Thoughts of olden times… is this a past life?
Based on the correspondence we receive, there’s a good chance that you have visited our website because you have had one or more experiences that you think might be related to a past life you lived.
The absolute best way to find out for sure whether it really was a past life, and figure out who you were, is to use outside records or witnesses to see if facts you remember are accurate. The more facts you verify, the more specific they are and the more obscure the verification source, the better evidence of genuineness they provide. This means doing research. We will soon be providing a stepwise guide on how. Don’t think it is hopeless if the life you remember is from very long ago. you won’t figure out who you were, but there is more information about ancient times, and every era since, than most people realize–so you might get good verification that you were there.
The second best way is to give a professional reincarnation researcher all your information and ask how likely they think your case is likely to be genuine. Good RR’rs are conversant with the existing body of investigated cases and have learned to easily spot a case showing the typical signs. Note: They might give you a negative answer, so be prepared for that (honesty is what you want!). Sometimes reincarnation is a vehicle for people to get a little up in their egos (it’s a human thing). It also can be some other form of paranormal phenomenon. However, if you can prove your RR’r wrong by going out and getting some strong verifications, they’ll be happy to have been proven wrong!
Past-Life Trauma
Are your past-life memories causing you distress, either due to what you suffered or due to harm you inflicted? If so, first understand that you are far from alone. A majority (some 61%) of investigated past-life cases include recall of violent, abrupt or premature death, and among adult cases, that sort of death is also remembered by a majority, and some of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) just the same as if they had suffered the trauma in their current lives.
If the problem is sufficiently severe, we recommend seeking out professional treatment from a reincarnation-friendly mental health practitioner, especially one who specializes in PTSD. The same techniques work for past-life trauma as for current-life trauma.
ICRR is currently in the process of creating a directory of reincarnation-friendly psychologists and psychiatrists, and currently we already have good leads in England, and some in Canada and Australia.
If you feel your past-life-related issues can be adequately addressed by self-care, we suggest you research on PTSD (highly recommended book: The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk, MD.) and familiarize yourself with self-care techniques. When doing your self-care work, make sure you have a good network of fellow-travellers for mutual support, so you are not alone in the pain. (They can be found on the private ICRR forum, available to ICRR members.) If at any time you feel that either the issue or the emotions stirred up by self-care healing are overwhelming or more than you can handle, seek professional care – ESPECIALLY if you find yourself inclined to harm yourself in any way. Do NOT be alone with that!
How to get more memories, if you want to
In case your memories have come entirely spontaneously so you aren’t already conversant with methods for retrieving past-life memories that work for you, here are some tips. With adult experiencers it’s generally about putting yourself into an altered state of consciousness – not your regular waking state but one closer to sleep without being sleep, as such states can provide greater access to your subconscious mind. But there are other tricks. Our comprehensive, multi-author guide, revised and updated, will soon be available here.
Isolation no more
One problem that people with past-life memories and experiences have in the West, because we are mostly a non-reincarnationist culture, is being unable to talk about these experiences to family and friends for fear of awkwardness at best and dismissal or even ridicule at worst. We also wonder how to find anyone else who has had similar experiences.
Starting in about 1997, the Internet solved the latter problem. There are all manner of reincarnation-related communities both on traditional internet forums and newer social media platforms. That includes ICRR’s own forum, available to members and meant for in-depth conversations and preservation of information and narratives – and consulting with professional researchers.
Meanwhile, ICRR is working on getting the evidence for reincarnation out into the public discourse… which should help with family and friends.
PS, Just between people reading this page, us and the gatepost: ICRR is very much experiencer-run. President and founder KM Wehrstein is both a researcher and an experiencer, and others among our key people are experiencers. Accordingly, ICRR gets it.