Pain is a necessary part of our lives. It teaches us what we shouldn’t do. Not all pain is equal though. Physical pain is not the same as emotional pain. We have discussed emotional pain to some extent. We must go further on emotional pain first, before we talk about physical pain, because emotional pain is almost always the precursor to physical pain. I said before that emotional pain is the result of an inner conflict, set up by words spoken to the soul, directed to inflict injury. Even moments on the playground that do injury are not small ones.
A child is subject to a number of people’s opinions. Parents, teachers, siblings, coaches and classmates—all contribute to the opinion of a child. They feel free to do so because the object of their opinion is after all, only a child, and as such, is often in need of “correcting” or “shaping.” The child, unless it is very old in the soul and has endured many lifetimes of criticism and knows which words to pay attention to and which ones not to, will automatically take in those harsh words spoken, perhaps out of respect for the older person, or wanting to be a “good” child. Sometimes a swat on the buttocks or the face is appended to the harsh words for clarification. This emotional injury is lasting in that child, no matter how seldom it is applied. It is remembered late into the soul’s years and given meaning—usually the wrong meaning. Children have the greatest chance of long term injury because their world view is formed during that time—the world is safe, the world is not safe, adults are scary, adults are kind, pets are sympathetic, pets are loving, pets are abused like me, etc., people are dependable, you can’t count on anyone, I am un-loveable, I am a bad person, I am the reason my parents are splitting up, etc. The conclusions are endless and long lasting if the same impressions keep showing up and reinforcing them. How can a child survive such an experience?
Notwithstanding, a child can also live out a memory of a prior life, or many prior lives that have within them, abuse of one kind or another. Scars from past life trauma can even appear on the bodies of children in the form of a birthmark where the traumatic injury occurred. There is no limit to memory. One can reach back to prior life experiences easily through memory. Phobias and excessive worrying about certain life circumstances like swimming in a lake or climbing too high in a tree can come from memories of events that occurred in other lifetimes. Children, because they are so close to the ending of previous lives are the most expressive of prior life events and can recall in detail people, events and injuries incurred in other times, and feel as though they are living them out in this one. Children lack the perspective of a full life to make sense of such feelings and experiences and can be shunned or punished for “telling tales.” The mere act of being who they think they are may invite abuse and cause even more trouble for the child.
So childhood can be a difficult time for many. It can plant seeds of self-doubt and negative self-perception that play out in adulthood unless addressed through professional means or an awakening of the soul to the purpose of those feelings and memories. These writings are intended to help one understand more fully the inputs to self-perception, their purpose and meaning as a way of explaining the pain we build up over time.
First, let me say that nothing we experience in our lives is random. What we experience is the result of choices, brought about by prior experiences, our perception of them, and our capacity to understand ourselves, and the world around us. If we have been here in this dimension many, many lifetimes, we have more to compare our current experience to. Second, all experiences, based on our choices, bring us emotional payback. There are no bad choices, as many in the world say, but each choice sets up a different potential emotional reaction. Be aware of your choices, none are frivolous. They contain the elements of a set up for a life lesson, some highly emotional, others not so much and as I said before, all learning is emotional. Learning is the point of pain, and if pain is the result of choices, repeating, then life lessons are not being attended to.