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Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
Started May. 19, 2007
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- Hometown:
- Ashland, Oregon
- About Me:
- In a personal session with a medium in 2003, author Robert Schwartz was astonished to speak with nonphysical beings who knew everything about him - not just what he had done in life, but also what he had thought and felt. They told him that he had planned many of his most difficult experiences before he was born. Realizing that a knowledge of pre-birth planning would bring great healing to people and allow them to understand the deeper purpose of their life challenges, he devoted the next three years to studying the pre-birth plans of dozens of individuals. The extraordinary insights that emerged speak to our heartfelt, universal yearning to know . . . why.
- Website 1:
- http://www.CourageousSouls.com
- Favorite Books:
- Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we’re born for purposes of spiritual growth. The book contains ten stories of people who planned physical illness, having handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents. The information about their pre-birth plans was obtained by four gifted mediums and channels, including one who has the ability both to see and to hear the dialogue we have with one another before we’re born. The book contains the actual conversations people had with their future parents, children, spouses, friends, and other loved ones when they planned their lives together. For readers, suffering that once seemed purposeless becomes imbued with deep meaning. Wisdom may be acquired in a more conscious manner; feelings of anger, guilt, blame, and victimization are replaced by acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace.
- What are your answers to the big questions: Who are we? Where are we from? Why are we here? Where are we headed?
- The following is the Preface from my book Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
In May of 2003, I was leading an unfulfilling life as a self-employed marketing and communications consultant. Although I enjoyed some of my work, I did not derive deep satisfaction from any of it. I often felt that if I were to fall off the face of the Earth, my clients would hardly notice; they would simply plug someone else into my role. More important, my life was not a unique expression of my soul. A spiritual but not a religious person, I longed to make a contribution to the world that would be “uniquely me,” but I had no idea what that might be.
I had exhausted the usual routes one explores to find meaning and purpose. I was lost and floundering. Then, an inspiration came to me: why not consult a medium? Although I had a strong belief in God, I had never (as far as I knew) directly experienced the metaphysical. I felt I had nothing to lose. I researched mediums and selected someone with whom I felt comfortable.
My session with the medium took place on May 7, 2003. I remember the exact date because on that day my life changed. I told the medium very little about myself, describing my circumstances only in the most general terms. She explained that each of us has spirit guides, nonphysical beings with whom we plan our lives prior to incarnation. Through her I was able to speak with mine. They knew everything about me—not only what I had done but also what I had thought and felt. For example, they referred to a specific prayer I had said to God some five years earlier. At a particularly difficult time I had prayed, “God, I can’t do this alone. Please send help.” My guides told me that additional nonphysical assistance had been provided. “Your prayer was answered,” they said. I was astounded.
Eager to understand the suffering I had experienced, I asked my guides about the major challenges I had faced. They explained that I had planned these challenges before birth—not for the purpose of suffering, but for the growth that would result. I was shaken by this information. My conscious mind knew nothing of pre-birth planning, yet intuitively I sensed truth in their words.
Although I did not realize it at the time, my session with the medium triggered a profound spiritual awakening for me. I would later understand that this awakening was really a remembering—a remembering of who I am as an eternal soul and, more specifically, what I had planned to do on Earth.
For the next few weeks I continued with life as usual, although the information from my guides was constantly on my mind. I did not know what to do with it. One afternoon I took a break from work and went for a walk—and had an experience even more profound than my session with the medium. I suddenly felt overwhelming, unconditional love for every person I saw! No words can adequately convey the power of this love. It was of an intensity and depth I had never experienced and did not know was possible. For each person—the mother pushing her baby in a stroller, the cab driver waiting for a fare, the child playing at the corner, the barber cutting hair behind the window of his barbershop—I felt pure, limitless love.
Though I had never before heard of such an experience, I knew intuitively what was happening: I was in enhanced, immediate communion with my soul. In effect my soul was saying to me, “This love is who you are.” I now believe my soul gifted me with this experience to facilitate the work I would soon begin.
I became obsessed with reading about spirituality and metaphysics. As I read I thought often about pre-birth planning. All my life I had viewed my challenges as nothing more than meaningless suffering and their occurrences as random and arbitrary. Had I known that I’d planned my challenges, I would have seen them rich with purpose. That knowledge alone would have greatly eased my suffering. Had I also known why I’d planned them, I could have consciously learned the lessons they offered. Feelings of fear, anger, resentment, blame, and self-pity would have been replaced by a focus on growth. Perhaps I might even have been grateful for the challenges.
During this period of intense study and inner exploration, I met a woman is able to channel her soul and who agreed to let me speak with her soul about pre-birth planning. I had no knowledge of channeling and was taken aback when she went into a trance and another consciousness, one clearly distinct from hers, began to speak through her. I spoke with her soul for fifteen hours over the course of five meetings.
These conversations were thrilling. They verified and complemented my reading and study. Her soul told me in detail about her own pre-birth planning: the various challenges that had been discussed and the reasons some were selected. Here I had direct, specific confirmation of a phenomenon of which very few people were aware. Because the pain in my life had made me extremely sensitive to—and intensely motivated to relieve—the suffering of others, I was excited by the potential healing an awareness of pre-birth planning could bring to people. I knew that the information I had discovered could lighten their suffering and imbue their challenges with new meaning and purpose. As a result I resolved to write a book about the subject and to share its significance with others.
My enthusiasm for my new path was, however, tempered by the uncertainty of letting go of the old. Though unfulfilling, it was at least comfortable and familiar. Nevertheless, I was sustained—indeed, compelled to go forward—by the importance of the work, the opportunity finally to express myself in unique ways that would be of service to the world, and the certainty of knowing that came from directly experiencing my soul.
At first I thought the idea for the book had originated in this lifetime. In truth, however, I had simply remembered my own pre-birth planning. By working with several gifted mediums and channels, I discovered I had planned not only to write a book on this subject but also to interview at least one of the people whose stories appear on these pages. In all I had dozens of sessions with mediums and channels, during which I spoke with many wise beings in spirit about my challenges and about pre-birth planning in general. In this book I offer to you what they have taught me.
I now understand why I had planned certain challenges for myself: I wanted to take the journey those who read this book may also take. I, too, at times felt victimized by the universe and blamed others for the “bad” things that happened to me. I saw my challenges as pointless, empty suffering and doubted my worth when I did not rise to them in the way I would have liked. But with my knowledge of pre-birth planning, I now realize that an entirely different perspective on life challenges is possible. In writing Courageous Souls, I set out to teach what I had most needed to learn.
It takes a great deal of courage to live the plans you made before you were born. My desire, my most fervent wish, is that you recognize the tremendous courage you show in every moment of every day when, with each breath, you reaffirm your decision to embrace and learn from your own challenges. Within that recognition, you will find your soul.
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I loved your book preface. I couldn't agree more that it takes great courage to live what we know deep in our soul. My conscious awakening began 17 years ago when I had a "dark night of the soul" experience that Western medicine calls a psychotic breakdown. It started out so wondrous and joyful - I was actually experiencing the oneness of the universe - but it spun out of control soon after I first had the thought that I might be going insane. My life since then has been a journey back to that conscious awakened state - and it has involved great suffering, as well as great strides forward. I have become so comfortable with the method of suffering as a pathway to growth, however, that I am having great difficulty letting go of this way of learning. Part of the reason must be that I believe that my greatest life lessons have been learned in this way. There's nothing quite like holding my mother's lifeless wrist between my fingers just after she died, turning her hand back and forth, to know the reality of death. There's nothing quite like having your world fall apart overnight because of a series of bad choices to know the meaning of humility. And when I went through these things, it was extremely difficult to take any comfort in knowing I'd planned them before birth. In the moment is only the awareness of the experience; nothing more, nothing less. Reflection comes later.
Anyway, I plan to check out your book and hope to chat with you sometime on this and other subjects.
Until then,
Gail
As a student of the mind/spirit for 50 years and a Clinical Hypnotherapist I know very well about preplanning our lives and the "coincidences" that lead us to the right people and the right places at the right time to learn or experience what we ned to experience or teach what we need to teach or learn what we need to learn. I was married to a wonderful "trance channeler" for 30 years and received many great messages and had many many wonderful experiences. I could probably write a couple of books just about "miracles" that have happened in my and my family's life. I know that if miracles are not happening in your life on a regular basis you are doing something incorrectly. Usually not paying attention LOL!!! Seriously though the secret to miracles is to know that they have already happened and give thanks for them and to act as though they are a done deal. Whenever we pray "for" something over and over we are simply emphasizing the idea that we don't have it and it pushes that thing further from us. W e must do as Jesus did and always do/say a prayer of gratitude that it is already done,"Pray believing that it is already done."
Thank you Robert for your contribution to the enlightenment of the world and for having the courage to "Be the better way". It is never an easy path at the best of time as we will be challenged constantly to walk the walk and the worst opposition/challenges always seems to come from our own family members. As Jesus said "A prophet know o honor in his own country."
Namsate'
Truthstudent,
Ken
Thanks for the friend request. I'm very intrigued with your book, it looks fascinating.
Sorry for my slow response. It was a wild week. Had a wedding on the weekend and then catch up after the fact. Also, lost my password and so my quick response was tabled til I had time to sort it out. WELCOME.
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