Question: Are the family members we have here in physical a part of an agreement we had before we got here to share a purpose or common lesson? The members of my immediate family in particular seem to have common emotional issues that need to be dealt with, like depression and low self worth at the lower end of the scale.

Also, do we have family units in non-physical? I’ve heard other people talk of soul families in non-physical.

Higgins: The brief answers to your questions are yes and yes.

Soul Family is perhaps the best way to describe a non-physical family unit. Think about a single cell. When that cell grows to a certain size it divides. You physicals are eternal beings and eternally evolving and growing. When the essence that is you grows to a certain point it launches another part of itself that has its own sense of ‘I’. Rather than vision this new ‘I’ as a baby, think of this new ‘I’ as two of you. Like identical twins being born already grown- up.

There are many within your Soul Family and as the ‘family’ grows groups break off to pursue other directions.

The answer to your first question is both yes and no. There are many variables in the full answer to this question. We will do our best to explain in words.

In nearly every case, the soul that is born has preplanned their birth. Many times the birth was planned before the parent was birthed. There is typically some common expression among them or one’s weakness or strength may be desirable to another. However, and this is important regarding the answer, depression and other bodily afflictions are passed energetically along.

You and your Earth family did not come here to experience depression. Depression is a side effect of not living out your true purpose and heart’s delight. So what is happening is something like this: your parents came forth expecting to express their heart’s delight. The Earth realm was found to be overwhelmingly dense and they were sucked in like being stuck in quicksand. Now each of you, your siblings, come forth and expect to live your heart’s delight but find yourselves also with quicksand sucking you under. You struggle to stay afloat. (Friend, you personally feel yourself getting stuck and struggle to stay afloat, yes?) The earliest close mentors are typically parents and older siblings. What you see you tend to copy. There was no other template for you to follow and the understanding that one chooses one’s way is missing on Earth and only now being rediscovered.

Remember also that vibration attracts like vibration and while for a short time in youth one holds one’s own naturally cheerful demeanor it is tarnished early and often seriously undermined and even destroyed by a very young age. This is because the dominant household vibration is most often held by the adults in the home.

The meat of this answer is thus: follow your heart’s desire. Do not settle for ‘no’. Nothing that you desire is unachievable unless you give up or change your mind. By gently and persistently following your heart’s desire you will attain happiness and prosperity and satisfaction.

Received February 27, 2011