Ghosts Among Us - James Van Praagh [80]
When we enter this dimension that is limited in scope, our identities are somehow elusive. Most of us attempt the sojourn looking outside of ourselves to find answers. We tend to look to others to validate and measure our own worthiness and our truth. However, who knows us better than ourselves? All of the answers we want to know are found nowhere else but inside our own hearts.
When we take on human flesh, we close the curtain on the memories of prior life experiences in order to start over with a clear conscience. This is really a moment of grace that is given to us by God. For if we were aware of our past journeys on this earth, we would spend our valuable time obsessing over the rights and wrongs of other lives rather than living this lifetime and evolving as spiritual beings. By starting over each lifetime, we are free to choose the reality we want to experience.
When we reincarnate on earth, we bring with us a blueprint of all that has gone before. By choosing various people and situations with which to experience life, we are forced into situations that expedite our soul’s growth. Only the material world can offer us so many opportunities to learn our lessons and provide immediate feedback on our actions, mistakes, and achievements.
We are human, rational beings encapsulated in a spiritual, unlimited consciousness. In fact, we are our consciousness. Everything we create is through consciousness. I have incredible respect and admiration for the hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige. She is a remarkable example of finding the power within to change reality. She came from the “hood,” a place filled with drugs and crime. One day she assessed her life and her neighborhood and told herself, “I am getting out of here and making something of myself.” She says that she prayed to God—or as I like to say, found her inner spiritual power and took responsibility for changing her reality. And she did just that. She is one of the most successful female musicians in history. When Mary J. Blige made a choice to get out of her negative surroundings, she did so with a desire not only to achieve success and good things for herself and her family but also to teach others, through her success, that it was possible.
I have found over and over again in my work that the number-one regret for most ghosts is that they didn’t believe in themselves when on earth. They wish someone had told them that they were immense souls living human experiences. If they had only known this power while they were alive, they might have believed in themselves more and might have lived different lives.
As a spirit having a human experience, you can choose to not merely exist but to be fully conscious and aware of living in a limited world. When you take a conscious part in life and its multitudes of choices, you won’t let life happen to you—you will make life happen for you.
THE POWER OF THOUGHT
Everything begins with a thought. A thought is alive and as solid as a rock or a piece of furniture. Thoughts are communicated by waves or vibrations. The physical materialization of thought takes form in words. If people could witness how effective and real their thoughts are, they would be in utter shock. When we pass into the spirit world, part of our life review is to witness all the thoughts we had during our lives on earth. We are