by Mark Pitstick MA, DC

Note: If you already know the following information scroll down to the article title in maroon below the seven asterisks.  However, I strongly recommend reading this introduction until you really ‘own’ it.  In addition, post The Great News where you’ll see it every day.  

Over the last 15 years, and especially during 2019 – 2024, data from a series of experiments at the University of Arizona have definitively demonstrated scientifically that life continues after physical death.  This research was conducted by Gary E. Schwartz PhD, former professor at Harvard and Yale, and pioneer in the fields of behavioral medicine and energy healing.  

Dr. Schwartz is assisted in this work by a team of electrical engineers, software developers, research assistants, evidential mediums, and postmaterial luminaries at the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health.  (To learn more about the SoulPhone Project and lab, visit LACH.Arizona.edu.  To learn about postmaterial luminaries, see article #31 at SoulProof.com) 

The Demo SoulSwitch is a binary (Yes / No) SoulSwitch device that postmaterial persons (the so-called ‘deceased’) can use to answer questions, verify their identity, and begin providing information to help many people and our planet.  This device should be ready for beta testing by the summer of 2024.  After sessions with project volunteers and larger donors, we will share data that scientifically demonstrates life continues after bodily death.  However, this ‘reveal’ will initially occur as an ‘incremental trickle’ versus a ‘sudden splash’.   Over time and under optimal conditions, we will gradually amplify how widely this news is shared. 

Likewise, demonstrations of this technology will occur in a stepwise fashion.  We anticipate, but cannot guarantee, that full announcements and demonstrations will occur by spring 2025.  These decisions were made in April 2024 after many strategic planning discussions with core project team members.  The many factors involved are much more complex than you might imagine. 

See articles #1, 60, and 115 for an overview of the scientific, clinical, and experiential evidence that indicates – with 99.9% certainty – that consciousness survives bodily death.  This collective evidence also shows – with very high degrees of certainty – The Great News that you and everyone else:

  1. continue to live after your earthly body dies.

  2. can interact with ‘departed’ loved ones now and after you pass on.

  3. are integral, infinite, eternal, and beloved parts of Source Energy now and always.

  4. receive guidance and support from angels, guides, master teachers, etc.

  5. are sacredly interconnected with all people, animals, and nature.

  6. have special purposes for having this earthly experience now.

  7. may manifest in other simultaneous time / space realities now and after bodily death.

  8. have everything you need to enjoy an optimal earthly experience – no matter what your past or current circumstances.

  9. can find meaning, as well as opportunities for growth and service, amidst your toughest changes and challenges.

  10. co-create how heavenly your life feels – whether living on earth or elsewhere – by your predominant thoughts, words and actions.

  11. can likely use SoulPhone technology in the future to communicate with postmaterial loved ones and access wisdom from luminaries who can help us heal our world.  

Statements #1, 2, and 11 are based on definitive scientific research.  The other statements are based on: (a) clinical research: near-death experiences, past life memories and regressions, perinatal experiences, life between lives sessions, shared crossings, terminal lucidity cases, and deathbed visions; and (b) evidencefrom firsthand experiences: after-death communications, out-of-body experiences, spiritually transformative experiences, electronic voice projection / instrumental transcommunication, and other ways of knowing.

This is, obviously, a new and exciting era for humanity.  When understood and internalized – even just a bit – The Great News can help you make the shift:         

  • FROM thinking, believing, and acting as if your time on earth is unfair, meaningless, cruel, and ends with cessation of consciousness or the possibility of endless suffering.

  • TO thinking, believing, and acting as if this earthly experience is a totally meaningful, safe, and magnificent adventure amidst forever.

Conscious language can help you adopt a greater reality perspective and live based on the second bulleted worldview.  And that, in turn, can help you create the greatest life YOU have envisioned, fulfill your purposes for being on earth, serve others, and enjoy a magnificent journey.  In the pursuit of using more conscious / accurate terms, l:   

  1. Will use the term ‘YOU’ to describe the totality of your energy / being. Your real self may manifest in different spacetime ways simultaneously since only approximately 50% of your consciousness is needed to have an earthly experience. The term ‘YOU’ recognizes both of these possibilities.

  2. Won’t use the terms ‘die, departed, deceased, or dead’ without single quotation marks since those have strongly entrenched and erroneous meanings indicating an end of life.

  3. Will use the terms ‘bodily death’ and ‘death of the earthly form’ to remind you that only the earth-suit dies. The rest – all the intelligence, love, personality, memories, preferences, sense of humor, and much more – continues living in other parts of the field of all possibilities.

  4. Will use the terms changed worlds, passed on, transitioned and others that aptly describe a continuation of consciousness after bodily death.

  5. Will primarily refer to those who have passed on as postmaterial persons. That term recognizes the points in #3. I also will use soul, consciousness, essence, and awareness.

  6. Will primarily refer to ‘physical humans living on earth’ as material persons. Why? Because those terms within single quotation marks may apply to postmaterial persons.  That is, they can have physicality, visit earth, and are still human in meaningful ways.
  7. Will use the terms lower versus higher energies, emotions, and ways of being. These descriptors are not critical, judgmental, or subjective; rather, they are based on objective measures by, for example, David Hawkins PhD, MD author of Power Versus Force. He and other researchers found that higher-energy emotions of peace, joy, and love calibrate at 600, 540, and 500 respectively.  Conversely, lower-energy emotions of anger, fear, and guilt calibrate at 150, 100, and 30.  To be clear, energy / consciousness is who and what you really are, not just how you are feeling.  Your predominant energies create the quality of your life and the nature of your earthly or other time-space experience.

  8. Will use single quotations marks with words such as ‘lose and fail’.  The Great News and collective afterlife evidence can expand your worldview about what seem to be losses and failures.  We can’t accurately judge the big picture of life – what is lost or how we failed – with our limited human senses.   

Note: To recognize and respect different genders and sexual identifications, I will alternate using ‘he’ or ‘she’ and related pronouns.  Depending on a person’s orientation, one, both, or neither of those may apply.

The free articles and radio shows mentioned are available at SoulProof.com.  To learn more about the collective afterlife evidence and The Great News, read Soul Proof, The Afterlife Evidence, Greater Reality Living (co-authored with Dr. Schwartz) and The Big Picture of Life (for ages 10 – 16 written with Schwartz and Katta Mapes MA, MEd).  To experience expanded states of consciousness to optimally heal and transform your life, use audio sessions under Shop at SoulProof.com. 

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Pre-Birth Planning: Did I REALLY Choose All This?

Have you ever wondered . . .

  1. Are some of the events that happen while you are on Earth planned?
  2. If so, who does the planning? The Creator and Sustainer of All Life? Your angels and guides?  YOU / your higher self?  All of the above?
  3. To what degree are events planned? Are they completely determined and “set-in-stone” or is just the possibility of certain outcomes designed?
  4. Do PMPs always succeed with their plans?
  5. Does the degree to which they succeed correlate with their spiritual evolution?
  6. Can pre-planning be changed and, if so, by whom?
  7. If pre-planning can be changed, how might that work?
  8. Why would anyone choose to suffer with illness, abuse, paralysis, physical death of loved ones, lack of love, drug addiction, etc.?
  9. Is murder preplanned?
  10. Is suicide preplanned?

If you have thought about these questions, you have lots of company.  I hear them almost daily from people around the world, especially those who are experiencing significant tragedy, pain, sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness.

It’s completely understandable that they ask these questions.  Those who have endured tough changes and challenges struggle to discover if there really is purpose and meaning to life.  Or is life just a series of random, chaotic, and unfair events?

One couple wrote to me: “Our daughter was murdered and the man who did it was never caught.”  A mother wrote: “My son was addicted to drugs for many years and eventually died by suicide.”  These are obviously very difficult and heart-breaking events.

I’ve wrestled with these questions for over forty-five years.  Working in hospitals with many suffering and dying adults and children can make you do that.  In addition, I’ve worked with many people like the parents above.  It’s important for those with open hearts to find sensible answers about these questions.  Otherwise, they may shut down emotionally, excessively focus on materiality, numb out with drugs and alcohol, and/or become mentally and physically imbalanced.

In this article, I’ll share my current understandings.  I don’t claim to have all the answers or the only answers.  But I do have good answers that have helped many people.

Questions about tragedy and suffering are most haunting when you view life from a dualistic perspective.  Dualism is the belief that life is divided and you are separate from others and Source.  Einstein considered the idea that you are separate from the rest of creation to be an optical delusion.  When you believe only what your five senses report, you are trapped in dualist beliefs.  Your illusions skew your perceptions of reality so things may seem hopeless when they’re not.

Even though your five senses are amazing, it’s a scientific fact that they detect much less than 1% of reality.  Many people look at life as though through a tiny pinhole and then wondered why it doesn’t make sense.  The more you see beyond your five senses, the more life makes sense.  Seeing through even a quarter sized aperture conveys increased awareness that all life is interconnected, ever-expanding, and never-ending.

Life on earth can be viewed as either: (1.) meaningful and purposeful, or (2.) chaotic and random.

If it’s the former — and there’s good evidence for that perspective — what is the source of the meaning and purpose?  Some believe this flows from interactions with the Light and their spiritual support team (angels, guides, master teachers, soulmates, and higher energies).  Others find that meaning and purpose best arises from selfless service to others.  Some find it within, usually after multiple personal challenges and struggle.  I’ve benefited from a combination of all three.

Whenever discussing big questions about life, it’s important to realize that everyone is unique.  There’s no “one size fits all” answer that will be accurate and satisfactory for everyone.  The same issue exists with questions about pre-birth planning and the greater reality.

The evidence behind my answers about pre-birth planning comes from:

  • near-death experiencers, particularly those with deeper visits into the Light
  • authentic mediums who accurately communicate details from guides, angels, and postmaterial persons
  • spiritual / religious teachings about a meaning and timing to all life events
  • reports from Life Between Lives experiences – long hypnotic sessions in which subjects recall life details before coming to earth
  • philosophical views about the best way Infinite Intelligence might design life
  • firsthand experiences from people
  • everything I’ve learned and thought about in over 40 years of researching topics about life, death, and afterlife.Again, I will primarily use the term postmaterial person to describe one whose earthly form has died.  This is a much more accurate term than ‘soul’ for reasons discussed in my book Greater Reality Living (co-authored with Gary E. Schwartz PhD) and article #89.  The acronym for postmaterial person is PMP.  Those who are still living on earth are termed material persons.

My answers to the ten questions . .

1. Are some of the events that happen while you are on Earth planned?

Indications are that some, but not all, of them are designed. For example, it probably wasn’t preplanned that I just scratched my nose.  Only key events—from the postmaterial person’s (PMP) perspective—appear to be planned.  Keep in mind that what seems major from an earthly perspective may be of no consequence to the PMP.  Conversely, what appears minor from a human viewpoint may be planned if it’s important in the greater scheme of things.

2. If so, who does the planning?  The Creator and Sustainer of all life?  Your angels and guides?  Your higher self?  All of the above?
Ideally, all of the above are involved in planning an optimal earth-experience.  Let’s break down the three categories.

The Light, one of many synonyms for the Creator and Sustainer of all life, is considered to be everywhere and everywhen.  Some NDErs describe this Presence as being in the background and, yet, deeply caring about you and everyone else.  This degree of power, love, and wisdom doesn’t force us to live a certain way.  The Infinite isn’t a puppet master or robot manufacturer.  However, It holds a vision of what is possible for each of us: love, peace, joy, enthusiasm, meaning, and much more.  That template is part of our being and calls us toward it.

To be clear, when I discuss the role of the Ground of All Being in life design, I am not talking about a huge guy in the sky with long white hair and a beard.  Further, a personified God does not unilaterally decide how and when all life events play out.  This distorted image of Infinite Intelligence is a carry-over from Roman and Greek images in the 8th century B.C.  The problems with viewing Creator as a gigantic human-like being become abundantly clear when one faces difficulties.  See article #13 to learn more about my views of G.O.D.

Higher energy assistants / assistance (angels, guides, master teachers, evolved energies) are available to help us optimally design key life events.   However, they do not force their assistance upon us.  To learn more about this level of beings, see article #73.

YOU / your essence has a golden opportunity before coming to earth to plan a successful life that meets your highest goals.  Advanced PMPs fearlessly design earthly experiences – in collaboration with the Light and assistants – to increase their love, service, growth, and enjoyment.

However, beginner souls may not have recognized the importance of listening to others.  Like impulsive or rebellious children, less mature beings may make questionable and hasty decisions.  That is their choice.  However, they also must bear responsibility for the results of their choices.  That’s how they learn about the law of cause and effect, and the wisdom of choosing life’s high roads as much as possible.   Those with less evolved awareness can learn to seek counsel while planning experiences like an earthly visit.

3. To what degree are events planned? Are they completely determined and “set-in-stone”, or is just the possibility of certain outcomes designed?
Most pre-planning appears to consist of likelihoods. Events aren’t set up as completely predetermined, but exist more as potentialities.  Here’s my best current understanding about how it works.  Let’s say my essence wanted to grow in patience and compassion as its main goals for this earthly incarnation.  (I use the gender-neutral pronoun ‘its’ because one’s consciousness / spirit includes masculine and feminine energies, and is beyond gender.)

In order to better fulfill those goals, I – from my pre-earthly visit vantage point – may have set up a possibility of being severely injured.  A long recovery period could set the stage for developing my desired personality improvements.  I’ve certainly had my chances of this occurring.

At age twelve, I was almost hit by a train after getting caught in the middle of a long trestle that stretched over a deep gorge.  At age sixteen, I nearly fell while hiking down a rocky cliff.  My friend did fall and was lucky to only rupture his spleen and get knocked unconscious.  When I was twenty-four, I could very easily have died when my motorcycle temporarily went airborne after hitting a possum.

Although I’ve not sought clinical corroboration about it, the potential for becoming paralyzed may have been part of my soul’s pre-planning.  Throughout my life, I’ve periodically felt that might happen.  That seemed to be one of the toughest challenges, especially for a person used to being physically fit and active.

Maybe there were alternate preplanned possibilities for achieving my soul’s goals that didn’t involve severe physical injury.

When my Pony League baseball team lost, I was crying and felt enraged.  I remember my grandpa telling me that I can’t always win—I can only do my best.  That made sense: listening to his advice was a key to me learning patience.

During my youth, my parents made me shovel snow and mow yards for free for several old people in our neighborhood.  At the time, it seemed unfair but – from a longer-term perspective – I can see that it helped me develop more patience and compassion.  I’ve helped tens of thousands of people over the last forty-eight years, and shared those priceless attributes that have become part of who and how I am.

It appears, however, that a minority of life events are established by souls as absolutes rather than possibilities.  For example, consider the outcome if a PMP chose to be born into an earthly body deformed by Thalidomide or another drug with serious potential side-effects.  Perhaps that person chose a higher degree of certainty that an irreversible physical abnormality would result.

4. Do people always succeed with their plans?
A glance at the daily news suggests the answer to that question is ‘It certainly doesn’t seem like it.’ (But remember that humans can only glimpse a tiny fraction of the greater reality.)

After arriving on earth, people have free will.  Sometimes they ignore clear signals to take the high road.  They also may create events that weren’t wisely designed in the pre-planning stage.

Whether planning occurs on earth or elsewhere, people often do not seem to fulfill their plans.  One Mind / G.O.D. knows that and provides back-up opportunities.  Some murderers truly repent and change for the better after realizing how wrong their actions were.  And sometimes family members of murder victims use that horrible event to grow in compassion and love.  Some have even found a way to forgive and befriend the murderer.

The potential for loving and learning always exists.  The question is whether we believe that, look for the silver linings, and use them to grow and serve others.     

Spiritually transformative experiences (STEs) awaken you to a greater reality that help all life events — even the sad and difficult ones — make more sense.  (See article #17 to learn about STEs.)  These can be triggered by ‘good things’ such as the birth of a child, or ‘bad things’ like the death of a loved one.  (From the big picture of life perspective, these events are not inherently good or bad, just another phase of life.  It’s understandable, but not optimal, that humans label them based on their myopic views.)

The level of a soul’s advancement determines whether and to what degree its purposes are reached.  Beginner souls are less adept at realizing and demonstrating how much they co-create their lives.  Advanced souls have more experience and, thus, a greater likelihood of remembering how life is set up.  By the way, there is no hierarchy to, or vanity in, being a more evolved soul.  Every part of creation and every stage of development is recognized as important.

A person with a less evolved consciousness does not always follow the ideal plans.  Reasons for this can include:

  • wound-induced lack of clarity due to poor home situations
  • lack of body / brain balance due to environmental factors
  • impulsive choice of a host body during the pre-planning stages
  • stubborn streak that resists listening to wise counsel

This helps explain how murder, abuse, and other inappropriate actions can co-exist in a fair and loving universe.  Source or “the Devil” don’t cause it to happen, people do.

Souls often fail at fulfilling their ideal plans.  But they know that — just as a baby learns to walk after falling down many times — that their “failure” can eventually result in learning.  They also know that we have eternity to get it right and Creator is infinitely patient and nonjudgmental.

As such, there’s no fear or pressure when – despite their best intentions and efforts – they take the low road instead of the high road.  If this sounds too forgiving to you, consider how well you would do if you had been physically, mentally, and sexually abused as a child.  That’s why it’s wise to not judge others until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.  And that, since everyone is unique, is impossible.

5. Does the degree to which they succeed correlate with their spiritual evolution?

There’s an old story about a traveler who arrived at the outskirts of a city.  An elderly man was sitting in the shade and the traveler said, “I’m looking for a new place to live.  What’s it like here?”  The old man paused and asked, “What was it like where you lived before?”  The traveler said, “Oh it was awful.  People were negative, selfish, and ignorant.  I was so glad to leave there.”  The old man frowned and replied, “It’s pretty much that way here too.”  At that, the first traveler continued on to find a better place.

A few hours later, a second traveler approached the city and asked the same old man, “What’s it like here?”  The old man answered, “What was it like where you lived before?”  The new arrival beamed, “Oh, it was wonderful.  The people were so nice and peaceful.  They went out of their way to be friendly and follow the Golden Rule.”  The old man smiled and replied, “It’s pretty much that way here too.”

This lesson is especially apropos for the topic of pre-birth planning.  You create the quality of your life via your collective thoughts, words, and deeds.  Your level of awareness affects how much pre-birth planning is wisely designed and carried out.

This is very similar to people on earth: more evolved, organized, balanced, and successful people are usually better at making plans and following through.  Similarly, postmaterial persons develop goals they hope to reach during an upcoming earthly incarnation.  Source Energy and higher energy assistants are always willing to assist in planning and completion.  However, depending upon a number of factors – including the degree of one’s energy / evolution – that guidance and assistance may or may not be followed.

Let’s consider two extremes.

Beginner souls are just learning their way around the block, so to speak.  They may not ask for or follow wise guidance.  Once on earth, they may completely ignore the little guidance they did absorb.  ‘Young’ and impetuous souls may totally go off plan and, as a result, their lives can become chaotic.  Outcomes like this make it seem as though there is no pre-birth planning. 

Advanced energy beings, on the other hand, understand the importance of seeking sage advice and following it to the best of their ability.  They know about the laws of attraction and work to master application of those principles under the most difficult circumstances.  As a result, they become adept at successful planning and fulfilling of their soul’s missions.  Lives like theirs show how planning before arriving on earth ideally works. 

This explains why pre-birth planning, and following through on those plans, does not optimally occur to the same degree for everyone.  It’s not God’s will that one person is a saint and another a mass murderer.  In what bizarro world would a loving and wise Creator design that setup?

The above discussion also helps explain extremely difficult questions, for example, do souls choose to murder a person? My understanding is that murdering another person is not something planned before coming to earth.  However, immature and imbalanced souls may commit murder when a number of factors go wrong.  Mature souls may choose – out of love – the possibility of being murdered to assist beginner souls.  Their “untimely” death by murder also allows them to return Home.  I’ll discuss this and other tough topics in more detail later.

6. Can pre-planning be changed and, if so, by whom?
Indications are that planning can be changed by the person involved.  Higher energy assistants / angels may strongly suggest an alteration of plans, but the individual on earth retains free will to listen or not.  Extensive preparation occurs before consciousness enters into a physical body: potential scenarios of events are examined, future family members are visited, and the locale of birth is evaluated.

Nevertheless, change can occur: a soul’s emphases might shift, goals may be reached sooner than expected, or supporting cast members may not fulfill their parts.  Any of these can necessitate a change in the script.  It’s similar to a movie or theatrical play.  To extend that analogy, you are the writer, producer, director, star, and crew of your life’s story.  You determine whether your life is a tragedy, quirky comedy, melodrama, and/or exciting adventure.

Once on earth, a person may get off track.  With the soul’s involvement, original plans might need to be modified.  Pre-birth plans may be amended in the dream state.  As you sleep, your judging and analyzing brain is much less active.  Your essence can leave the body and meet with soulmates, angels, and guides.  You and your team might discuss how things are going and evaluate if changes should be made.  This may be one reason why you sleep more than usual during times of stress or change.

Another reason for changing the original plans might be to take an alternate route. You could take the interstate and get there more quickly; or you can journey along back roads to enjoy the scenery and avoid traffic.  PMPs know that, as the popular children’s song teaches, life is but a dream.  They aren’t obsessed about reaching the finish line as quickly as possible since life is never-ending and new goals pop up.

7. If pre-planning can be changed, how might that work?
You can best change your plans with intention, prayer, resolve, and mindfulness. The movie Defending Your Life has a wonderfully illustrative scene near the end about this. The main characters were determined to follow their hearts even though that’s not what was scripted.  They displayed sufficient determination and high energy emotions until their guides . . . (You have to watch the movie.  It’s one of my all-time favorites.).

Likewise, your spiritual support team assists optimally when you are in touch with your highest energies: love, peace, joy, service, gratitude, enthusiasm, etc.  This reminds me of the old saying, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ When we know better, we can do better.  If you want to upgrade your life plans, upgrade yourself, ask for help, and take the high road whenever facing two choices.

Here’s a personal example about taking the high road.  In 1974, my first love of four years was clearly starting to break up with me.  She was my best friend, the epicenter of my life, and had a dazzling personality and looks.  We were pre-engaged and I thought she would be my wife and life partner.  It was Memorial Day weekend and just another week of college before summer break started.  I had planned to visit her but she didn’t want me to.  I could see the handwriting on the wall.

‘Bill’, who lived next door on my dorm floor, sold pot.  Near the end of my junior year of college in the ‘do your thing’ 1970’s, I had tried smoking marijuana a few times.  But I wasn’t that impressed.  Besides, I had big goals to reach – including marrying my first love – and didn’t want to be distracted.  However, with a long weekend at school and facing major heartbreak, I decided to buy some pot.  I told Bill that I wanted ‘a nickel bag’.  ($5 bought a quarter ounce back then)

I had counseled Bill during the previous year and helped him when he lightly cut his wrists during a traumatic break-up with his boyfriend.  Bill respected me and told me how impressed he was at my focus and drive.  So when I asked to buy some marijuana, Bill said: ‘No, Mark, not you!  Come on, man, what are you thinking?’

How could universe signal any more clearly that I was about to take a lower energy road?  It’s a big sign when a drug dealer tells you to not buy any.

I persisted and, with all my college friends leaving for home, prepared to ‘get high.’  I pulled the small baggie of weed from inside a sock where I had hid it.  (Simple possession was a serious offence back then and no one would think to search there, right?)  As I held the bag, a super strong voice / feeling / knowing said, ‘Mark, don’t do this!’  But I didn’t listen.  I wanted to stop the pain and sadness.  I wanted to be someone else and escape what was happening.  But I went about it the wrong way.

I smoked some pot and, suddenly, everything seemed wonderful.  The music, movies, pizza, and – well, everything – were so amazing.  I didn’t even think about my lost love . . . until the next day when I had to face reality again.  I continued to smoke pot or drink beer once or twice a week to cope with the changes.

Eventually, however, I realized that resorting to alcohol and drugs – even periodically – actually delayed my grieving.  Several years later, while receiving individual and group psychotherapy as part of my clinical psychology training, I was surprised to discover that my pain was still there.  I hadn’t processed it, just covered it up.  Many years later, I wish I had listened to Bill and Universe and faced my suffering head on.

Many valuable lessons have arisen over the last 47 years from all that.  I can appreciate and honor it now.  One lesson is to take the high road in life whenever possible.  It’s usually not the easy one, but it’s the wisest and – in the long run – best path.

Was that breakup pre-planned?  My sense – based on using the Pre-Birth Planning Technique that I created – is she is a soulmate with whom I designed this heart-breaking scenario.  (I use the term soulmate here in the sense that we have about 25 primary ones and greater numbers of secondary and tertiary ones.)

The breakup could have caused me to choose suicide; I certainly thought about it.  But it also contained the potential to awakening me to search for meaningful answers to life’s biggest questions.  Going through that taught me empathy for those who are suffering in other ways.  It also eventually helped me find a life partner who is also ultra-focused on consciousness, wellness, and serving others.  She is also dazzlingly beautiful and has a personality and personal energy to match.

How about using pot and beer occasionally to ease the pain?  Was that pre-planned?  It seems to have been a lower road choice, not the highest one.  Looking back, there are many other choices I could have made:

  1. visit dear family and friends
  2. study more for finals
  3. take advantage of the many cultural events and activities on campus
  4. seek counseling
  5. pray for assistance and clarity about how to best handle this
  6. double down on my goals and resolving to not get side-tracked
  7. spend quiet time in nature
  8. serve others who were suffering in major ways
  9. thoroughly enjoying pizza, movies, and music – but without the drugs

Whether past events and choices were pre-planned or not, a long list of higher energy and more evolved responses are possible for all of us.  And, as you are learning, that sets up better vistas for you now and in the future.

8. Why would anyone choose to experience illness, broken relationships, financial loss, and other forms of suffering?

It’s a very important question, isn’t it?  From a very limited human view, only a lunatic would choose suffering.  But what might a more expansive perspective reveal?  There are a few sides to this one, so stay with me . . .

During my 67 years on earth, I’ve been privileged to meet incredibly impressive people who faced tremendous adversity: Geraldine was raped by her uncle at age 14, then thrown out by her family when she became pregnant; Rob was paralyzed from the waist down after an accident; Michael lost his vision at a young age; Elizabeth’s son died tragically.

Each of them was able to work through anger, bitterness, sadness, self-pity, and hopelessness.  Over time, they upgraded those emotions into higher energy ones: peace, acceptance,  gratitude – and even enthusiasm and joy.  They contributed to our world and helped others.  Here’s the rest of their story . . .

Geraldine survived through the help of others and became a Unity minister who helped thousands of people during her life.  I listened to her presentation and, during the Q & A, asked: ‘If you could replay your life, would you change what happened at age 14?’  She quickly answered, ‘No, all that pain and struggle prepared me to help others who were suffering.’

Rob was always smiling and had an encouraging word even though he was wheelchair bound.  He was a musician whose energy and way of being made others feel better.  When I asked the same ‘What if . . . ?’ question, he answered: ‘No, I wouldn’t change a thing.  I’m happy and have an entirely different perspective on life because of what I’ve been through.’

Michael knew at age 18 that he would lose his sight due to a inherited disease.  He considered what he could learn while he could see that would help him when he couldn’t.  He learned to play the guitar and inspired others with his words and music decades after becoming blind.

Elizabeth’s oldest child passed on from a blood clot developed while hiking Mt. Everest.  Within several days after Morgan’s transition, she was thinking of ways to help other parents in similar situations.  Years later, her vision has launched eighty or so groups around the world and a premiere organization for bereaved parents called  HelpingParentsHeal.org.

I’ve seen people find the silver linings to adversity so many times that I know it’s possible for everyone.  Most of them said they wouldn’t go back and change things even if they could.  They recognized the benefits that directly resulted from their challenges and valued those more than their personal comfort.

How can you more quickly remember that adversity creates opportunities and set about finding them?

First, realize that time is a human construct.  From an earthly perspective, time seems to move very slowly, for example, when you are in severe pain or missing a loved one.  However, the collective evidence shows that this earthly life – even if it’s one hundred years long – is but a blink of an eye in the span of eternity.

So, you tell me: is it worth a relatively few moments of challenge to learn and serve others?  Most intermediate to advanced souls think so.  And learning that lesson is an important one for those with less evolved / advanced energy.

Next, remember that not all suffering is pre-planned.  You can’t know what is and what isn’t without the benefit of an evidential medium, hypnosis session, or other way to evaluate.  And even then, it’s difficult to know for certain since a postmaterial person’s perspective is so different from that of material persons.  But it’s clear that difficulties, whether pre-planned or not, can result in a greater good for you and others.

A patient I worked with at a hospital drank himself stupid before driving his motorcycle at high speeds.  What could ever go wrong with that combination of choices?  A leg will lose a contest with a guard rail every time so he spent the rest of this earthly experience with only one leg.  Whether his real self purposely chose that or not, he certainly stacked the deck in favor of a severe injury.  If he did pre-plan it as a likelihood, possible reasons might be that he:

  • was an alcoholic in other times / places; earth-school gave him a chance to learn the importance of taking better care of his physical body.
  • hurt others in the past so he chose to be injured in this one to help him remember the Golden Rule.
  • is an advanced soul who chose that scenario to powerfully warn others what happens when you drink and drive, and tell this story.

It’s said that when asked why there is so much suffering, the Buddha answered: to grow and serve.  Post those words where you’ll read them several times a day because that really says it all.  Over time, various cultures have taught that – from a sufficiently evolved perspective – suffering is grace / bliss.  A bottom line?  Do you very best and trust how life unfolds, AKA the Great Way /Divine Will.

Native Americans had mystery bags in which they symbolically stored what puzzled them at the time.  At a later date, they reexamined the contents to see if they made more sense.  Other cultures have recognized the X-factor and value of the unknowable in life.  These viewpoints recognize that limited human perspectives can fail to capture the meaning and timing of life events.

Suffering can be so valuable because of the many layers of meaning.  Mary, a wife and mother of three young children, developed breast cancer.  After receiving the best that medical care has to offer – surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy – she died.  From a myopic earthly viewpoint, that certainly seemed to be a horrible occurrence.  However, from a greater reality vantage point, her illness and death may have been preplanned so that:

  • her husband and children might be more motivated to search for meaning and remember who they are
  • caregivers could develop their skills by working with her
  • estranged family members would reunite
  • more people can learn the importance of optimal selfcare, for example, using only chemical-free food, water, and cleaning / body care products that don’t pollute their body and our planet
  • others might realize the wisdom of using preventive wellness-care versus relying on disease-care approaches after a crisis occurs
  • she could take an early exit Home and begin the next phase of life

Children with drug and/or alcohol addictions take a horrible toll on their families.  Divorce, bankruptcy, and stress-related illness commonly affect the parents.  And, after all that, the child still might die.  It’s an all-too-common event.  Possible reasons why those involved might have chosen to endure such difficulties:

  • Challenges can build spiritual muscles.
  • The parents may have been drug addicts who ruined the lives of others in another time / place, thus their choice to experience the other side of the coin.
  • Help enlighten health care professionals and the general public about addressing core causes of addiction.
  • Addicted children may actually be teachers for others in the family.
  • Adversity can result in greater growth and service to others.
  • Parents can learn to set limits, monitor their children better, and take actions that are unpopular but important.
  • The parents’ relationship can grow stronger while going through all this.

9. Is murder preplanned?

My definition for ‘murder’ is the truly unlawful and immoral killing of another person. (Note: as history clearly shows, what constitutes lawful and moral at the time can be very wrong when viewed later or from other perspectives.  Consider, for example, the systematic killing of Native Americans by government troops in the 1800’s.  Manifest Destiny – removing those ‘godless savages’ – was considered lawful and morally right at the time.  Now it is seen as shamefully wrong by many.  ‘Killing gooks for God’ and stopping ‘the domino effect’ of Communism was likewise seen as lawful and right during the Viet Nam War.  The awful ripples of those atrocities continue to cause death and suffering for those on both sides.)

What constitutes murder is not widely agreed upon.  How about capital punishment of a person who is later proven to be innocent?  What about abortion when rape or serious risk of death to the mother is involved?  How about killing someone while in a disease, alcohol, or drug-induced state of mental imbalance?  What about killing someone in war because your country orders it, but your conscience knows it’s wrong?

You can see how complex this question can be, but I’ll proceed.

My overall sense is that murder is not something that is purposely chosen in spiritual realms where love, peace, and joy predominate.  Beings in nonphysical realms are very aware that love is our essential nature and all that ultimately exists.  The goal of enlightened souls is always to grow in and show love.  As such, it doesn’t make sense that souls would preplan to murder someone.

However, an earthly incarnation may be planned with the knowledge that, for various reasons, a person may have tendencies to murder.  Perhaps they murdered in the past and want to learn that is not something one should do.  The possibility for murder might be present, but the earthly experience is still undertaken because of the concomitant potential for growth and service.

People make poor choices for a number of reasons.  Earthly factors can include: severe and chronic stress, organic / chemical brain imbalance, sexual / physical / mental abuse, poor upbringing, drugs, alcohol, poor genetic inheritance, imbalances creating physical and ‘mental’ symptoms, and more.  In a pre-earth time frame, beginner souls may make impulsive choices of body / brain and not heed wise counsel from their guides and the Light.

In my opinion, murderers usually suffer from one or more of these factors that result in a twisted psyche and horrible behaviors.

A better understanding of these underlying causes doesn’t excuse murder.  It does, however, highlight the need for prevention and optimal holistic care instead of letting imbalances play out in tragic ways.

I can think of three reasons why, in a loving and fair universe, an earthly visit would be allowed despite a greater than average chance that a person may commit murder:

  • It’s a free will universe so choice is allowed.
  • If a person did commit murder, it provides a powerful contrast and teaching. As an extreme example, Hitler’s contributions to mass murders – horrible as those were – awakened many people and made them resolve never again.
  • If the worst happened and someone became a murderer, that is a way for the murdered to return Home in a timely manner.

If I can think of three reasons, there are likely many more.  Could it be that G.O.D. loves so much that – because of the potential for greater good – the possibility of murder is part of the grand design?

My brain reels at such a possibility; likewise, yours may register ‘does not compute.’  And yet, the question is worth considering if there is meaning and potential for growth and service for all events,.

Postmaterial persons – from the vantage point of deeply knowing they are forever beings – may conceivably sign up to possibly be murdered for several reasons:

a. They murdered someone in another time and place; being murdered in this one can help them realize that is not an acceptable action.

b. ‘John’ murdered someone in the past. ‘Mary’ – a beloved soulmate of John – volunteered to possibly be murdered to help him learn firsthand why that is not appropriate.

c. Advanced or intermediate souls may choose to be killed to help beginner / immature souls learn by trial and error.

d. A potential for murder may have been designed to help health care professionals better address the core issues of mental health ailments.

e. As mentioned, being murdered provides a timely ticket to the next phase of life when a PMP doesn’t need to go through a long time on earth.

Reasons (a) and (b) are considered to be karmic, that is, the beginner / immature soul involved needs to learn from past lower energy actions.  Reasons (c) – (e) are voluntary and love-based; the more energetically advanced person whose body was murdered didn’t need to learn a lesson.  He / she volunteered to help others learn and grow.

Again, if I can generate this many reasons why consciousness may manifest in a scenario where a person seems to be murdered, consider how many there may be.

While working part-time in hospitals forty-five years ago, some patients touched me more than others.  Stevie was one such patient.  A cute two-year-old boy with big brown eyes and a sad smile, he was a frequent visitor to the pediatric ward.  First a broken leg, then a broken arm, then fractured ribs.  His mother and her boyfriend shrugged and claimed he was just a very active toddler.  I felt sorry for the little guy and visited when I could to try to cheer him up.

One afternoon, I was the respiratory therapist assigned to the ER and was paged for a Code 4—a life-threatening emergency.  I ran there and was told the squad was bringing in a little boy who was in severe condition.  I met the ambulance team as they brought him into the treatment room.  I took the boy from them and put him on the exam table.  I felt a slight tugging as I removed my hands from his bare back and, in horror, saw that my hands were covered with dead skin from his body.

It was Stevie.

The doctors couldn’t find a pulse or a good vein for an IV.  His respirations were very shallow and he was severely dehydrated.  There was nothing we could do and he died shortly after arriving to the ER.  Soon, the back-story filtered in.  The mother wasn’t home and her boyfriend gave him a bath; the water was so hot that the little boy cooked to death.  The police charged him with negligent homicide.

Stevie’s murder was a huge factor that motivated me to search far and wide for sensible and evidence-based answers to life’s toughest questions.  I’ve helped tens of thousands of people over the years and I’m just getting started.

From a limited earthly perspective, his bodily death was a horrible tragedy.  But from a more expansive viewpoint that remembers he is eternal awareness, that event was a grand-slam homerun.  It deeply touched me and directly resulted in many, many people being helped.  I presume that his passing had a similar effect on other staff who were present.

The same enlightened perspective can be applied for those who are murdered.  This realization doesn’t condone mistreating anyone in any way.  However, it does shine some light on understanding life’s biggest challenges.

One last comment about murder is that, in the most absolute understanding of reality, no one really can be killed.  Yes, the physical body may be destroyed, but that is a mere fraction of who and what a human being is.  Again, this view does not make the action acceptable, but can help us find meaning in such a tragedy.

This perspective was described by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 19th century poem Brahma.  To paraphrase this statement from the Ground of Being’s vantage point: ‘If slayers think they slay, or if those slain think they are slain, they know not well the subtle ways I keep, and pass, and turn again.”

Emerson’s words are heavily influenced by the nineteenth verse of the second chapter of the Hindu Bhagavad-Gitawritten over two thousand years ago: “He who takes the Self to be slayer, and he who thinks He is slain, neither of these knows.  He slays not, nor is he slain.”

A bottom line?  Even something as horrible as murder can result in a growth, learning, and blessings.  Life Unfolding is so wisely and lovingly set up that there are endless safety nets and opportunities to convert ‘sad and difficult’ into good.  I hope and pray that this discussion greatly helps those with a loved one who murdered, or whose body was murdered.

10. Is suicide preplanned?

As with murder, the reasons for and wisdom behind suicides can vary greatly.

A ninety-year-old woman was losing her mind while her body was failing horribly.  Her husband had passed on many years before.  She didn’t want to burden her children who were busy with their jobs and family.  This woman also didn’t want to spend their inheritance on health care that would only delay the inevitable.  A few additional months or years of lower quality life wasn’t worth the personal or financial cost.  She wanted to leave the planet on her terms and not suffer further loss of dignity and degeneration.  She started her car in a closed garage and changed worlds via carbon monoxide poisoning.

A twenty-year old was going through the heartbreak of his first love breakup.  He was devastated and felt like his world would end.  Without reaching out for help or even talking with others, he hung himself.

These two real life stories represent a continuum of reasons for suicide. 

Suicide among young people is alarmingly common these days.  When I speak to groups of bereaved / shining light parents, about 20% of their children died this way.  (The term shining light parent describes the potential for bereaved parents to realize their children really are shining lights now.  This upgraded perspective can assist moving beyond severe grief more quickly and easily.  To learn more, visit HelpingParentsHeal.org)

One mother told me about her happy and well-balanced son who was prescribed a generic form of the drug Accutane for his acne.  He shot himself in the head just a few months later.  That’s why the makers of Accutane first issued a black-box warning for increased suicidal behavior and then pulled the drug off the market.

Did the consciousness of that young man and his family preplan to possibly go through such horrible challenges that might help others?  Or was God asleep at the wheel for yet another tragedy?  Only you can decide for yourself, but the evidence indicates it’s the former.

Heidi, whose 14-year-old transgender child chose suicide, wrote: ‘Finn used to tell me when he was three-years-old that he remembered going to “the Mommy Store.”  He recalled saying, “I don’t want that one, I don’t want that one, I want THAT one!”  I have no doubt that he and I had a contract prior to incarnating to do some work together while on earth.  I am still learning what we planned with his leaving at age 14.’

My current understanding is that PMPs do not plan to definitely die by suicide.  They may, however, pre-plan the possibility of suicide to:

  • allow very old people to die with more dignity versus slowly vegetating
  • help souls who chose suicide in another time / place to experience the devastation to family and friends
  • keep the dying person from draining resources of family, tribe, or country
  • create an exit point to move into the next phase of life
  • warn others about factors that negatively impact the body and brain: potentially harmful prescription drugs, excess vaccinations, excess heavy metals and chemicals, chronic stress, and agri-business produced foods. (In my opinion, those are common causative factors in the high suicide rate of young people.)
  • bring attention to the paradox that we mercifully euthanize our pets, but humans must suffer horribly and slowly decay away; our bioethics haven’t caught up with technological advances that can keep people alive far beyondany semblance of quality living.

Recently, I shared my webinar When a Child Changes Worlds: How to Survive and Even Thrive with a wonderful group of shining light parents.  There were many questions about suicide, particularly regarding whether souls might choose that potential mode of dropping the body.  One mother shared that her five-year-old son told her several times, “I’m going to die when I’m thirty.”  He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his twenties and, after suffering mightily for years, died by suicide at age 30.

Was there some preplanning for at least for the possibility of suicide?  For example, his essence may have chosen a body that was predisposed to schizophrenia for good reasons.  There may have been a hope that cures would be available by the time the disease became severe.  He might have desired to be part of finding safe and effective solutions to this mental disorder.

The possibility of suicide might have been planned as a back-up if cures weren’t in place and the suffering was too intense.   His childhood remarks to his mother may have been a way to soften the blow of his subsequent illness and suicide.

That night after the webinar, it seemed as though I was being taught more about this topic.  Or maybe my conscious or subconscious mind was ruminating and learning.  When I awakened, I wrote the following . . .

We can’t fathom the degree of love, wisdom, and caring inherent in every aspect of the cosmos. 

Perhaps those words will help when you are trying to understand life’s most difficult quandaries.

Suicide creates such devastation to surviving loved ones that the thought of it being preplanned as a possibility seems nonsensical.  However, when it comes to grasping ultimate truths, I’m like a kindergartener trying to understand advanced mathematics behind high-energy quantum physics.

Recently, I observed distant nebulae and galaxies through a large telescope at the Kitts Peak National Observatory in Arizona.  That wonderful experience reminded me of how vast the universe is.  Seeing through 230X magnification also made a case for being cautious when making definitive statements about the nature of reality.

Regarding the question, “Do PMPs ever preplan the possibility of choosing suicide and, if so, why?”  The honest answer is that I don’t know.  Similarly, a wide array of opinions exist among my friends and colleagues in the consciousness arena.  I can, however, imagine the following reasons why the possibility of suicide might be considered:

   a. She desired to develop more love and compassion so volunteered to experience immense despair. She wanted to grow and evolve so much that she was willing to skate on the thin ice of feeling hopeless.  Her family and friends were likewise willing – from a pre-earthly visit perspective – to risk having their human hearts broken to support their soulmate’s plan.  One possible outcome is that she would achieve her goals and remain balanced. When experiencing severe torment over time, however, suicide is a possibility or likely conclusion.

– Before coming to earth, one’s awareness enjoys a greater perspective and knows the following very well:

  • an earthly experience lasts only a blink of an eye compared to eternity
  • as forever beings, we are one with Source Energy right now and always
  • we can see dear soulmates again here and in the hereafter.

With all this in mind, the possibility of suicide was considered worth it for the potential growth in love, growth, service, and compassion.

   b. A person might benefit by having a dear one’s body die by suicide so a soulmate, out of love, agreed to possibly help her in that way. Imagine that a person I’ll call ‘Ruth’ chose suicide on numerous occasions in “past lives” when persistence and patience were the goals.  As a result, others experienced immense pain and Ruth’s growth was thwarted.

So ‘Frank’, a dear one in her soul group, chose to possibly die by suicide.  That allowed Ruth the option – if it were needed – of experiencing the pain of “losing” a dear one by suicide.  That firsthand experience may help her persevere versus bailing out.

   c. Suicide may have been a timely way to return to The Really Real Place. When it’s time to rejoin the Field of All Possibilities, there are only six ways: old age / natural causes, fatal accident, unknown causes, terminal disease, murder, or suicide.  Frank, the person who chose the possibility of suicide to help Ruth, may have doubly benefited because he didn’t need a long earthly visit.  As such, he may have covered (b – e) at the same time.  What appeared to be a horrible and senseless tragedy may have been a quadruple win.

   d. Physical death by suicide may have been an attempt to help others and the world. So many young people are dying by suicide these days.  Could it be that they were willing to potentially go through hell on earth to wake up others?

As mentioned, in my clinical experience, the following factors can be involved with suicide: excess vaccinations; prescription drugs with potential side-effects of increased suicidal ideation and behavior; nutritional deficiencies; junk food containing additives and chemicals; artificial sweeteners with neuro-excitatory effects; multiple electronic devices causing harmful electro-magnetic fields; lack of meaning and purpose; and schizoid, archaic religious teachings.

These factors can result in feelings of depression, anxiety, alienation, impulsivity, and more to stack the deck for bodily death by suicide.  That’s why holistic solutions are needed to address these core causes of suicide, mental imbalance, addiction, and other all-too-common problems that affect everyone involved.

For more information about prevention and treatment, read my book Radiant Wellness.  Use skilled natural care practitioners for specific chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, deep massage, and integrative medicine.  I especially recommend personalized nutritional healing (info or icakusa.com)

e. Physical death by suicide provides a relief valve. Because love is the basis of life, it makes sense that potential “escape routes” would be designed for difficult experiences like an earthly incarnation.  Suicide is a way for a person to say, “I can’t take this anymore; it’s too difficult and painful.” (Those very words are often stated in suicide notes.)

I have to respect that and avoid judgment.  One woman who eventually chose suicide said it felt as though her skin was simultaneously penetrated by hundreds of ice picks.  That went on for years.  Who can say when enough is enough?  The decision to end one’s earthly experience is a personal one.  Ultimately, whether to stay on earth or hasten one’s departure can only be made by the person involved.

In the best of all worlds, each person’s unique needs and imbalances would be addressed using safe, affordable, natural, and effective approaches.  But, all too often, I hear the opposite:

  • Ministers tell suffering people that they must believe a certain way and do certain things or they will suffer in hell for eternity.
  • Medical doctors give potentially harmful and ineffective drugs – or bizarre treatments such as electro-convulsive shock therapy – to people suffering with depression and other mental symptoms.
  • Sufficient money exists to wage needless wars and create exorbitant profits for big businesses, but not to provide food, shelter, and optimal health care for everyone.
  • Ridicule, bullying, and judgement is experienced by those with different skin color, sexual orientation, personal or religious beliefs from so-called norms.

f. Unknown factors. Might people sometimes choose suicide for good reasons that we can’t understand from our limited human perspectives?  I strongly suspect that is the case.

Evaluating whether suicide is a lower or higher energy path isn’t useful for survivors because it can perpetuate feelings of guilt, shame, and continually analyzing ‘why’ questions.  However, considering this topic may help us better understand and address the underlying causes.  It may also evolve our bioethics about end-of-this-life issues such as euthanasia and assisted suicide

As an example of what might be considered a lower energy path involving suicide, imagine someone who chose that way of passing on several earthly incarnations in a row.  This person had a tendency to give up too soon and push the reset button.  In the past, his predominant feelings at the time of suicide included shame, guilt, hopelessness, and loneliness.  This time around, the soul’s intention was to work through difficulties and persevere.  By definition, suicide was not in highest alignment with that person’s prebirth goals.

An example of a higher energy path involving suicide might be the ninety-year-old woman described above.  There was no hope for prolonging her life in a quality way.  Her overarching emotions were love, compassion, and a desire for wholeness again.  All things considered, suicide may have been in alignment with her prebirth potentials.

Evaluating whether cases are more or less appropriate, even from an open-minded perspective, is not a simple matter.  For example, the thirty-year-old son with schizophrenia who ended this earth-experience may not have used alternative healing approaches.  Doing so may have relieved his suffering and allowed his brain to regain normal functioning. Clearly, he couldn’t stand the suffering any longer.  But did he know about and seek this assistance before concluding that suicide was the best path forward?

Could it be that he wasn’t meant to live a long earthly life?  Or maybe he just couldn’t cope with the anguish and stress that accompanied his body / brain imbalance.  Is it possible that his method of passing will motivate health care professionals to better address core causes of mental symptoms and, as a result, help many more people?  Might it be that all of the above factors and perhaps others were operative?

Only the person involved knows what is in their heart and mind.  That’s why I can’t judge.  Some evidence indicates that is also the case for angels, guides, and the Light.

I thank and honor the bereaved / shining light parents whose deep suffering and heartache motivated me to wrestle with these topics more deeply than ever before.  May the bodily death of their children reveal other silver linings.

*       *       *       *       *       *       *

I’ve created several very affordable audio-products that incorporate deep relaxation / hypnosis and visualization.  Words often fall short when considering such big questions.  That’s why the best way for you to learn more may be using these techniques.  These may help you better understand this topic so you can heal, accept, and transform when life events seem senseless:

  • Pre-Birth Planning: See past challenges in a new light. Learn why YOU may have chosen difficulty to improve your life here and now.
  • Ask Your Soul: Access your inner wisdom to answer the most commonly asked questions about life, death, and afterlife.
  • Holistic Breathing: Deep, noisy, diaphragmatic breathing with music and coaching to release old wounds / stuck energy, and remember who you are.
  • Facilitated After-Death Contact: Visit with your beloved people and pets who have transitioned from this earth-experience.  Designed to expand your awareness that they are very near and want you to be happy.  Learn how to enjoy a continued, although different, kind of relationship with them now.

 

Pre-Birth Planning Session Information and Recommendations

Keys for an PBP optimal session include . . .

  1. Know that I’ve used clinical hypnosis / deep relaxation and guided imagery with thousands of people since 1979.This approach quiets your brain’s usual frenetic activity so you can perceive the big picture of life – the 99+% of reality that your five senses likely haven’t detected.
  2. Before your session, ask, intend, and/or pray for assistance and guidance from your Higher Self, Spiritual Support Team, and The Light.
  3. Be aware that your perceptions during PBP sessions will probably be more subtle, ethereal, and fleeting than most earth-bound experiences.
  4. Realize that your session might be different than you expect so keep an open mind about it.
  5. Release any pressure on yourself or them about having a meaningful session.Just relax and enjoy the session.
  6. If you continue to be blocked from a meaningful session, use the Holistic Breathing Technique to release old wounds, needless fears, and erroneous past teachings.(article #70)  Use it twice a week for one month and then try the PBP session again.
  7. There are several potential reasons for lack of immediate results:You may need to do the session a few times before getting good results. (Practice makes perfect and all that.)

    b. The timing may not be right for you to learn key details that negate your earthly experience or make it too easy.  Struggle builds spiritual muscles just as strenuous exercise strengthens your physical body.

    c. Perhaps your patience and faith are being tested by yourself / your soul, not the Creator and Sustainer of all life.

    d. Contact might be delayed for good reasons that you can’t currently understand.

During Your PBP Session

  1. Again, you may feel as though you are imagining or making it up.This feeling is very common and not a cause for concern.  Why does it happen?  Even while deeply relaxed, your brain is still judging and evaluating.  Past beliefs that ‘spiritual experiences’ aren’t really real may ‘color’ your experience, at least initially.  I suggest that you ignore that overly analytical input during the session.
  2. Suspend judgment and trust what pops up and floats in. There are no right or wrong answers and no grading.  You don’t have to share your experience with anyone although that can be helpful.  So just relax and see what happens.
  3. Visualize your real self, angels, guides, master teachers, soulmates, and Source Energy however you like.For example, angels may appear as large people with wings or as multi-colored light and evolved energies.
  4. Visualize your place of pre-birth planning however you like.Examples include settings that like the control deck of a spaceship, favorite nature spots, or a high-tech computer station that analyzes all the factors for an optimal earthly experience.
  5. Use multi-sensory perceptions as much as possible. See, hear, feel, smell, and know any cues and clues about your pre-birth planning.
  6. You do not have to follow my language since some people can’t, for example, visualize well.If I say ‘see yourself walking down the stairs’ and you can’t, simply replace ‘see’ with feel, hear, or know.
  7. You may perceive key information in a fraction of a second as in a flash or instant download.Alternately, your visits may unfold sequentially over time.
  8. If you desire, say a prayer or make a positive affirmation that you will have a positive experience.You can also intend and visualize yourself as being shielded and protected during the experience, including from any lower energy or evil ‘spirits’.  To learn more about this, see article #47.
  9. Know that PBP sessions are very safe.I have conducted them with many people and no one has reported any adverse effects.

Relaxation Process and Session

  • Sitting up is recommended over lying down since the latter may lead to you falling asleep during the session.
  • We’ll start with Jacobsen’s contraction / relaxation technique where you alternately tighten, then relax major muscle groups with my guidance.
  • Keep your mouth opened slightly throughout the session so your facial muscles are deeply relaxed.
  • Use diaphragmatic breathing: your abdomen bulges out as you inhale, then inward as you exhale.
  • After you are deeply relaxed, you’ll have an opportunity for 3 five-minute with the same person or different ones.
  • If you want to fully experience this technique, it’s better to “stay with me” and focus on my voice and guidelines.However, you may experience something even better; follow that if your inner knowing recommends that.
  • If the details of any experience are too sad, painful, or scary in any way, you don’t have to continue that visit.However, no one has described a lower-energy visit.  To the contrary, participants report high levels of love, peace, and joy.
  • If you develop an itch, ignore it at first.However, if it persists, just scratch it.  It’s better to move a bit than have some physical distraction.  Similarly, shift in your chair if you’re not physically comfortable.  (Feeling and addressing these minor discomforts doesn’t mean you aren’t deeply relaxed.)
  • Any outside noises needn’t interfere with your deeply relaxed state but, in fact, can further deepen it.Ditto if you have to cough, sneeze, or clear your throat.

Recommendations BEFORE FADC Session

  1. Thank, honor, and recognize the presence of unseen visitors and spiritual helpers.
  2. Be fully rested since this deep relaxation technique is very conducive to sleep.
  3. Eat a light meal beforehand so you aren’t hungry or have low blood sugar.
  4. Avoid excess caffeine or sugar for 24 hours before the session.Avoid any alcohol or recreational drugs for at least three days before the session.
  5. Get as relaxed as possible before the experience.
  6. Wear comfortable clothing that will not bind as you lie still for 45 minutes.
  7. Use lip salve to prevent dry lips during the prolonged open-mouth breathing.
  8. Drink water and use the bathroom just before your session.
  9. Turn off phones, pagers, or other potentially interrupting devices.
  10. If others are in your home, ask them to not interrupt you or make noise.
  11. Secure pets for the same reasons as #10.

Future Home Use of PBP Sessions

  • You can use this session at home by yourself or with trusted family and friends.
  • You can audio-record your experience and review your answers later.(I don’t recommend this the first few times you do this session since verbalizing aloud might interfere with an optimal contact.)
  • After doing the session several times, you can generate a list of questions to ask during your session.Consider this list to be preferences, not must haves, so you are open to whatever experience flows in.


Recommendations for AFTER the Session

  1. Enjoy quiet time to internalize your experiences and the accompanying benefits.
  2. Be careful and really focus if you drive soon afterwards.
  3. Stay alert in the days and weeks after your session to capture meaningful dreams, signs, synchronicities, and spontaneous memories.
  4. Keep a journal to note these signs so you can review later.

*       *       *       *       *       *       *

Your life, and that of others around you, will be more enriched when you:  

  1. read this article again within a few days so you really own it.
  2. discuss it with trusted family members and friends.
  3. take recommended action steps that seem right for you.
  4. share it with others who can use it.

Let it shine,
Mark

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC is an author, master’s level clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, frequent media guest, and webinar / workshop facilitator.  He has also helped others in pastoral counseling and suicide prevention / education settings.  Mark directs The Soul Phone Foundation, founded Greater Reality Living Groups, and assists research on the SoulPhone Project.  To learn more about how Dr. Pitstick might help you, visit SoulProof.com/About.

Dr. Pitstick’s goal is to help you know and show– no matter what is happening to or around you – that this earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst eternity.  Visit SoulProof.com for free articles, newsletters, and radio interviews with top consciousness experts.  Other resources include his very reasonably priced books, audio-products, and documentary film.

Note: Because of his many outreaches, Dr. Pitstick can no longer answer complex and/or multiple questions.  However, he has created many resources to answer your biggest questions and provide holistic solutions for your toughest challenges . . .  

FREE ARTICLES, RADIO SHOW, AND E-NEWSLETTERS

– Articles for Transformation and Healing (top tab Articles at SoulProof.com) address the most common questions, concerns, and challenges about life, death, and afterlife.

– Radio Shows (top tab Radio Shows at SoulProof.com) share his answers and those of top experts to life’s biggest questions: “Who am I? Why am I here?  What happens after I die?  Is there a God?  Why is there so much suffering?  Why do children die?” and others.

– E-Newsletters (sign up on any page at SoulProof.com)

AUDIO-PRODUCTS, BOOKS, AND DOCUMENTARY FILM

– Transformational Audio Products  (see Shop at SoulProof.com) provide quality sessions at home for a fraction of the cost of an office visit.  These CDs and digital audios use deep relaxation, visualization, breathwork, and/or other techniques to: access your inner wisdom, visit with “departed” loved ones, release old wounds and lower energy emotions, evaluate your pre-birth planning, have past life regressions, and other goals.

– Books and Documentary (Shop at SoulProof.com) provide information and strategies to help you more deeply realize and demonstrate:

  • you are a forever being of energy / consciousness
  • the many wonderful benefits of realizing this
  • how to reflect this great news in every aspect of your life — even when confronted with big challenges and changes

Webinars and Workshops: to learn about these, subscribe to newsletters at SoulProof.com and SoulPhone.org (Classes & Interviews at SoulProof.com)

Greater Reality Living Groups: these local and online groups share information from Dr. Pitstick, Dr. Gary Schwartz, and other experts on consciousness and holistic wellness topics.  (Visit Greater Reality Living at SoulProof.com)

Coaching / Counseling Session: meet with Dr. Pitstick by Zoom to gain answers to your toughest questions and holistic solutions to your biggest challenges.  (Shop at SoulProof.com)

Disclaimer: This information is not designed to replace medical or psychological care.  Dr. Pitstick’s remarks are based on his personal and professional training and experience during forty-eight years of helping many thousands of people.  Collective clinical, scientific, and experiential evidence supports some, but not all, of what he shares.  Mark’s views may change over time, and he does not claim to have all the answers or the only answers.

Dr. Pitstick encourages you to consider this information and decide for yourself what makes the most sense.  Note: the articles and other resources at his SoulProof.com site are NOT purely based on scientific research as is the SoulPhone Project.