On the side of Heredity and Nature, modern science tells us that we all are "genetically predisposed" to think and act in predefined ways. Links between genetics, disease, and behavior are becoming more firmly established all the time. So science has us believe, the fault lies not in our stars but in our cells. And yet science fails to answer why our cells formed in one way and not another.

One answer to that question is that resonances from past lives carry over and determine which way our cells have formed.

On the side of Environment and Nurture, modern psychotherapy tells us that most present day problems spring from the never ending bucket of "childhood issues". So everything that "happened to you in your childhood", especially if it "gives you trouble" as an adult, is the "fault of your parents". And yet science fails to answer why given the same environment do different people react differently.

One answer to that question is that Souls react to the life experiences they are presented with using the cumulative learnings gained from their own unique past life journey through the universe.

Bringing the Past Forward into the Present

To grow in awareness, we consciously incarnate into situations that will bring us to heal unresolved pain and issues from past lives so we can advance our spiritual growth. We set the stage for the karmic drama we choose in any given lifetime by participating in experiences where our old patterns of being will no longer serve us. This brings us to new learnings about our life in the universe so we grow in love.

Although we can attach to our past life issues at any point along our journey, we tend to pick up the majority of them in our "young and impressionable" childhood. Since past life issues attach to us so firmly in childhood, it is there that traces of our existences in past lives most strongly reveal themselves.

For it is past lives - via our cellular memory - that have formed our nature. And it is past lives - via the choices about reincarnation we are entitled to make (choosing our parents, our life circumstances, our romantic partners, and so on) - that have formed our nurture. Finally, it is what we carry with us from past lives - our skills and abilities, our wisdom and instincts - that help us along our journey through life.

Here is how we can walk through the minefield of childhood…

#1: IDENTICAL TWINS WITH VASTLY DIFFERENT LIVES

If heredity and environment were the only factors influencing our lives, then identical twins who have the same genetics and were raised in the same environment, should always end up living the same lives. And yet there are many cases where identical twins raised in the same family lead diametrically opposite lives.

In a dramatic case, one identical twin is a straight A student with a picture perfect life and while the other is a drug addict with a lengthy criminal record. In that case, the straight A student had a rich heritage of past life experience which "saved" him from his upbringing by toxic parents in an abusive home. While his twin, lacking the past life inner resources, was crushed under by the unrelenting hardship.

#2: KARMIC RISK FACTORS: BIRTH DEFECTS

The miracle of genetics is that with just two parents "infinite diversity in infinite combinations" of physical and mental gifts in a single child is possible. In any given lifetime, an individual comes into agreement with new parents whose bodies and minds are capable of producing offspring with the desired traits. For example, Leonardo DaVinci's father was an educated (presumably intelligent) nobleman but the servant girl he raped to produce Leonardo was "ignorant and stupid".

How the child is actually conceived and developed is determined by their life contract. Birth defects are almost always signs of both parents and children being on the "karmic debt consolidation repayment plan." The specific birth defects always relate to the karmic and spiritual issues the "child" must work to resolve.

#3: KARMIC WONDERS: CHILD PRODIGIES & IDIOT SAVANTS

Extreme forms of past life manifestations in children are "child prodigies" (children who are born with extremely advanced expertize) and "idiot savants" (children who can perform complex calculations but are lacking in very basic social skills).

Child prodigies have developed certain skill sets in such a high degree in past lives that they become deeply ingrained in their persona. So when that Soul reincarnates, the skills come along in the new body fully intact and a child prodigy is born.

Similarly, idiot savants reincarnate with fully developed skill sets but there is usually such a serious imbalance between their mental and emotional bodies as to put the mental body completely in control of the individual. The mind "out of control" drives the emotions and the physical body of the savant to act in ways that are considered to be socially unacceptable. The karmic goal of this existence is to "knock" the emotions back into shape and restore balance.

#4: EXPERIMENTS IN ABANDONMENT: ORPHANED BABIES

As those courageous and kind enough to adopt children abandoned in foreign orphanages can tell you, the neglect of early years usually leaves the orphan emotionally and mentally damaged. Often these abandoned children will develop severe attachment (bonding) and rage disorders.

Common wisdom says that if a child has been abandoned in an orphanage for more than two years they become so internally damaged as to be "unfit" for adoption. And yet, there are many cases where children abandoned for four years or more emerge "unharmed" from the experience while others left in the orphanage only a few months become psychotic. Again the differences can be explained from the inside by varying strength developed in past lives.

#5: KARMA OVER MIND: THE UN-MOLESTED CHILD

It is a depressing statistic that sexual molesters, in any given lifetime, are unable to change their destructive pattern of behavior. Usually they attract family members around them who need to repay karma by being a sexually abused child.

Yet in many families with a sexually molesting parent is one or more children are never targets for the sexual abuse. This is not strategy on the part of the abuser to divert the suspicions of others. For many abusers do try and "mend their ways" with little or no success at stopping themselves. Why this happens is that the unmolested children have not come into agreement with being abused and so they are "passed over" by the parent. Often the parent gives some reason "why" one was skipped which even they know is not the "real" (karmic) reason.

#6: LONG TIME COMPANIONS: PLAYING FAVORITES

As much as parents try, when there is more than one child, they will be accused of playing favorites. Often this is "imagined" by the child but very often it is quite real. When parents play favorites among their children, especially where there are no "significant reasons" for this "unequal treatment" based on personality, looks, behavior, and so on, the favoritism comes from past life karma.

For example, a client was routinely ostracized from her family despite her persistent attempts to win their approval. In their most recent past life, this family had incarnated as a group in Nazi Germany and the client had been responsible for turning them all into the authorities. Not realizing it would result in their deaths, the client had died shortly afterward of a "broken heart". In this life, she is desperately trying - without much success - to make it up to them.

#7: ROLE REVERSAL: CHILDREN AS PARENTS

There are many families where, as soon as the child is "old enough", they assume the role of parent. Often this is because the parent is "under-functioning" due to prolonged illness, addiction to drugs, or extreme "immaturity". Where the child is able to function with any degree of success as a parent, it is due to inner strength they have developed over the course of many past lifetimes.

Take the case of Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, who parented her through many bouts of alcoholism and drug abuse. Lorna was an old Soul who took on the role of parent out of the greatest love for her "mother".

#8: CHILDREN OF THE HEART: "ADOPTED" CHILDREN

There are no accidents in the universe - nowhere is this more true than in the case of adopted children. Adoptive children and parents are drawn together for the same reasons that "natural" (biological) children and parents are drawn together… the resolution of past life karma. Children become attracted - karmically - to parents having the same unresolved spiritual issues as they do.

In many cases, to make that clear, the parent and adoptive child will physically resemble one another. Take the case of famous newswoman, Barbara Walters, and her daughter, Jackie. They have a striking physical resemblance and admit to sharing similar issues. Not surprisingly, there was an unconscious recognition of this by Barbara herself who said Jackie was "born to be my child".

#9: STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND: ODD ONES OUT

Although those born in the same family have karma in common, people are more like themselves as they have developed in their past lives than they are like other members of their family. This is especially true of the spiritually advanced who often feel like "strangers in a strange land" inside their own families.

Very often the spiritually advanced will choose to incarnate into a family of developing souls to help them grow by being an example. Or they will incarnate into a family where, to be themselves, they must go against established "family values" and bring themselves to deeper levels of self love and self acceptance. Or they will incarnate into an extremely toxic, dysfunctional family to help them develop their "spiritual muscles" by better defining their personal boundaries and by forcing them to clarify their sense of their "true self".

#10: CONTRARY TO NATURE: SKIPPING FAMILY DISEASES

Disease runs in families because it's members are attracted to similar unresolved issues shared by the group rather than by "strictly biological" concerns. Meaning that it is one's past life karma that determines a person's attachment to any given disease because their karma is what has formed the cellular matrix of their body.

Take the case of Huntington's Disease which is an "inherited" disorder resulting in the "irreversible" deterioration of both body and mind as the person ages. "Each child of an affected parent has a 50 % chance of inheriting the disease." And yet, even those who have the gene, can "skip" the disease if their karma warrants it.

#11: CONTRARY TO NURTURE: "STARS" & "IDIOTS"

Everyone knows someone whose family has a one child who is the "shining star" and another who is the "village idiot". The most striking example of this was the Carter family which produced both a President of the United States (Jimmy Carter) and an dysfunctional alcoholic (Billy Carter). Both Carters had similar genetics, the same environment, and yet vastly different levels of personal achievement.

Yet what is unexplainable by nature and nurture is perfectly explainable in the context of past lives. Jimmy Carter is an "old Soul" who has been on the path of world leadership for many incarnations while Billy Carter is a "young Soul" who is struggling to master basic life conflicts.

#12: TOXIC PARENTS OF THE SPIRITUALLY ADVANCED

It is very common in my work with the more spiritually advanced for them to ask me "why did they hook up with such toxic parents". The answer always comes back that the purpose of "toxic" parents is to force the spiritually advanced to love themselves at the deepest levels. They must become their own parent because they cannot receive enough love from their biological parents.

Credits: from channeled information