Do you believe in past lives? Having memories that aren't my own.

[Goodgriefimtired]

Just something I've been thinking about, because it happened again recently, and I wondered if there was an explanation for it, or if it has happened to anyone else.

Since I've been quite young, I've had these flashes of vivid memory, that simply aren't mine.

When I was in my early teens, I heard a piece of classical music - I can't remember what it was now- and all of a sudden I had this memory of being in a dark hall, listening to music, and seeing the woman in front of me lean over and gesture to a friend, she was wearing a ring with a large stone, which caught the lamplight and flashed on her hand.

Another one is monkey puzzle trees. Anytime I see a monkey puzzle tree, especially if it's standing a little off on its own, I get a picture of standing at a bay window, looking out on to a small, close cut old lawn - you know the type you get in old vicarage - listening to some rooks cawing in a monkey puzzle tree, and feeling really peaceful and contented.

Also, the first Christmas my children were all old enough to talk/know what was going on and get properly excited, I went Christmas shopping, sneaked in home late, feeling really proud of myself for getting organised, and I could hear them chattering in the kitchen. The air had that crisp, frosty smell, and out of nowhere, I thought "I remember this. How lovely to be able to do this again"

Another one- sitting in an old fashioned room, furnished in dark wood and forest green, feeling utterly smothered and eating stale cake. I actually visited a small NT property last year, there was a late Victorian sitting room decorated in such a way and it immediately made me think of the memory

There's been a few other such memories and feelings. It's strange, because they feel as real as the memories I know are mine, but they simply couldn't be. Mostly the memories feel like those of an adult, even though I wasn't always a adult when I had the memory.

I have a fairly good memory in general, my earliest memory is from I was 18 months old and has been confirmed by my mum. I can remember lots of details rather than feelings - that's actually partly why these memories seem different, I couldn't tell you many details, but the feeling is the same. So the sight of a monkey puzzle tree will trigger the feeling of being contented I had in that memory, however if I remember some things that did actually happen to me, eg my Grandad's funereal, I won't remember feeling sad (I was) but I remember the skirt I was wearing

I'm an atheist, and not generally woo, but this has happened frequently enough that it does make me wonder

www.amazon.co.uk/Many-Lives-Masters-prominent-psychiatrist/dp/0749913789/ref=asc_df_0749913789/?hvlocphy=9046888&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310817460612&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-434634083404&hvrand=17672038854727025304

My DS talked very early, and regularly mentioned his 'other mum' and his 'other home' with his brother, whom he once referred to as Max. I tried to stay non-committal so I didn't lead him, and it all gradually faded away by the time he was about 3. He has no recollection of it now but was very insistent at the time.

I read a fascinating book about it all many years ago, which discussed cases of children born with birthmarks that matched the wounds that had killed the people they remembered being, and one child whose 'past family' in a completely different country were traced because he remembered his phone number!! I wish I could find it again - it might be this one.

My DD also used to talk about her other Mummy when she was small. She was completely convinced and would just casually mention her other family, it didn't seem strange to her at all. It faded over time though, and she doesn't remember it now.

How interesting, I often get very vivid deja vu, it's quite unnerving.
I'd love to try regression , will you do it OP ?

My DS has told us that I am always his Mummy - he said he always finds me and makes sure we stay together. He 'remembers' us living in a place with lots of sand amongst other things.

All very weird and creepy but I don't believe in it. My DM does though

Can I point out that (a) small children are extremely imaginative and (b) there has been a spate of popular children's films that have very cute and clever scenarios dealing with where/how babies are before they are in their families, like Boss Baby and Storks?

And that the work on 'past life regression' by Brian Weiss, whose book was linked up the thread, is viewed as complete nonsense by the American Association of Psychiatrists -- hardly surprisingly as his research was conducted without scientific protocols or peer review. Which might be understandable from Doris Stokes, but is a lot stranger as an omission from an Ivy League-educated medic.

I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation, but there has been some research about “inherited memories”, meaning that we have some sort of memory of things our ancestors went through. The research is more, right now, for trauma—and relates to the descendants of people who survived concentration camps during the Holocaust. But scientists think it can provide valuable insight about phobias, and stuff like that. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more complex and stronger, and if we can actually “remember” significant moments that our ancestors went through.

I have had recurring dreams about a secret attic room all my life—of keeping this room secret, of hiding important scary things in there. Relatively recently, I learned that my great-etc grandparents operated a stop on the Underground Railroad, prior to the American Civil War, and that they hid the escaped slaves in a secret attic room. I realised that made sense with these dreams/memories I had.

Now, my own grandparents died when I was very young. But there is a chance someone told me about this before I could really understand, and I hid it in the back of my my memory. Or, maybe it was such an intense, powerful thing to go through, that I’m still remembering four generations later.