As a follow up to yesterday’s blog entry on choosing our families, today I’d like to stay on topic of choosing the life we will live when we return to the physical. When you see someone who has physical, intellectual and or emotional challenges, what is your first reaction?

Pity? Distress? Perhaps a bit of uncomfortableness? Okay, I’ll be honest here. That’s what I felt. In my early childhood once I recovered from all of my challenges there was a short time when it was thought that I was intellectually and emotionally behind my peers and was briefly in an outpatient facility where there were children with REAL challenges.

Again, when I was involved with Easter Seals Rehabilitation in New Haven, Connecticut in the mid 1980’s I was once more placed in daily contact with people with REAL challenges.

I was distressed to be put in the same box with these people who very much needed the help that Easter Seals and the above outpatient facility provided. Looking around at the situation, it was clearly evident even when I was in the outpatient facility that I didn’t belong at either place. Right or not, I developed a reluctance to befriend anyone with outward signs of a challenge As I’m growing into this new paradigm I’m in now, however, I’m understanding that we do indeed choose the life we live and because I’m learning this I’m making a conscious effort to leave that negative opinion behind me.

Again, as I said yesterday, I SINCERELY believe our souls lined up and chose the life we are now living. For some reason or another we need to learn something if our souls have incarnated into a lifelong challenging situation. Maybe by incarnating into a challenging situation, it will help us move along our spiritual path. Don’t EVER forget and don’t take for granted that we are all spiritual beings having a physical experience and NOT the other way around. If you can remember this and ALWAYS remember that we are eternal beings, life will be that much easier for everyone. My advice?

Don’t feel pity, don’t be distressed when you run into someone with challenges. If they are children, tell them you understand why they are here. Let them know that you honor them. Perhaps, this will jog their spiritual recall and they will remember even if only for a split second that they did indeed choose this life.

Once we entered the physical, we lost SOME of our touch with our spiritual essence. Children still maintain a grasp on it, and it is unfortunate that as we grow our spiritual essence is slowly drained out of us. If we can remind our children of this regularly instead of trying to close the spiritual door, imagine the life they could lead. So your mission now should you choose to accept it is the next child you see, the next child you know, whether it is yours or a personal close friend, pull him aside and tell him you know why they are here; tell them you understand that they chose this life for a specific reason. They may not know why. It will become clear as they grow up. Ask them if there is some talent they have. Writing? Drawing? Are they drawn to a specific career? Let them explore all of their gifts. Don’t squash their motivations. Don’t squash their dreams.

If your child loves to sing, let him sing! If he has a penchant for drawing, then let him draw. Give him the room to explore. One of these could be the gift he was given upon incarnating. Everyone has a gift they were given. Some of us have been lucky enough to find our gift and are now using it to make our living. Some of us have been told:
“Oh you can’t do that!” After hearing it over and over, we decided that you know what? You’re right. I can’t do that. That’s ashame! Our gift was suppressed. Maybe the next time around we will have learned the lesson that when we have a gift bestowed on us it is our right to use that gift. Don’t suppress your children’s gifts.

I know! I know! I sidetracked here from my original point to SOME degree. But if you look back at this entry and read the post as a whole, I think you’ll see that I stayed true to my original thesis that we choose the life we have now and we need to be given the opportunity to seek out our own treasures that life has for us.

Be Happy! Be Well! Be Positive!
—
Chris

For another perspective on choice and decisions take a look at JuneBug Talk Decision entry