Unlike the patterns that originated sometime between childhood and adulthood, there are many phobias, everyday fears and incessant worries that don’t relate to this lifetime.

I once had a client who drove under the same overpass every day for 20 years on her way to work. One day as she was approaching the overpass, she broke out in a sweat and felt as if she couldn’t breathe – she was sure that she was having a heart attack. She turned around and headed for the emergency room, where she was told she was “just having an anxiety attack.”

When this woman came to see me, I directed her in a meditation to return to another time. When she did, she remembered being trapped under an old bridge in Pennsylvania back in the early 1800s. She was buried under heavy beams and rubble and she died there. The amazing thing was that in her previous life, she passed away at the same age she’d now reached in this life – which explained why the phobia hit when it did. After we did the guided meditation, she lost her fear and could go under the overpass again.

Life is like a record with different grooves and sometimes the needle slips. What we have to do to keep the soul safe from a negative fear that’s no longer relevant is release it. This is called “pulling the plug” on a negative past-life implant. When my own children had night terrors, I just went in and told them that they were in this time and what they were afraid of was in the past, long ago. When you do this, it isn’t necessary to go through details. The soul mind knows exactly what you’re talking about and it will surrender the offending fear that blocks it from being free.

You can and should explore your memories – both from this life and any past lives – and be investigative enough to see what you learn from them. But analyzing isn’t enough – you also have to neutralize any challenge by asking for release. By doing so, you may even discover how you can turn negative events into opportunities for positive growth.

I recently heard a comforting story about a woman who had a very real near-death experience. She went through a beautiful bright light and felt completely elated and then she was met by a gorgeous, radiant being. She exclaimed, “I don’t know if I’m good enough to be here!” The being responded, “We expect you to spill the milk, but it’s really how you clean it up that matters.” How simple, yet how true. That statement really brings home the words of Jesus, that if we become more like little children, the kingdom of heaven will be ours.

Don’t get me wrong – there isn’t anything easy about mulling over the painful parts of your life, but you have to ask yourself: Do you want to be enslaved by your memories or do you want to simply see them as episodes that, painful as they are, helped you gain strength and become who you are today? If you do the latter, you’ll be able to gaze into the mirror and know that you’ve survived the good and the bad and you’ll be freer and even stronger for it.

How about all the good memories we have? For me, those are the times I’ve shared with my psychic grandmother, my friends, my children, my teachers and my clients. Even holding my grandchildren’s hands – these are life’s precious moments. When we make love happen, we allow our soul to grow beyond all the weeds of bad memories.

Unlike replacing harmful habits with healthy patterns, you can’t just swap a hurtful memory with a pleasant one. But when you take a balanced look at the positive and the negative in your life, then you can take pride in not only what you’ve overcome, but what you’ve become because of the sum of all your experiences. Learn, for example, to say, “I’ve been abused, but there was a time when life was happy. I can and will recapture that feeling without remorse or pain. I refuse to substitute a false sense of security for happiness and I won’t be afraid to be alone, because I know that I’m always surrounded by God, my guides, the angels and all my loved ones who have passed over to the other side. I will replace any negativity that’s attached to bad memories and realize and repeat to myself: It was only a learning process. I have been loved and I can love.”

Exercise

Divide a sheet of paper in two. Put all your “Painful Memories” on the left side of the page and all your “Positive Memories” on the right. This time, at the bottom of the page on the left side, draw conclusions – in other words, what did you learn from these experiences? Don’t worry if an answer doesn’t come right away; it will if you’re persistent. It doesn’t matter how many pages you use, just ask your soul and God to give you insight into why you suffered. You’ll get the answers. Here’s an example:

Affirmation

Each day, say to yourself: “When life gives me pits, I’ll plant them and grow cherry trees.”

Meditation

Lie or sit in a comfortable position and surround yourself with a golden light. Again, start relaxing your body, beginning with your feet and going all the way up your legs, trunk, shoulders, arms, neck and head. Keep breathing in and out. Now say: “I am unstressing every part of my body. I can address every cell and tell each of them to work in harmony.” You are the guardian of you own mind, body and soul and you can instruct your mind to release any and all negativity attached to an unpleasant memory – whether it’s from this life or any past time. Let yourself relax even more deeply so that you feel as if you are floating.

All of a sudden, you are aware that you are floating through a beautiful white tunnel. You feel no pain, only a sense of peace and well-being. All your worries and hurtful memories evaporate now, like smoke. As you progress through this tunnel, you feel an even stronger connection to your real soul than ever before and you realize that you are the sum total of all your experiences. The layers of self-doubt, envy, inadequacy, worry, depression and vengeance all become nothing more than a part of a play you saw, but left behind.

As you reach the end of the tunnel, you are bathed in a purple light of spirituality. Now you find yourself facing a beautiful Romanesque building with marble pillars and stairs going up. You ascend these steps and go through the marble archway. Everything is gleaming and white and in the middle of a room at the top of the stairs, there is a beautiful orblike glass. You approach it and look into it. At first it seems opaque, but then images begin to take shape and you realize that you are scanning your life. You see how you chose your chart and what lessons you wanted to learn. Then more images come very quickly, but sequentially... your birth, your early childhood, your puberty. Stop at any place you wish to linger. See the painful as well as the joyful.

When you reach a sad or very upsetting period, realize that it was a learning process. You can even refer to your chart and you’ll be surprised by how much you decided to learn. Notice that as you watch, you feel disconnected. It is you, but you are past that now. Even if you cry at the sad times, this is a release.

You can even look into this glass orb to view past lives and let go of any phobias or illness that you might have brought over. Stay as long as you want – believe me, it will go faster than you imagine. Hold on to the pleasant memories you view, for they make you smile. When you have had enough of the scanning, you can always go back through the archway, the steps and even the tunnel, but with the realization that you have pulled out the negative memories that were stalling your soul and brought forth joyful recollections into your reality.

Bring yourself back, all the way back, feeling free, released and in full control of your true self. You are on track and very loved by God.

The above excerpt is taken from Sylvia Browne’s Lessons for Life, by Sylvia Browne. Sylvia Browne’s latest book is If you could see what I see: The Tenets of Novis. Both are published by Hay House available at bookstores or online