This is a guest post by Coletta Long, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Instructor and specializing in Regression Therapy.

Coletta has regressed thousands of people over the past sixty years for the purpose of improving people’s lives, helping them to discover themselves and to better understand their true nature and purpose on this planet.

Dr. Long is an esteemed leader in the principles of humanistic psychology, specializing in Transpersonal Therapy (Regression therapy, past lives.) She is also an ordained Unity Minister, author, teacher and lecturer who has appeared on television and radio, and has given workshops in almost every state in the U.S.

Over to you, Coletta…

From the age of ten I had a resounding question: Why do some people suffer from sickness, poverty, hardships, fears and unhappiness while others seem to have lives of prosperity, health, happiness and peace? I posed that question to the minister of the Baptist church and his response was, “It is God’s will.”

Then my next question was, “You tell us that God loves us. If that is so, then why does God choose to let some people have happy and comfortable lives and others have to suffer so much?” “God’s will” was always the answer but I didn’t buy that idea.

Sometimes, the answer to my question was an implication that the people who suffered were a result of them being “bad”, but I could look around me and see that “good” people were suffering also. They may be considered “bad” or a “sinner” because they did not attend church or they wore makeup — just foolish infantile reasons. It didn’t add up for me.

My stepfather had taught me about another God, the God of nature who supplied us with all things and loved us unconditionally even though we made mistakes. He pointed out the beauty around us, the bountiful supply and the opportunities that God laid out for us, not only through nature, the physical world but also through our minds and desires to keep improving our lives by effort and responsibility.

I always knew that my stepfather was wise so I respected his views and watched him living his philosophy. The first story about his life began when a Cherokee Indian Chief found him as the lone survivor, a tiny baby on a wagon train.

He told me he was the only person alive after some Indian bandits had killed everybody, later telling me that it was the Apaches who had not surrendered to the white man. The Cherokee Indians had surrendered and had been moved to an Indian reservation. History reveals that the journey to the reservation by the Indians was called the Trail of Tears, a time when many Indians died on the trail.

He said the Chief took him to the reservation and gave him to an Indian woman who did not have children because her husband had died. The chief thought the child might heal her heart. She was happy to have a baby and loved him very much.

Kirby had good memories, back to times when his mother carried him in a papoose carrier, as he called it. He said he would reach out and pull on the leaves and limbs while she picked berries or gathered firewood. He remembered enjoying the smell of the forest and he loved to hear his mother singing.

As he grew up and was able to run with her, he remembered her laughing and playing with him, running to catch rabbits, teaching him to swim in the river and listening to her stories about the stars and the moon. She taught him to mimic the sounds of the birds and pick up their feathers to be used in their headdress.

As he described her to me, his face would light up with a little smile, remembering her skipping through the woods, him trying to keep up, teaching him lyrics and singing them together. They would sit by the stream and bathe their feet in the running water and watch the minnows nibble on their feet. He said he loved it when his mother would bury him in the autumn leaves, disappear and play hide and seek. They laughed a lot as he learned about nature and the healing herbs, roots and barks.

When I asked him about pain and suffering, he said that people create their own pain and suffering because they have not learned to release their fears of life. He said their fears caused them to make mistakes, give up and act like a victim, blaming others for their problems.

My stepfather died when I was 13 but not before he introduced me to the possibility of past and future lives…

He said our souls go on into the next life carrying with it the lessons we had learned and each life time was improved by our thoughts and actions. He never spoke much about the past life and its influence on our present life but the question did exist in my mind.

I continued to search because there seemed to be a deeper underlying answer to my questions about life. Then one day at the age of 19, I attended a Unity Church class. The teacher, Mrs. Ella K. Peterson was speaking about how our minds create our problems and by changing the mind we improve our lives. Humm, just the same ideas that my stepfather had implied.

In the first class, I saw my opportunity to ask her the same question that I had asked the Baptist minister and others along the way and had received basically the same answer. She hesitated briefly and then said that she didn’t have time to answer the question in the class but would like to meet with me after the class.

When the class finished, Mrs. Peterson wrote something on a piece of paper. She said, “Go to the library and check out these two books. I think they will answer the question you have.” The names of the books were, There is a River by Thomas Sagrue and Many Mansions by Gina Cerminara (Still available at AbeBooks.com.) She said that many of the other students in the class were not ready for the ideas in these two books.

Needless to say, I became a sponge, devouring every word and could barely put the books down until I had finished. Now that I knew the answers, I was so relieved. I could empty any thoughts from my mind that God had chosen for anyone to suffer and now I could accept the belief that God loves us unconditionally and gave us the freedom to choose. I accepted that God resides within us and through love, we allow the energy of God to work through us.

Then I began to understand why we were our own creators…

I became aware and accepted the “Law of cause and effect.” I associated it with the Christian philosophy, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” I related to the law of karma. The law of karma states that all our actions, in this or previous lives have inevitable consequences. Like a personal boomerang, whatever we send out returns to us — for better or for worse. Positive karma may return in the form of happiness and good fortune; negative karma in the form of tragedies and hardship.

The word “Reincarnation” held great meaning for me — I learned that reincarnation is not a new concept. It has been part of the Hindu and Buddhist tradition for thousands of years. In fact, reincarnation was one of the beliefs of the early Christian church.

In my research over the many years, it is apparent that if we understand reincarnation and the fact that we are responsible for our past and present actions, we become more inclined to think before we react when faced with difficult situations. We may also become more inclined to forgive and forget those who have wronged us and ask for forgiveness from those whom we have wronged.

My appetite for more knowledge increased. The local libraries had a very limited number of books on reincarnation. I learned that Unity Village at the Unity headquarters had a large number of books pertaining to reincarnation, so I saved my money and made a trip to Unity Village where I read several books during the week.

I decided during that time that I needed to learn about my past lives.

I read and made notes on the process of regressing a person to a past life and I purchased a book pertaining to hypnosis.

After I returned from Unity Village, I was attending a class at the Unity church and started discussing the possibility of us regressing each other to our past lives. Everyone was excited, so I wrote a step by step instruction on the process and asked for a volunteer.

To my amazement, in my first attempt the person went into a deep state of hypnosis. I guided her to a happy life and listened to her responses in that life. She gave us a detailed description of her surroundings in different phases of her life. I guided her to the end of that life and she described the room in the hospital where she was waiting with her family around her to make her exit. She felt peaceful, slipped out of her body and began to describe a beautiful light. With excitement, she began to recognize loved ones in the form of little specks of light all around her.

When I brought her back, she was without words to express her joy and she related to events in that life that were correlated with the present life. Of course, everyone in the class wanted to be regressed so I made a plan. I told them that they could also guide others into their past lives. They used my instructions and we began to regress each other and made many wonderful discoveries.

All the past lives were not happy and filled with pleasant memories. Some were involved with death, sickness, poverty, sadness, fear, war and other painful factors. I realized that these painful memories were associated with the person’s emotions and present life, which were buried in their subconscious mind and the energy needed to be released. I called them “frozen blocks.”

As the person was guided through the memory, I asked them to pound on a pillow that was across their body. The pounding proved to be a great tool in releasing the painful memories. The person was encouraged to release their emotions with tears, anger and words that indicated their painful memories. Most times, they recognized people in those painful memories that are still in their present lives.

The greatest healing came when the person could go back into the previous life where they had created their pain. If they reported that a parent or someone in their present life was abusive to them, then we would ask the subconscious mind to take them back into the life where the problem started. They would regress to a lifetime where they switched roles and they were the abuser of that person.

This process helped them to release their fear of the abuser in this life. To forgive, accept responsibility, and realize that they were ready to let go of their anger at that person allowed them to feel peace and love. Of course, where there is anger there is fear because anger is a secondary emotion of fear.

I continued to use regression therapy in different areas of my life.

I became a Unity minister and for ten years, spent many hours each day in counseling with the people in the church. Mostly I used regression therapy, not always telling the person that the memories they were experiencing were past lives, only that the subconscious mind would release energies in different forms. Most people would decide that it “might” be a past life, especially when they made improvement.

Even though people don’t believe in past lives, the process works if they are receptive to the process. Many people think that regression therapy is against their religion, but I tell them that reincarnation is not a religion but a science, the same as the science of breathing. It is a part of the living soul and has nothing to do with religion. Religion is a belief; reincarnation is a part of ongoing eternal life.

I left the Unity Church and devoted full time to regression therapy after I finished my doctorate in clinical psychology. I became more and more convinced that regression therapy is a most rewarding experience for the client, releasing the client from painful experiences, allowing them to feel love, compassion and peace in their lives, taking control where in the past they had lost control and felt like a victim, and possibly releasing the client from the suffering of many lives.

Now at the age of almost 85, I cannot say how many regressions I have done over the 60+ years.

They are in the thousands, but one thing I am convinced of is that there are no innocent victims.

One of the early examples of realizing that we are the creator of our own suffering and there are no innocent victims was when I was practicing as a clinical Psychologist after I completed my doctorate. A mother of a young lady who was a nurse called me to ask if she could bring her daughter for a session. One of my requirements is that I speak with the person before I take them as a client. I mentioned this to her and she replied that her daughter could not speak, that they were bringing her from a state mental hospital where she had been admitted because a patient that she was nursing had raped her at the point of a knife. She was still in shock and could not speak.

I was hesitant to accept her and started making excuses. How could I regress her when she could not speak? The mother was pleading and said they didn’t want her to stay in the hospital and were desperate. I finally accepted and asked for Divine Guidance because I had no idea of where to start.

The mother, father and sister arrived with her in a wheel chair and the young lady was staring straight ahead and gave no response when I spoke with her. I asked them to put her in my therapy room and leave us for a while. I made her head comfortable with a pillow and spoke softly to her, telling her that she was going to be okay and the fear was going away.

I listened to my inner guidance and began to state the same words as I would to a conscious person, taking her into an altered state (hypnosis). I could see her body relaxing and she closed her eyes. I told her that we were going to go back and escape from that man, that she was going to be okay. I told her that the man could no longer harm her, that he was in jail. I spoke to her subconscious mind as I would speak to a child. I held her hand and told her that a lot of people loved her and they wanted her to be happy.

I noticed that she jerked and with her hands seemed to defend herself. I asked her where she was and she answered me to my surprise. She said, “He has a knife at my throat.” From that point, I guided her step by step through the memory. I had a pillow in her lap and asked her to hit it as though she was hitting the man. She started hitting, then screaming and shouting words of, “Leave me alone”, “Get off me”, etc. I encouraged her to scream and hit him over and over.

She re–experienced the entire memory, even to the pain in her groin. Finally, she relaxed and I led her into an experience of light. She rested for about 20 minutes and told me that she felt peaceful when I inquired about her feelings. Then quite suddenly she asked, “I wonder why that happened to me?”

I hesitated to give her an answer, but my intuition told me this was important to her so I said, “Do you really want to know even though you may not like the answer?” She said yes. I began to guide her back and quite rapidly she was telling me that she was a male with a brown suit. Then she proceeded to tell me that she was an attorney and his business was successful because he defended white men who had raped black girls. She described one case where he definitely knew that his client was guilty, that he had been violent with the girl and had left her in a painful condition. The lawyer won the case for his client so the client was set free. I took her to the end of the life and as he was dying, he was filled with guilt and made a statement, “I will have to pay for this life, especially the one case where I had evidence of his guilt.”

I took her into a space of light and asked her how she was feeling. She said she knew who the man was that raped her. “It is the same man that I defended in that life and he was guilty.” She then went on to say, “ I know that my being a nurse is so that I can serve people in a way that will help them so I can make up for the wrong that I created in that life. Now the rapist in that life is going to prison because he raped me and I will spend my life doing good for the wrong I did in that life.” Karma will balance the scales sooner or later.

As I brought her back out of hypnosis, she was smiling and reached out to hug me. We hugged and I felt tears streaming from my eyes. I knew that my Higher self had been guiding my steps and reaching out to her Higher self so she could accept her healing. Her family, with tears in their eyes, were overjoyed as she explained the entire story and told them that she wanted to go back to work in a few days.

The subconscious mind is aware of all facets of your life.

It amazes me time and time again when I give it instructions and requests. Sometimes when there are many problems in a client’s life and I am not sure of the direction to take a client, I will ask the client’s subconscious to take them to the most important memory that will give the client the memory that will give them the greatest benefit. It is almost like magic. The client will be in a memory of terrible distress and by guiding the client through the memory and releasing the energy, there will be fantastic results and the parallels between that life and the present one are amazing.

After a physical death, your soul returns to life in another body.

Reincarnation gives your soul the opportunity to evolve by learning the lessons of love through many different life experiences. I believe that the soul is an aspect of God, much like a drop of water from the ocean. I believe that the soul or drop of water needs to be purified with each lifetime so that when the drop is returned to the source, it will add to the consciousness of Truth and love.

I also believe that the earth, as an entity of God, as another soul from the beginning was filled with fear of survival. All our instincts going back as far as there are memories have been based upon fear of survival. When our individual souls came into the vibrations of earth, we absorbed those fears and became a part of the energies of the earth. As we have evolved, it is apparent that we are gradually releasing those fears. There are fewer wars, less disease and suffering. The evolving souls are experiencing less fear and becoming aware of the presence of a strength and power within and are making a great contribution to the unconditional love that resides in each of us if we release the fear of surviving.

As you explore past lives, you will become aware of the hardship in the past.

For example, I have regressed hundreds of people back to the Holocaust and the prison camps. A more painful experience is hardly possible. It makes us appreciate the life we live in now when we review all the past limitations and times of being a victim. Many countries still suffer the tribulations that we review in our past lives. The suffering is caused by the fear and ignorance of mankind with their wars and greed for power and possessions. That consciousness still pervades humanity on a lesser scale but it is there.

We as individuals need to find our own power within, become a survivor instead of a victim, rely upon ourselves for our growth and success, and take responsibility for our judgments and actions. It is the “law of cause and effect” that controls all actions of life.

It is not possible for people to experience and understand all there is about life and its purpose in a single lifetime. By understanding and accepting that we have lived many times before, we are able to develop a sense of the continuity of life — past, present and future. To know that we have lived as both male and female in different areas of the world and have belonged to different racial groups and religions encourages us to have a more tolerant heart.

People often ask about soul mates so my answer, based upon the many regressions, tell me that there is no one other individual soul that you are eternally attached to.

There are people that you have been connected to in many lives. In my research, I have found that one married couple in this life was connected in 29 lives. Previously, they were brother and sister, mother and child, father and child, sisters, brothers, employee and employer, good friends and some lives they were not connected. In my research, I have found many other people who have been together in numerous lifetimes. The truth is that we are all connected through all eternity.

It appears that a group of souls may connect so that they can experience the different relationships. Gradually over many lifetimes, they begin to learn and experience a deep unconditional love not only for the people they are connected with but with everyone and everything.

Many souls connect to work out their fears with one another.

They may have a deep attraction, translating it as love and after they are together for a while, the fearful energy begins to surface, causing painful challenges.

This experience gives them a chance to resolve their fear of one another, remembering that all pain is caused by fear and the strongest fear is the fear of surviving. By remembering that there are no innocent victims and we are our own creators, it helps us to take responsibility for our lives and rise above the victim consciousness. It is then time to realize the God strength within us and allow that strength to express in the many facets of our earthly experience.

When you are between lives, as reported by most all regressed clients, there seems to be the unconditional love for all souls because you are part of the Whole, and you are going into a physical body to bring that energy of pure love into the vibrations of the earth and to radiate it to all those you connect with.