My eyes were starting to well up as I shoved another forkful of the delicious Thai-inspired dish into my mouth. I was warned it would be moderately spicy (as a spice wimp I really could not handle anything more than mild), but the dish was prepared by the amazing Olivia Chase during one of the special menus they used to have on Friday and Saturday nights at The Farmer and The Cook, and there was no way I was passing on this one.
Steve Sprinkle, the farmer of the duo, walked by and noticed my discomfort.
“You alright there?” he called out.
I waved my hand in front of my mouth fanning the flames and said, “It’s so delicious and a bit spicier than I normally can handle.”
He came back a few minutes later with some extra yogurt and cucumbers and set them on the table. The cooling energy and his going out of his way for me like this allowed me to finish my dish with more enjoyment and less pain as we sat outdoors in the beautiful evening air. The patio at The Farmer and The Cook is one of our favorite places to sit in all of the Ojai Valley.
I dreamed that night.
I was one of many women in a harem in ancient India. I was not high up at all on the pecking order of the female hierarchy which was really just a creation of the patriarchal structures at the time. It was not a good life. I was at some kind of gathering in the dream, sitting on the ground, men on a dias, women dancing, music, and me, along with a few other females, lowly on the dirt, no pillows to comfort or support us, each of us in competition with the other. It was a bad life filled with spicy food.
I woke in a pool of sweat, remembering the details of the memory that had arisen in my dreams, for certainly this is what it was, another me, in another life, suffering. I let myself have my feelings about it throughout the day. The association was clear to me regarding my inability to eat even the mildest of spicy peppers without discomfort. I could feel the pain and anguish of that life, the loneliness.
I worked with that version of me for a few days, sending her love whenever she came to my mind, showing her the life we had now, filled with love and freedom.
Ever since, I can eat spicy food with no discomfort, finally enjoying something I could never have imagined enjoying prior to the memories surfacing and the healing that followed.
Past/other/parallel life trauma is something that often comes up in my work with my clients. The past life bleedthroughs right now (meaning versions of ourselves from other lifetimes bleeding through the psyche of this one) are off the charts.
Sometimes inexplicable and/or compulsive behavior, our own or others, can be attributed to this phenomenon. I have written about past life bleedthroughs in the past, and you can read more about them here
As for me, I am off on an adventure free to enjoy jalapeño, habaneros, and scotch bonnets (just kidding, I’m not a masochist).
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Beautiful descriptions of the dream and your astute knowledge of the truth of the situation of that life took me right there with you, and the best part is your offering of the healing through love and compassion for that version and today's version. Thank you. I realize I still have more loving to do with the genocide/ centipede version of me as I still don't think I can embrace seeing a centipede! Thank you for writing this!!!!!