When I sit back and reflect, I realize that accessing the memories of my first past life, followed by fourteen more human incarnations, was simply preparation for what lay ahead. Acceptance was at the heart of everything: accepting that there is something beyond my ability to control or explain.
The more I tried to make sense of my experiences using the logical and pragmatic criteria familiar to our world, the deeper I drifted into the unknown. Many days, I told myself—whether chatting with friends or therapists to gauge my clarity of mind—that despite their reassurances, what I was experiencing was far from the norm. I was no longer existing in a sphere of normalcy. “Normal” was something accepted and similar to the majority, and I knew that neither in childhood nor later had I perfectly aligned with society’s standard definition of it.
Is an actor motivated by the drama he performs, fully immersing himself in his character’s role, living in the realm of normalcy? Is there something in his experience that resonates with us all? The same can be said for the dancer and the musician. We’ve grown accustomed to categorizing artists as distinct, yet we admire those who achieve fame for stepping outside the bounds of normalcy. This is true for a footballer who scores a last-second goal, an IT guru who develops an innovative feature, a mechanic who finds a clever solution, or a truck driver who avoids a collision in the nick of time. Are these acts normal? Or were they moments—perhaps even divine moments?
Indeed, these moments are rare; if we’re fortunate, we may experience just one such moment in our lives, something that shifts the course of everything we do. I call this the New Normal moment. It changes our perspective on life and often transforms us. We stop adapting to the old normal at that point.
This is My New Normal. I have learned to live with strange dreams, premonitions, perceptions of various energies and entities, and to accept these as part of my New Normal. This does not prevent me from laughing with friends, enjoying a movie, taking charge in a crisis, or managing everyday responsibilities. It doesn’t detach me from reality or provoke reckless actions. On the contrary, it helps me feel more authentically myself and open to the unknown.
