If you’re like me, you probably have made decisions that, upon reflection, make you cringe. How could I have been so naive? So petty? So clueless? So thoughtless? So lazy? So hurtful? So selfish? So irresponsible? Boy, my past is littered with some real stupid choices in my childhood, my adolescence, my young adulthood, and now my middle-aged years. And I know I have plenty of dumb choices in my future. For some reason, those past transgressions don’t seem to bother me much, but for others, they’re like heavy chains that drag them down in a deep sea of misery. It affects the way they perceive themselves, others and their outlook for the future. So I asked Erik what advice he could share for those who are paralyzed by their past.

Channeling Transcript

Me: Erik, I know some people who have had a checked past, or at least they might see it as checkered even when I don’t.  And they just seem to feel such unworthiness because of it.

Erik: And they don’t move forward cuz they’re looking back?

Me: Yeah, that, and–

Erik: It’s okay to look back at the crap we’ve done in our lives.

Me: But, if that–

Erik: Hang on a sec. What I’m saying is it’s okay to look back, but with a different perspective. Like maybe someone looks back on when they did heroin when they were 14, 15 years old.

Me: Okay.

Erik: And they’re looking at that through the maturity and judgment of a 40 year old who knows better. But they weren’t old and mature at that time. They were just a little twerp. So that’s one thing. The other thing is, there are no bad choices. It’s all about what you do with them. Do you look for the lesson they hold and apply it to your life or do you use it for a club for you to beat yourself up with? Do you take that lesson and learn to love yourself and others or do you walk the path of fear and grow to hate yourself and others?

Me: You make the choice seem so easy, Erik, but it’s not!

Erik: Of course it is! Just look back at the event and see yourself as someone who is now very, very different. It’s almost like you’re a different SELF now compared to back then. And if you haven’t already done it, mine that mistake for all the pearls. Find the lessons and apply them to your life now.

Me: How can people heal when they’ve already taken the club to themselves?

Erik: They can visualize that past other self and send it love. Wrap your past self in love and say to it, “It’s going to be fine. It’s not bad what you did. It just IS. You made those choices for a reason. Time to learn, forgive, love, be grateful for the chance to fuck up and then move on.

Me: Grateful?

Erik: Hell, yeah! When you fuck up, it’s like a turbo boost for spiritual growth, but only if you mine that fuck up for the pearls instead of wallowing around in it.

Me: Like a pig in shit?

Erik (chuckles): I was gonna say that, but I thought that might be a little harsh, Mom.

Me: Oops. But it’s true. Sometimes we relish our pity parties.

Erik: Especially if we think we deserve to be punished with all our self-chastising.

Me: Yeah. So learn, forgive, be grateful, love and move on.

Erik: You got it, Mom!

Me: Okay. Now, let’s talk more about skeptics. A lot of blog members have to deal with skeptics at work, in their families and among their friends. Some even read the blog in hiding. I guess they’re afraid their families will put ’em in the looney bin. So why are skeptics so bent on ridiculing spirituality?

Erik: Well, like I said before, some are there to coax us into strengthening our faith. I mean, look at you, Mom! You’re own skepticism made you search for proof and study the science behind all this stuff. So yeah, to prove a skeptic wrong, sometimes we have to force ourselves to study, do research, reflect inwardly and everything.

Me: So now that there’s so much evidence for the soul’s survival of death, why do we still have so many closed-minded skeptics?

Erik: Oh, it’s all just about fear. Think about it, Mom. Everyone has a vested interest in whether or not there is something more after death. But these skeptics you’re talking about are too afraid to trust the research or their intuition or any shred of evidence because–oh my god–what if they find out it’s not true?! That would be an unbearable loss for them. So they’re rather have no hope for an afterlife than to have hope only to have it taken away. It takes courage and strength to trust and have faith and have hope. Skeptics live in fear. They tend to be cowards who prefer to stick their heads up their asses. So like, they can sit there, head up their ass, and say, “so and so is wrong about the sun being the center of our solar system.” They’re afraid cuz what if they really look at the evidence and start to believe something that other people consider far-fetched? What happens when someone else proves that the moon is really the center? They don’t wanna come off looking stupid. In the case of the afterlife, though, they don’t wanna have false hopes.

Me: Well, I guess they’ll find out eventually.

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And now, I’m hoping everyone can help blog member, Melanie. Her email explains it all:

Hey Elisa. Melanie here. I just found out that I am pregnant. Totally NOT planned and very unexpected. I can not help but think that Kara had something to do with it! Even with birth control, it has happened, and it turns out my due date is right around Kara’s birthday.
I was wondering if you could ask everyone in the CE family to say a couple prayers for me and baby.

1) That it sticks, and I don’t go through any more loss or grief.
2) That this pregnancy is an enjoyable one. ( My last one I was in premature labor on and off from 28 weeks. )
3) That I have a very safe and uneventful delivery. ( Again, my last one was a nightmare. I reacted to the epidural, and it was just very scary and all natural delivery for my 10lb son! )
4) Finally, that this baby will be a blessing. I am so scared of feeling resentment for this baby. After being done with babies, and losing Kara.. I just do not understand why Kara had to be taken away and this one possibly brought into the world. I am struggling very much.

I have my 1st ultrasound tomorrow to see how far along I am, so any prayers and great vibes sent out would be sooo appreciated. Also, if anyone can contact Eric to see if Kara is ok with this… make sure that she knows this was not planned and would NEVER be a replacement of her… I need to know that she is with me, and that everything with this will be ok.
Thank you so much Elisa.
All my love,

Melanie