help you transform and transcend your difficulties because it helps you understand them from a broader spiritual perspective," says Dr. Phillips. She further explains that you may learn to find a balance between giving and receiving by being a doctor in one life and a patient in another life.

A past life reading doesn't just sound like a load of fun, though; it also has many benefits. According to Dr. Phillips, a past life reading can help you understand challenging relationships in your life, recognize your soul mate and "soul group," discover your purpose for this life, tap into skills you developed in previous lives, resolve lingering emotional issues, and gain new perspective.

Sounds like a good deal to me. So, aside from getting a past life reading done, exactly how do you remember your past life? You might try one (or all) of these four strategies.

Analyze Your Dreams

Have you ever dreamt you were in a different body than your own? Were you ever in a different time than the one in which you live? A different country? Were you speaking a different language? Wearing different clothes? Dr. Phillips explains that these could be signs of one of your previous lives. I have a friend who once glanced at herself quickly in the mirror and saw herself wearing Colonial-era fashion. Coincidence? Maybe — but maybe not.

Think About When You Visited A Place For The First Time

Did you recognize it even though you'd never been there? Did you know your way around without a map? Maybe things looked familiar, despite your never having seen them before. Perhaps you met someone in this new place and felt you already knew them. Once again, these could be "memories" of an old life. You might also experience this as deja vu. Pay extra close attention the next time this happens!

Take A Quiz

This is obviously just for fun, but online quizzes for determining a past life can help you learn a bit about yourself. While it doesn't come close to a reading done by a professional, they're interesting to play with and make you think a little. Plus, one quiz told me I was a queen in a previous life. Obviously.

Self-Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy

Putting yourself in a state of hypnosis can be quite difficult. Visiting a professional hypnotherapist could help you tap into past lives more easily. They'll put you in a relaxed and comfortable state, help you clear your mind, and likely assist you in traveling back in memories you couldn't access otherwise.

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