Dear Jeanne,
This is the first question being asked by one of your readers.

I was very interested in the message where you conveyed the resolution of your lives through your participation in the conception of a new baby with the soul of your birth mother, and how that related to your soul’s work in resolving the issues of many lifetimes. And yet you don’t advocate exploring past lives. I remember where you said we should focus on the issues before us in this life, which makes sense. But I wonder if you could explain why knowledge of past lives wouldn’t bring guidance to the process. -Pat

My Dear Pat, I do understand your dilemma, for my focus has continually been on resolving issues related to now for your energetic growth and evolution. I resist stressing past life experiences because it may cause and create too much stress and tension, and even introduce issues that are not current issues, creating confusion.

Yes, all of your past lives have significance, but what are your current issues? Those are the ones needing resolution, whether they relate to a past life or not. Current issues will stick out like a sore thumb until they are tended to.

Of course, if you discover in your work of now that a past life experience appears to push you to a new level of understanding, so do I insist on pursuing such an avenue. But I advise allowing the process to be your guide, rather than go seeking backwards.

Focus forward, but at the same time be aware of your issues that will point out the past that must be addressed in this life. If those issues take you back to other lives, so then are they significantly important, and necessary experiences that will aid you in resolving the issues of this life.

Do not take focus off now by diverting your attention from the task at hand. If issues keep arising in this life, then most likely did they also occur in other lives, yet do they still exist. So you will find no resolution of them in your past life, merely a presentation of them.

Accept your issues as the work you must do on the self. My own experiences, as Jeanne Marie Ketchel, did guide me to deal with the issue of abandonment that you mention. It was my main issue to resolve that remained unresolved through many lifetimes. Yet as Jeanne did I hold out, until I almost missed the boat on it. At the very last did I remain available to complete it, already having entered my energy form, but available, because of my awareness, to remain present in that world, as energy, and able to direct my focused intent to complete the cycle of lives, and that main issue.

Did I carry that issue over many lifetimes? Yes, I did, though the last few lives did it arise as most important. It is in fact an issue of detachment more than abandonment, and that is what you too are being asked to learn. Detachment will resolve all issues, yet is it the most difficult to learn and practice, for it requires a fine balance between love and compassion, with complete acceptance of the journey thus far taken, and the understanding that every aspect of a journey is not only meaningful and significant, but also that it is necessary for the completion of the cycle of lives lived upon that Earth, and the ability to evolve into energy.

As energy are you no longer attached to the things of that Earth, or the human form. So it is most desirable to learn detachment, total detachment, meaning a complete letting go, with full understanding, acceptance, and knowledge of where you are headed next already beginning to blossom in your awareness.

So, to answer your question further, I advocate learning the lessons presented to you in this lifetime, for they are issues of previous lives, have no doubt about that. They are succinctly presented, and must be dealt with, in the here and now, with all that you now have available to you. Know that you have been in similar situations, yet also know that you are given a chance to finish up what you were perhaps unable, or unwilling to finish up in a previous life. But also understand that your previous experiences set you up for this life, giving you the necessary qualities to continue onward toward growth.

You will discover your past lives as you fully embrace this life. You will discover who you are now, and who you have been, in doing the work of the self. This is so for all. Do not dismiss your issues that repeatedly present themselves to you as simply old habits that you need to change, but fully investigate what has kept you snagged on them. In so deeply discovering who you are now will you discover your completion.

I hope these words do solve some of the riddle of why I do not like to stir up too much from the distant past, but prefer to remain focused on the biggest issues of this life. It is enough, and it will show you what you need to do, and where you need to go. If you need to discover more, and are curious about your past lives, electing to adventure into them, remain aware of the issues, and also of your opportunity to now resolve them with awareness of the journey taken. But return always to your place of now, for that is where the work must be done. Past lives do intrigue, I admit, but they can also become a diversion from the work on the issues so necessary for life’s completion upon that Earth.

Find your self firmly planted in this journey, all of you Evolutionary Beings. Tackle the life you have been granted, have chosen, and have elected to live, for it holds everything you need to know about your self. It asks you to resolve who you are now, and that is your greatest challenge, and focus. Good Luck! And thank you for your question!