Interim lives are not a new concept, though it is rarely heard of or little known about. These are the lives of people and animals that have not taken what we would consider a normal course. We consider the normal course of life to be born, live however long, and then death.
Interim lives are those that take a different path than what’s considered the norm. I am familiar with only a couple different types of interim lives. The two types I am aware of are walk-ins and apprentice lives. Both these lives have a prior, temporarily, or provisional agreement. There is an intervening time that occurs unusually for a specific reason.
A walk-in life is generally the concept of a person/body whose original soul has departed his or her body and been replaced with a new soul. There is an accepted prior agreement between the two souls. It may be a prior agreement made before birth or after birth when a soul decides or agrees it no longer wants to inhabit a body so the new soul can. Though there are many reasons for the souls to swap places it is something seldom done. Until recently walk-ins were considered to be an associated agreement between human souls only. This is not true. Walk-ins also happen with animals as well. I cannot address how often it happens with either people or animals, but I do know it does and has. It may happen with all animals – pets as well as wild, but I really don’t know how common it is. My sense is that it’s rare. I only know of a few times when it has happened.
Another type of Interim life is an apprentice life. This life agreement is temporary and for a specific reason. The soul commonly chooses a shortened life span. This type of life is more commonly seen in pets, because of their shorter walk on Earth, but it also occasionally a soul will choose to learn from the life as a person. In most cases the time in Earth life is considered shortened. It is considered a preparatory time for the next life experience.
Walk-in lives involve an original soul vacating a body for a new soul to enter and inhabit that body until death. What this means is, for whatever reason an existing soul, through an arranged agreement, leaves a body to make the body available for another soul to enter that body to live life. Often this transition happens following a dramatic or traumatic life-threatening event, accompanied by a time of transition. The transition is an adjustment period for the old soul to assist the new soul to move into life activities familiar to the previous soul in a smooth civil trauma-less manner.
One person I knew, who lived a walk-in experience, was in her mid-20s when she had a life-threatening illness. As a result of the illness, she had a very high fever and near death. To help her body rest the doctor put her body in a medical coma. During that time she remembered many events as though watching a movie of her life. Then she remembered dreaming of walking along a road as one person and changing to another just before she reached the end of the road. Soon after she had the dream she remembered feeling revived. This type of experience is unusual since most walk-ins do not report having a dream experience. More often the being’s memory over a short time, transitions from one soul to another. It is also common for the two souls to share the body space for a short time to help with the transition period.
The woman I know who had this experience did not seem to have a transfer period. Rather, for her when she woke from the coma with memories that seemed both common and foreign. When she woke, she described herself as feeling refreshed with an odd, renewed energy. Doctors said her recovery was full, complete, and unusually fast. Once out of the hospital she had memories of things, but they all were distant and as though told to her rather than of her experience. Doctors told her this was a possible after effect from being in a coma and once she got back to her life all would be familiar again. When discharged she attempted to resume her daily activities. However, this life and activities always felt odd and off. Life had a chaotic feel. It took years before she learned she was a walk-in, which for her explained everything. All the distance of memories and people made sense. It seemed like only recent friends became the close trusted friends because of a very different personality emerged from the pre-coma personality. Friends that were once familiar and once thought would be long term relationships faded with only the recent remaining.
I’ve also known this to happen with pets. Generally, such an experience between animals is a smooth transition because there is less ego involved for the first soul to have the desire to keep the life going. However, that is not always the case and when failed or challenged the result is generally disastrous.
A dear friend purchased a dog who was loved and adored, but only for a short time, unfortunately. The original dog chose not to allow a smooth transition to happen, instead became an aggressive being because it was despair to retain a life force in this body. For whatever the reason, the original being chose to keep hold of this life body and would prove so through aggression. Then there were times when the original being was at rest and the new soul would come into the body. This being was sweet and kind. With both wanting or expecting to hold on to the life body became an internal struggle. The new soul might have willingly vacated but that would not have completed a prior made agreement to live and work with this owner. In an effort to prove strength the original being became aggressive and even lashed out at the older dog in the home, so much so, the aggression became problematic. The original dog was too aggressive and needed to be euthanized before hurting another more than the attack already done to the older dog. It was a sad ending in this case. There was no simple easy transition or flow in life or happiness. Rather the danger and damage was too intense to risk the well-being of all. It may have made a difference to the original pup to remember another life was soon to flow. However, when in body form not all memories of prior agreement entered are remembered.
Though there are some who struggle with the transition process, this is not the usual. I’ve worked with or heard from other animals that for them it was a smooth and seamless transition. One that I know of was a bird. This original bird was injured while in flight. He was a large bird of prey. The injury ended his life in the wild. This was a part of the agreement between the souls. For the original being, living life in captivity would have been a struggle. In the agreement the original soul would leave and the new soul would live out life in captivity as a teaching bird. The need for flight and freedom was not as innate in the second soul as the original. The result was a benefit to the public since in this exchange received a bird who would teach people about this and other birds of prey. The transition was relatively seamless and occurred during the rehabilitation process. And for many other animals there is a simple act of switching places, one soul for another without anyone noticing. This is a usual and general transition agreement between animals and has also been for very few people. People tend to make the transition complex and dramatic. For whatever the reason people tend to choose to use a significant life event to assist the process and reason for the transition.
Like attracts like or at least recognizes like when they come in contact with them. It seems most walk-ins can detect another walk-in. Another person came to me to understand their current life in relation to their past. They were given mixed messages. After told they were a walk-in and the experienced explained, they said life began to make sense. And when looking at encounters with strangers, they began to wonder if some of those encounters and messages from those people, where because the other person was a walk-in. Being told more than once they had a lot in common without even a discussion, now made sense, where previously it was simply an odd comment. And then the other things said during more discussion began to make sense. Understanding can help make sense of so many things.
There are also interim lives. These lives come in with a short-term agreement to learn something specific in preparation for their next life. Most interim lives are short with life experiences viewed with struggle or trauma. The soul uses this life to learn certain things they will take into their next life to help make that next life more effective.
Some examples would include living a life where they experience some hardship or illness so when in the next life in whatever way, such as being a counselor their understanding and empathy are higher. Though people do use interim lives as preparation for their next, it is common for the soul to use an animal life because these lives tend to be shorter in length than humankind and in most instances can accomplish what is needed to be experienced just as effectively. They may come and learn as an animal while choosing to return as a human or another animal.
I knew one horse who came from a prior life of physical abuse. Now in this life the horse as a therapy animal. However, the owner said it is the horse who chooses who it will work with, not the owner. No matter how many times and ways the owner tried to get the gentle beast to work with others the horse refused to work with any other than it’s choosing. Albeit, the horse always chose the hardest most challenged people to work with. The horse walked up to the person and no matter how hard the shell, somehow this being created an opening. It seemed, and was at times, called miraculous. It was because this horse understood abuse that helped it create an instant connection with those who experienced it the most deeply.
There is a soul today I’ve had the privilege to work with who is in an interim life. He came as a dog wanting to understand being attracted to help in a future life as a counselor. However, this life unfolded slightly different than was in the prior agreement. This dog is an angel who wanted to understand the intricacies of Earth life and being attacked so in the next life, as an Earth Angel, the empathy would be more genuine. The lesson was to be a simple and mild attack by another of its kind. Instead, the other dog was grieving the loss of a housemate and envious of the closeness shared by their housemate and my dog client. The attack was more significant and left a very real trauma, not a simple lesson to experience. A simple bite became a life-threatening attack. Rather it became an experience with significant trauma that needed to be healed in this life. Just because there was a prior agreement for this angel, the actual experience was not as planned. This poor angel could not control the outcome or failed result of the pre-agreement and now must do significant healing, not what wanted or expected. Other lessons and experiences are not happening with the ease or as desired in preparation for the next life. What became an unexpected ultimate lesson in this life was life, happens as it does and not always as planned.
I can tell many stories of others who have chosen an interim life to help gain background insights and experiences to bring to the next life, making their next life more effective in their life plan and work for some lifetimes of soul work.
This is not to say all who have lived a life with trauma of any kind are living in an interim state or that the learning experienced happened just as agreed. Nor does this mean all interim lives are a life of struggle and trauma to the any and especially not the highest degree. And this also does not mean that all who are in certain roles today chose to learn from an interim situation that they wanted to bring into this or the next setting. The souls that choose this experience have their reasons, desires, choices, and situations for why this is a part of their overall agreement. Whatever reason, it is their own and vary from soul to soul.
Though this is not exactly an interim life, it is worth mentioning here. Some of our pets come back to life form after they have pasted, to be in our life again. Though they come back again, they don’t come back as exactly the same pet with exactly the same personality. New life new lessons to learn and a new personality to try out. Yet at a soul level, we are their human partner see through the new exterior to connect with them again on a deeper level.
Life is very precious and may bring with it more differences and experiences than we ever realized – prior experiences to help us now. For some, learning about prior lives and experiences is fascinating, but not for everyone. Each life is its own to experience with its own lessons to learn, its own experiences to be, and to simply be its own. While at the same time, the past experiences have an effect and influence. They are not a direct part of this life, just an influential piece. All we can do is live this one to our best. To me this means to remember you are the center of your world while surrounded by so much more. We are also responsible for all around us. This responsibility includes people, animals, environment, Earth, spirit, space, All. We do not live alone but in a community, with community responsibilities while remaining true to our soul center through – our human mind, heart, spirit, energy, being, self as part of more. So be and act as though this is real, because it is.