The Spiritual Meaning of Your Life Challenges

So often, when something “bad” happens to us, it appears to be purposeless suffering. But what if our most difficult experiences are actually rich with hidden purpose – purpose that we ourselves planned before we were born? Could it be that we choose our life’s circumstances, relationships, and events?nn In my research for my book Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?, I found that the answer to this question is a definite yes. Working with four of the most gifted mediums and channels in the country, including one who is able to hear the conversations people had with their future parents, children, spouses, friends, and other loved ones, I’ve examined the pre-birth plans of dozens of individuals. These people planned such challenges as physical illness, having handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents.nn Why do we plan to experience challenges? I found four primary reasons. First, challenges allow us to balance karma from past lives. For example, someone who was physically ill in a previous incarnation and the one who took care of that person may decide to switch roles. What makes this life blueprint so difficult is that once in body, neither soul will remember the plan.nnSecond, we plan challenges in order to heal. For example, Penelope, the deaf woman in the chapter on deafness and blindness, planned to be born completely deaf because in a past life she had heard the gunshots that killed her mother. In this lifetime, she sought to focus on self-healing and wanted to make sure that her healing would not be hindered by a similar trauma.nnThird, we plan challenges to be of service to others. In the chapter on physical illness, I write about Jon, a homosexual man who planned to have AIDS so that he could teach tolerance to humanity. Jon is not someone to be judged, but rather someone we may thank for having the raw courage to plan such a bold mission.nnLastly, life challenges allow us to know ourselves as love. By this I mean not simply that we are loving, although certainly that is true, but that we are quite literally made of the energy of love. In our nonphysical Home, we experience no contrast to ourselves and therefore cannot fully understand our nature as love. On Earth, in a realm of duality and stark contrast, we often encounter a lack of love. As we choose in the face of such experiences to give and receive love freely and unconditionally, we remember who we really are.nnnRobert Schwartz is the author of Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?. A free PDF with a large sample of the book is available on the About the Book page at www.CourageousSouls.com. The book may be ordered on the Courageous Souls web site (which ships internationally) or by calling Whispering Winds Press at 1-800-742-0148 (in the US) or writing to info@courageoussouls.com. The book is also available on Amazon, including Amazon Canada and Amazon UK, and it may be ordered through any bookstore or library by providing them with the ISBN number (9780977679454). Robert Schwartz may be reached at author@courageoussouls.com.