- Double Vision: Prevention of Earthbound State in the Afterlife
I’ve been reading about earthbound spirits, and how sometimes when people die, they either don’t realize they have died or they’re tied to the earth plane for some reason. How can we avoid becoming earthbound spirits when we cross over? Also, is there something we can do to help departed relatives so that they don’t become earthbound?
– Marcus
Dreamchaser:
This is a topic I have wanted to discuss here for a long time, so I’m glad you gave me the opportunity!
I am of course familiar with earthbound spirits from my work, but I did not have personal contact with an earthbound spirit until my dad died. As I have stated in previous columns, Dad was earthbound by CHOICE for about three years. He had unfinished business, so he chose to stay and try to clean up some messes he had made while he was alive.
The one thing we have to remember is that most souls can choose whether they cross through the light or stay on this side of the light. Souls do not have to cross over until they are good and ready. Some are afraid of what might be on the other side of the light. As you mentioned, some do not know they are dead. You have to remember that for the most part, it is each soul’s CHOICE.
There is nothing you can to do now to ensure that your soul will choose to cross over. You can, however, try to leave no unfinished business so that you have no ties to this earth plane anymore.
I think the key to that is to live in the NOW. Get out of the past and stay out of the future. Live in this very moment. I think if we could all do that, then we would always be walking with Spirit, in perfect union with the Universe and always saying and doing what we were supposed to say and do.
It is when we start THINKING too much that we mess stuff up. If we lived in the Now, we would never argue or hate or wallow in any other negative emotion because it would just pass. We would feel it, it would be gone, and then we would be back to the peace of the Now. There would be no loose ends to tie up when we die.
If you have an earthbound spirit around you (and most ghosts are earthbound), then there are things you can do. I know this line has become really cliche, but saying “Go to the Light” is really quite effective! Sometimes beings stay here because they do not know what is going on.
If you tell them that there are loved ones waiting for them past the light, and everything will be okay over there, sometimes they just get up and go. In other cases, you have to tell them quite a few times. Of course, in tough cases you can talk until you are blue in the face and they’ll STILL choose to stay here.
If you are afraid that your own soul will become earthbound, and you choose to not learn how to live in the Now, then you can trust that if you become earthbound, it’s because your soul chose it for some reason. You have to trust that whatever happens to you ultimately has a good purpose.
I wish you a very PRESENT existence.
*****
Astrea:
Animals, happy people, and people who are very ill or old don’t seem to have much problem with becoming Earthbound. Death is a part of life; it’s a natural release – that’s what I hear over and over from the Departed.
Usually if a Spirit remains close for a calendar year, it’s because they are trying to help family members grieve and let go. Sometimes people get stuck because the family won’t let go. Other times, people trap themselves here thinking that they can change someone’s ways or teach them a lesson. When they can’t, it’s difficult for them to let go of this imagined obligation.
In the best circumstances, an older relative will stay and watch over a new baby, sort of like a Guardian Angel. In the worst, someone who did something terrible will be so plagued by guilt that they can’t move towards the Light. There are many possibilities in between these two extremes.
There are also times when people aren’t ready to accept that they’re on the other side, or they don’t know they’re dead. Television is full of shows that romanticize “gifted” people who help those Spirits by either communicating with their living friends and relatives or simply helping them move towards the Light. WHOOSH! Yippee! It only takes an hour!
I’ve never found it so fast or easy in my work or my own life. I can’t turn it off and on, but I’m not paralyzed (Medium) or annoyed (Ghost Whisperer), and I usually don’t accost strangers on the street.
I don’t advertise that I can talk to the dead very much because sometimes I can, and sometimes I can’t. I hope I’ve helped some Earthbound spirits, but I don’t have any evidence that I have or haven’t, because I haven’t been to Heaven yet to ask them how things turned out.
Although it would be nice if it happened like it does on television, I don’t know anyone who does this kind of work who says that this is how it goes. It’s painful and sometimes scary. Everyone cries except the Departed.
An important element of all this that is often overlooked is the Departed’s difficulties with talking to the living. It takes many spirits a year or so to get over their fear that they will be scary to the living, or somehow make things worse for them.
Lately it seems to be taking less time, because I think both the living AND the departed are becoming more open to the possibility that death is just part of life. We don’t have to like it, but it’s inevitable that death will happen to us and to those we love. The more we accept it as a part of life, the more we’ll be able to remain connected with loved ones on other planes.
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