Soul Contracts

Do you have a sibling who really knows how to push your buttons? How about a friend who understands you better than anyone on planet Earth? Do you have a nearly-telepathic connection with one of your children? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might have a soul contract with that person.

What is a soul contract?

A soul contract is an agreement we make with another person before coming into a human incarnation. It’s an understanding that we will learn and/or teach certain lessons to each other throughout our lives. Some soul contracts can be a little vague and nondescript, while others are very specific.

If you wanted to become more patient and capable of forgiveness, you would need a volunteer to irritate you occasionally. In the spirit world, while you and your sibling were planning your upcoming lives, you may have asked them to play the role of Irritating Sibling. Like a stage actor agreeing to play the villain, they would have hesitantly agreed with an understanding that when the “play” ended, you wouldn’t hold it against them. You promised you wouldn’t. And here you are… trying not to overreact when they don’t return your calls or when they make planning a family get-together nearly impossible. All the while, you’re becoming more patient, flexible, and forgiving without even realizing it. The details of this “Patience and Forgiveness” soul contract are nonspecific… meaning that your sibling might get under your skin at times, but in other cases might cut you a break. It’s flexible and subject to change. It’s all driven by a subconscious understanding of our roles and what we came here to experience.

On the other end of the spectrum are the more specific soul contracts; the ones that impact our lives in more meaningful ways. It could be meeting a specific person in your thirties, falling in love with them, and starting a family together. With a little planning (and occasional assistance from your spirit guides), you’ll spend the first two decades of your life on a collision course with your future spouse. As you can imagine, it’s sort of like throwing a dart at a moving target. There are many variables. Eventually, though, you’ll meet and fall in love. Marriage and kids will come next. As to how the love story ends… well, that’s not always set in stone. Destiny may have brought you together, but free will dictates how the relationship plays out and how long the soul contract lasts. Some couples grow stronger throughout the years. Others grow apart and realize they have nothing left to learn or teach each other. In this sense, even the specific soul contracts have wiggle room built into them.

There are soul contracts involving patience and forgiveness. Others revolve around love, trust, communication, loyalty, mutual respect, and feeling understood by those we love most. You likely have a soul contract with each of your children - not just to be their parent, but to assist them with specific goals their soul is working on. Perhaps one of your children needs you to push them outside their comfort zone to try new things (because they were timid in past lifetimes and never tried anything new). Maybe your other child requires assistance with emotional regulation (because their soul lessons include expressing feelings in a healthy way and controlling anger). As you can see, the variables are endless, as are the dynamics we have with the key players in our life.

How many soul contracts do we have?

There is no minimum or maximum number of soul contracts. A person who lives a simple, solitary lifetime may have fewer soul contracts. A person who is very busy (or very social) may have significantly more. You may have countless soul contracts that are rather simple, just a few that are more complex, or any combination of “easy” and “challenging” ones.

How long do they last?

A soul contract can last several lifetimes. For instance, you may have a soul contract of “teamwork and cooperation” with a certain individual. Over several lifetimes, it’s possible you’ve worked together in many different capacities, such as teammates, coworkers, siblings, business owners, etc. Each incarnation would give you a slightly different experience. In that case, the soul contract never really ends. It just evolves and changes from one life to the next.

In other cases, soul contracts can be rather brief. Have you ever met someone who you didn’t know for very long, but who changed the direction of your life? Perhaps it was a stranger who suggested you join the military. Or a chance encounter with someone who got you the job you still have today. Or maybe you entered someone’s life at just the right time to intervene and give them hope… only to have them drift out of your life shortly thereafter. It’s possible that interaction was divinely planned (by both of you) as a plot twist in life’s story.

Why are soul contracts formed?

Sometimes they are karmic. For example, perhaps your child was your parent in a past lifetime, and now the roles have reversed for the sake of variety (this is very common, by the way). Many soul contracts are formed because Earth gives us the chance to experience many things that the spirit world does not. In the afterlife (Heaven, the Other Side, or whatever you choose to call it), there is no suffering. Therefore, there is nobody to help, counsel, protect, or save. To experience a helping role such as counselor, doctor, firefighter, and so on, we choose to incarnate here on Earth. It provides us with plenty of opportunities to experience roles that we otherwise could not.