Dr. N: In your history of body choices why did you wait a thousand
years between being a physically strong man and a crippled woman?
S: Well, of course, I developed a better sense of who I was during
the lives in between. I chose to be crippled to gain intellectual
concentration.
Dr. N: You chose a broken body for this?
S: Yes, you see, being unable to walk made me read and study more. I
developed my mind... and listened to my mind. I learned to
communicate well and to write with skill because I wasn't
distracted. I was always in bed.
Dr. N: Was any characteristic about your soul particularly evident
in both Ashley and Leth the Viking?
S: That part of me which craves fiery expression was in both bodies.
Dr. N: I want you to go to the moment when you were in the process
of choosing the life as Ashley. Tell me how you decided on this
particular damaged body.
S: I picked a family in a well-established, settled part of America.
I wanted a place with libraries and to be taken care of by loving
parents so I could devote myself to scholarship. I constantly wrote
to many unhappy people and became a good teacher.
Dr. N: As Ashley, what did you do for this loving family who took
care of you?
S: It always works two ways - the benefits and liabilities. I chose
this family because they needed the intensity of love with someone
totally dependent upon them all their lives. We were very close as a
family because they were lonely before I was born. I came late, as
their only child. They wanted a daughter who would not marry and
leave them to be lonely again.
Dr. N: So it was a trade off?
S: Most definitely.
Dr. N: Then let's track this decision further back to the place of
life selection, when your soul first saw Ashley's life. Did you see
the details of your carriage accident then?
S: Of course, but it wasn't an accident - it was supposed to happen.
Dr. N: Once you came to earth, who was responsible for the fall? Was
it your soul-mind or Ashley's biological mind?
S: We work in unison. She was going to be fooling with the carriage
door handle and... I capitalized on that.
Dr. N: Tell me what was going through your soul-mind in the life
selection room when you saw the scene of Ashley falling and being
injured.
S: I thought about how this crippled body could be put to good use.
I had some other choices for body injuries, but I preferred this one
because I didn't want to have the capability for much movement.
Dr. N: I want to pursue the issue of causality here. Would Ashley
have fallen anyway if she had a soul other than your own?
S: (defensively) We were right for each other.
Dr. N: That doesn't answer my question.
S: (long pause) There are forces beyond my knowledge as a spirit.
When I saw Ashley for the first time, I was able to see her without
me... healthy, older - another possibility.
Dr. N: Now we are getting somewhere. Are you saying if Ashley had
begun her life with another soul entity that she might not have
fallen at all?
S: Yes, that's a possibility... one of many. She could have also
been less severely injured, with the ability to walk on crutches.
Dr. N: Well, did you see a physically healthy Ashley living happily
without your soul?
S: I saw a grown woman... normal legs... unhappiness with a man...
frustration at being trapped in an unrewarding life... sorrowful
parents... but easier. (Voice becomes more firm.) No! That course
would not have worked well for either of us - I was the best soul
for her.
Dr. N: Were you the prime mover of the fall, once you elected to
become Ashley's soul?
S: It... was both of us... we were one at that moment... she was
being naughty, bouncing around in the carriage, playing with the
door handle when her mother said she must stop. Then I was ready and
she was ready.
Dr. N: Just how rigid was your destiny? Once you were Ashley's soul
was there any way you could have backed out of this entire incident
in the carriage?
S: (pause) I can tell you I had a flash just before I fell. I could
have pulled back and not fallen out. A voice inside my mind said,
"It's an opportunity, don't wait any longer, take the fall, this is
what you wanted - it's the best course of action."
Dr. N: Was that particular moment important?
S: I didn't want Ashley to get too much older.
Dr. N: But, the pain and suffering the child went through...?
S: It was horrible. The agony of those five weeks was beyond belief.
I almost died, but I learned from enduring it all, and I now see
that the memories of Leth's capacity for managing pain helped me.
Dr. N: Did your inner mind have any regrets during those moments
when the pain was most severe?
S: As I slipped in and out of consciousness during the worst of the
ordeal, my mind began gaining in power. Overriding my damaged body,
I started to better control the pain... the lying in bed... the
doctors helpless. The skills I developed in managing pain were later
used to concentrate on my studies and my counselor was helping me,
too, in subtle ways.
Dr. N: So you gained a lot in this life by being unable to walk?
S: Yes, I became a listener and a thinker. I corresponded with many
people and learned to write with inspiration. I gained teaching
ability with the young, and felt guided by an internal power.
Dr. N: Was your counselor proud of your accomplishments after you
returned to the spirit world?
S: Very, although I was told I had become a little too indulged and
pampered (laughs), but that's an okay trade-off.
Dr. N: How does your experience with the strong body of Leth and the
weak one of Ashley help you today, or is this of no consequence?
S: I benefit every day by my appreciation of the necessity of a
union between mind and body to learn lessons.
During my client's reliving of the street scene, in which her legs
were broken, I initiated desensitization measures. At the close of
our session together, I then deprogrammed her generational memory of
leg pain entirely. This woman later notified me she has had no
further pain and regularly enjoys playing tennis.
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