The one thing that stood out for me in the documentary I posted this morning was a reminder of the roles we play. Like a theatre play we accept our roles, play them out, then once the curtain comes down we all get up and have a party together. No animosity. No grudges. They pointed out criminals, victims, even Hitler would have got up and had a party together once the curtain comes down.

I’ve explained a lot about the roles we play in the Stress Relief course. Getting a solid understanding of this concept makes a huge difference to how you see your life as “out of control” and in the hands of others – be it a spouse, boss, the government or even your kids.

I can post that later if you want me to.

From the documentary though, we learn that although there are some of us visiting Earth for our first life right now, the vast majority of us are well seasoned players and have been playing here for a long time.

I love their description of it being a bit like a roller coaster ride. When you get on for the first time you’re unsure what’s going to happen. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes down. Sometimes it’s scary and other times it’s pure delight. No matter what happens, when the ride is finished most people are really excited about getting back on and going for another ride simply to experience it again.

One of the lives Mercredan had talked about for me was back in Ancient Greece. Certainly, you hear of many lives people can remember under hypnosis as being in Egypt, Mesopotamia and other ancient civilisations. I was quite upset when I heard this. I thought “Haven’t I learnt my lessons yet? Am I so dumb that I have to keep coming back and I still haven’t figured it out?” But looking at it from the Spiritual perspective I must simply be enjoying the roller coaster ride!

Back in the documentary they point out how having plenty of lives to experiment within, we have run the gamut of roles there are to play. We’ve all played the aristocrat, the street kid who starves to death, the victim, the murderer, the one who takes advantage of others and the knight in shining armour.

When I think about how I used to play with my friends in Primary (Elementary) school, we used to take a different role each lunchtime and you had until the bell went to play out your story. If we girls were playing the damsels in distress tied to a tree and the boys were having too much fun with their sword fight, we were never rescued before the bell, but we didn’t necessarily have to be rescued the next day because we may choose a different storyline and be adventurers along with the boys instead … whatever felt like fun. No karma necessary but having a balance by not playing the same role every day made it more interesting and taught us more as we looked at life from a different perspective each time. What if our lives are the same as this?

If all these roles we’ve played that we cannot remember right now are still sitting within our sub-conscious memory, how does that affect our behaviour now? Our judgements of others and our judgements about ourselves?

When I see someone harshly judging another these days I wonder if it is because they themselves played that role before and feel shame in it. For example, pointing the finger at Gays as being disgusting may be because the person judging has felt some attraction to their same sex before and felt great shame in that. Maybe it’s something they did earlier in this life or in another they can’t remember. But that lack of forgiveness for ourselves is the key to releasing judgement.

Try this exercise…

1) List all the roles you could possibly play in life.

Example, for me in no particular order: mother, daughter, sister, coach, nurse, material girl, faithful friend, unreliable friend, lover, liar, dreamer, inspirer, agent, artist, dancer, leader, student, murderer, victim, wench, muse, masochist, trail blazer, hypocrite, manager, hag, empress … you get the idea. These are female, though I’m sure I’ve been male plenty of times too.

I got approximately 150 roles when I did this last night before I figured that was enough.

2) Accept the roles

Look at all these roles, be they generally considered good or bad, and focus on accepting that you are all of these things. This is how you play. You have been all of these things and sometimes you enjoyed the role, sometimes not, but each time you volunteered.

When you dwell on the fact you volunteered, this is where you get to control what sort of life you have from here on.

You may be the victim of bullying right now but if you decide not to play that role anymore then the bullying cannot continue. Both parties need to volunteer to play the scene on life’s stage. It’s more in your control than you believe.

I feel really good after dwelling on this idea. I think I’ll look at criminals and perpetrators with a bit more of a smile on my lips now too.

I’d be curious to know what you experience yourself and if there are extra steps I need to offer you in order to forgive yourself and accept the sinner and the saint in you.

Even if you’ve done something you are very ashamed of or you’ve set yourself up in a costume that no longer fits and you want to change your role part way through life, all of that is possible.