How Do You Know If You’ve Had a Past Life — Even If You Don’t Remember One?

Crysta Foster
Jan 3
3 min read

A lot of people assume that if they don’t have vivid visions or clear “flashbacks,” then they must not have lived before.

But in my experience, that’s rarely true.

Most spiritually curious people feel hints, echoes, emotional pulls, or unexplained patterns long before they ever remember specific details. And there’s a reason for that.

Let’s talk about it gently — without fantasy, pressure, or forcing anything.

Does everyone have past lives?

My personal belief is: yes — in one form or another.

If we start with simple physics:

Energy cannot be destroyed. It only changes form.

If the soul — or life essence — is energy, then it doesn’t simply vanish when our bodies stop working. It goes somewhere. And where it goes has been debated across religions and cultures for thousands of years.

I tend to believe we come back to experience, grow, heal, and understand different perspectives. And if that’s the case, it’s very likely that most of us have lived many, many lifetimes — not just one.

Maybe dozens.

Maybe hundreds.

Maybe more.

So why don’t we remember them?

Imagine this:

You’ve lived 100 past lives.

Each lifetime is like a 100,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Every puzzle piece = one memory.

That means…

Ten. Million. Memories.

And that doesn’t even include your current life.

Your brain has actually done you a massive favor.

If you had instant access to every fear, every regret, every love, every loss — across every lifetime — it would be impossible to function here.

You’d constantly compare:

“In one life I drowned — why do I love swimming now?”
“In another life that person hurt me — why do I feel safe with them today?”
“Why do I remember being different names, races, genders, and families?”

It would be mentally and emotionally overwhelming.

So most memories get stored — like photos sealed inside a trunk — until we’re ready.

A few puzzle pieces slip through sometimes:

a recurring dream
an unexplained fear
a deep connection to a place you’ve never been
a “knowing” that makes no logical sense

But they’re fragments, not full scrapbooks.

And that’s intentional.

Old books on a library shelf symbolizing stored past life memories and soul history.

But if I don’t remember, how can I know I’ve had past lives?

You don’t need detailed scenes to sense a past life.

Often it shows up more subtly:

repeating emotional patterns
strong attractions or aversions
déjà vu experiences
unexplained talents
or the feeling: “I’ve done this before.”

Sometimes those impressions eventually open into memory.

Sometimes they never need to — because the point isn’t collecting stories, it’s healing the patterns.

What about regression or hypnosis? Can’t I just force it?

You can consciously explore past lives through guided work if you choose to — but trying to force memories usually backfires. You need a plan and a good objective before you dive deeper.

Your psyche will only show you what is:

✔ emotionally safe

✔ useful for healing

✔ appropriate for where you are right now

For some people, that means nothing happens at first.

Not because they “don’t have past lives”…

…but because their nervous system is wisely protecting them.

Slow and respectful always works better than pushing.