When Florence first met with me, she shared her experiences of unfair treatment at work, including being bullied, singled out for mistakes, and isolated. She felt that her supervisors and colleagues were unfriendly towards her. She was afraid of making mistakes at work, being looked down upon, and criticized. As a result, she put in several times more effort than the average person to ensure that her work was flawless, such as repeatedly checking a document and verifying every word to make sure there were no errors, so that no one could find fault with her. Before meetings, she was afraid of saying the wrong thing and being criticized by others, which led her to feel fearful for days beforehand and to prepare extensively. Each time before a meeting, she felt tremendous pressure and anxiety. Her anxiety issues were significantly affecting her mood and mental state, causing her great distress.
However, the harshest critic of Florence was actually herself. Throughout her life, she had always felt a deep sense of shame and inferiority. She did not like herself, believing that she was incompetent, slow-witted, and only made up for her lack of talent through hard work. In reality, she was not only diligent but also capable. She had obtained bachelor's and master's degrees and was now pursuing a second master's degree. She also had opportunities for promotion at work. Objectively, she was not as inadequate as she imagined herself to be, but her self-perception was completely opposite.
After several meetings with Florence, we decided to try past life regression therapy to see if this treatment method could help with her anxiety disorder. I guided Florence to recall her memory of hosting her first work meeting, intending to let her experience the anxious emotions. Unexpectedly, what she felt most intensely was shame. Since shame is a strong and difficult emotion to deal with, and a common core emotion in emotional disorders, I used shame as a link to guide her back to her past life memories.
In Florence's past life, she saw herself as a middle-aged Japanese man wearing straw sandals and carrying a samurai sword, resting by a small stream near a field, with his legs immersed in the cool water. The scene shifted, and he was in a familiar tavern, drinking and eating pork knuckles. Suddenly, several people started fighting and disturbing the tavern owner. He couldn't stand it and intervened, even fighting with them. They were no match for him and fled, but they left a threat that they wouldn't let him get away with it. I asked Florence if she could see her own appearance, but she said she couldn't. As the next scene appeared, Florence saw her own face and said, "I think I'm dead because my head has been cut off. My eyes are wide open, my face is full of beard, and I look very fierce." Florence went on to describe how she was on a battlefield, riding a warhorse, charging forward and attacking the enemy camp when she was ambushed and beheaded from the side. As her head fell, she heard cheers and applause from afar. Then, she saw her soul leave her body and float in midair, looking around and seeing many other souls floating up just like her, staring at their bodies on the ground, unable to do anything. These souls were the soldiers she had led. As he heard the people around him cheering because of his death, he felt extremely ashamed, thinking, "So my death brings so much joy to so many people!" He also felt guilty for causing the deaths of many comrades because of himself. He left this world with strong feelings of shame, guilt, and loss.
During Florence's past life regression, her subconscious skipped over the tavern memory and went directly to the moment of her death. There must have been many unbearable events in between, so as part of the regression therapy, we needed to fully understand the pain she experienced in her past life to release these frozen emotions and find healing. So, I guided Florence to review her past and further understand what had happened to her.
As a result, I led Florence back to the events after she drove away the thugs at the tavern. She saw her beloved woman giving birth to their son, but because of his line of work, which had created many enemies, he could only hide his lover and newborn child in a dark, concealed cabin to keep them safe from his enemies. However, when he returned from the tavern, he found that his lover and newborn son had been killed, and there were signs that his lover had been raped. Faced with this scene, Florence's heart ached as if it were being torn apart, and tears streamed down her face. She then recalled meeting her lover: at first, he was a bodyguard for a wealthy family, responsible for protecting their daughter. Later, they spent more time together, fell in love, and eloped because her family disapproved of their relationship. They led a simple life as commoners and truly enjoyed every experience they encountered.
He felt extremely guilty, as his loved ones tragically died at the hands of his enemies because of him. Facing the loss of his wife and child, he decided that he could not develop any emotional connections with others in the future, as doing so would put more people at risk. Grief and hatred consumed him, and although he quickly avenged the deaths of his wife and child by killing those responsible, it still could not heal the pain in his heart. From then on, he led a numb and emotionless life. Using his skills, he became an assassin in the midst of Japan's feudal struggles, serving wealthy aristocrats by assassinating others. His success rate in assassination was high, which earned him recognition and promotion in his industry. Eventually, he rose through the ranks to become a general, helping the aristocrats attack other feudal domains. Finally, in one battle, he was killed by an enemy assassin, ending his painful life. At the time of his death, he was filled with deep guilt and shame, feeling responsible for the deaths of his wife, child, and comrades and hating himself. These emotions seemed to affect Florence's present life.
Through past life regression therapy, Florence gradually understood that her past life's lesson was to learn to forgive herself and others. During the therapy, she let go of her shame and fully forgave herself.
Two weeks later, I met with Florence again, and she happily told me that her sense of shame had significantly decreased. She was able to comfortably present herself and participate in company social activities. A month later, during another meeting, she told me that her overall feeling of shame had subsided, but she still had some self-critical thoughts. She believed that these self-criticisms were habits developed over 20 years and would take time to change. However, her emotional state had greatly improved. Interestingly, she said that she no longer felt that her supervisors and colleagues were unfriendly towards her. She could interact with them more comfortably, which greatly reduced her stress and anxiety.
I have always believed that past life regression therapy is a treatment for our subconscious, including our emotions. However, we also need to learn essential lessons at the conscious level, such as cultivating acceptance and love for ourselves. These are lessons that we still need to work on in our present life.
Comments