This will be a short post…because there is so much emotion involved right now when I speak about the earthquake that occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010.

I have many friends and family that live in Haiti, and there were a few days of trepidation while we waited for news about our loved ones.  Thankfully, they were all safe, but 150,000 of their neighbors and fellow Haitians did not survive the 7.0 earthquake.

And those of us who are distant from the cleanup and have no contact with the souls that still suffer in Haiti–we sit with idle hands and wonder…why?

Despite Pat Robertson’s absolutely inhumane remark that Haitians “made a pact with the devil” in order to be freed from French rule, these devastating tragedies occur in order to bring attention to an issue that has been overlooked for decades.  With its corrupt government (check out pictures of the President’s home before the quake), lack of aid from other nations due to its inability to provide any useful resources in return, and deforestation that precludes much farming by the natives, Haiti has had a really bad rap for far too long.

Now I could never justify the multitude of deaths that occurred, and I cannot imagine how horrible the mourning survivors must feel, but perhaps God can.  If, in his grand design, these souls had given up the remainder of their lives in order to bring Haiti’s plight to the world, then they were truly angels on earth.

Suicide is ending one’s own life. Simple definition, but not a simple decision, I’m sure. If you’ve never read my main blog, KimberlyDarwin.com, I address living a guilt-free life despite all the guilt we throw at ourselves and others.  But here, I want to discuss suicide from the perspective of reincarnation.

One of the main tenets of most religions that support a belief in reincarnation is that we come to our physical bodies in order to learn lessons, which will improve the integrity of our souls.  With this in mind, what happens to one who has ended his own life?  After all, suicide is performed as an escape from life’s difficulties (terminal illnesses aside–that’s for another post).  So during life’s lessons, the mind inside a body feels disconnected from others, from the Universe, and feels that ending this existence is the only way to end that loneliness.  According to the Youth Suicide Prevention Website:

“[Youths]  tend to believe that all of the unhappiness they are feeling and experiencing will go on forever. Everything that is happening to them is in the ‘here and now’ and they can’t begin to think that there might be a brighter future just around the corner.”

Although this was written for teens, I believe that it applies to adults too.  And where the youthful mind may not be as self-aware as most adults, the emotions are the same.  Failed relationships, parental issues, social struggles, peer pressure.  Issues that nearly every adult experiences in life, however the perspective for those who consider suicide is of course shifted.

So how does this affect the next life?  Well, if we continue with our thought process from earlier, we are here to learn lessons.  And if we don’t learn them in this life because we chose to escape them, then what do you think we will face in the next life?  The same lessons once more, I fear.

The subject came up in my circle about therapy and what it does for us. If you believe that you bring your old issues back with you time and time again until you resolve them, then therapy may be the key. Now therapy may be defined in many ways–pet therapy, aromatherapy, physical therapy–but here I mean therapy of the psyche. This entails opening yourself up to a complete stranger, which to me at least is easier than exposing my nasty skeletons to someone I actually LOVE and fearing their judgment. When you work out your issues with a stranger, the relationship lacks the emotional bonds that allow non-partial investigation of the issue itself (countertransference aside).

I have spent years in and out of therapy, but each time I enter another round of it, I peel another layer away from the onion that is me. It’s not so much that the therapist fixes me, but rather she guides me to look in the corners of my psyche that my ego tends to hide. And with that introverted perspective, I learn something new–why I react in certain situations, why it is that I repeat the same harmful actions again and again.

Someday I hope to return to a life where I have no issues; simply living every day in the joy of the moment is a wonderful goal to have…but then would life end because the lessons have all been learned?

Conquer Today’s Challenges. Take Control Now.