Welcome at Flow of Miracles

Dear People,

Today's article is about baggage, which we all carry forward from our past lives, from experiences in our current life and from your family. Baggage can blind us, hold us back and make us miserable. In a lot of healing work I do - I discard baggage so life becomes manageable again.

Family Baggage
All families have history and all history has baggage associated with it. A good exercise to see family baggage is to see what has been similar problems for many family members. What type of obstacles is most of your family facing? These obstacles can be a recurring health problem, problems with money, career or relationships. It won't be long before you can see patterns emerging within your family. Sometimes baggage translates into a different type of experience or behavior, so it seems like it's not related, but it really is just a different expression of the same baggage.

Example: I met a client who obviously had family baggage concerning self esteem. In the family itself many members would work either extra hard (high achievers, compensation behavior leading to burn outs, physical problems like heart failures and depression) or didn't work at all (slacking off, falling through the cracks leading to mostly mental problems like addiction and depression)

All of these family members were struggling with the mistaken belief that they had to do something/amount to something to truly matter and to gain value. Some of them were sabotaging this belief by doing nothing, but almost all of them were trapped in this web. Since we grow up within the family often this type of behavior or a specific belief is considered normal and won't be reevaluated until somebody else mentions it. I helped my client see this web and disentangle her involvement in it so she could move forward freely.

Personal Baggage
Sometimes clients find it easy to identify personal baggage, because they can see how they have been stopping themselves gaining specific goals. A client who went through a difficult divorce will notice that it's harder to open up again to a new relationship. A client who has difficulty dealing with authority figures due to problems with their father will understand how this is related. Knowing your baggage however is only the first step to resolve it. The second step is focused on processing the old pain so you can move forward.

Personal baggage can be misunderstood however, because we can be blinded by it. Often this is compounded by people being very strict with themselves, finding fault within themselves, because something that is easy for others is very hard for them. Consider this: If you find something simple very hard, it's time to figure out the why and sort it out, instead of punishing yourself. If you can't figure out where the baggage is coming from - seek help.

Example: A client was generally happy in his life, except for some health issues related to weight. He has lost quite a lot of weight already, but couldn't find it within himself to exercise more. Even when doctors recommended more exercise he felt angry, but couldn't find the cause of the anger. He tried everything, from personal trainer appointments, doing team sports and going on his own. He failed to see that this wasn't a discipline problem, but old baggage. His parents told him to go exercise and he took the mistaken belief with him that he was fat and that was why he had to exercise. We successfully released this belief so he was free to exercise for his own health and well being.

Past Life Baggage
If you notice a pattern in your life that is destructive, but you can't figure out where it's coming from, mostly likely it's past life baggage. This type of baggage is usually easily resolved, because it's carried over just so you can resolve it in this life. Some people have flashes of past lives or feel that they know a certain person deeper then is justified in this life or have a special connection. I wrote more about Past Lives here

Want to talk about your baggage or ask me a question? Post a message on the blog, Facebook Fan Page or e-mail me.

Dear People,

A question I've been asked several times is if I believe in Past Lives and if I do, if I work with Past Lives. I must admit that my idea's about Past Lives have changed before and might change again, so I'll first talk about my own journey with Past Lives and afterwards will answer questions of clients.

My Past Life Journey
I was raised catholic and didn't really believe in Past Lives at all. After you died, you are meant to go to Heaven. Sometimes of course I would see Spirits or Souls and I would feel like those where either able to return from Heaven to give advice or to resolve issues or those that didn't find peace yet and needed help to get to Heaven. I never believed much in Hell. After all, God is all forgiving.

During these years I'd have strong dreams in which I was never myself. I would call them my movie dreams, as they were usually about exciting situations. I would be a man, woman and child and they would be in very different time periods. I remember waking up with a strong ache in my shoulder after dreaming I was watching a man get pierced by a crossbow bolt, falling off his horse and wondering if my wife and children would be alright without me. I also had strong reactions to places where I'd never been before, but still felt very much at home in.

I only started to shift a bit in my ideas when I went abroad and met somebody. We had an instant connection. Could finish each others sentences, felt each others emotions very keenly and I was just swamped with a constant feeling of knowing. I cautiously started on the road towards accepting that there might be past lives and that I might meet souls again.

Another notable moment was when I reconnected with another soul. She was older then me, but we always felt she was my 'adoptive child'. It was funny because when we talked about that, outsiders would think I was the child and she was my mom, because of our obvious age difference int his life. I mentioned to her that I've had flashes of a past life in which I was aiding a young Jewish woman in WW2. Sadly, the young woman got sick and died. I was pretty sure that this was a Dutch life. She was shocked to the core - as she had a notebook in which she had written that she felt she had been a young Jewish girl in WW2. She was fascinated by Anne Frank and although she wasn't Dutch she did end up living in Holland due to all kinds of circumstances.

Past Lives for me now
I did some exploring of course of Past Lives and people in them that were meaningful for me. It did illuminate many connections in my current life. I could understand why some interactions felt different then I was expecting or why certain blockages came up. I gained a deeper understanding of myself. Of course, I still have some work to do, so I will continue to meditate on them.

Past Lives in the practice
Past lives usually either come up because somebody is interested or because it affects the issue they are in the practice for. If it comes up as connected to the issue they want to heal and/or get advice on, I will often discuss the Past Life in question and it's current effect.

When people are just interested, usually I ask them what type of Reading they are looking for. Most often my Past Life Reading is centered on Karma. What did you bring into this life, that can be healed now or what issues are connected to Past lives. I usually combine this type of Reading with some healing.

Sometimes however, people want to know who in their current live is a Past Life connection. I often tell them they do not need a Reading for that! Past life connections will feel curiously stronger then they should be, you will feel more at home with them and you might recognize that the interactions remind you of a different relationship than you are having in this life (parent-child while you are friends etc.). However, it can improve relationships if you get the old stuff 'out of the way'.

If you are interested in Past Lives, let me know on the blog, the Facebook Fan Page or e-mail me about it!