A Thoroughly Planned Life
Before we come into physical form, an incredible amount of planning has taken place. Based on the lifetimes we've already lived, the lessons we have yet to fully learn, and the healing needed for ourselves and others, our higher selves draw up a great many contracts.
So, What are contracts exactly? Contracts are energetic agreements to do, be, experience, or learn something within a lifetime.
We have contracts for so many reasons... to be in various kinds of relationships with the people and the world around us, to both experience and to heal from traumas, to harm or assist in some way, to learn lessons or to teach them to others, to reach specific goals or to keep others from reaching theirs, to break something down or to create something new.
Kinds of Contracts
Through my work with clients, I've found four fascinating categories of contracts that shed a lot of light on our life experiences, and why things happen for us in the way that they do.
Life Path Contracts... These are contracts that we have the opportunity to complete as we walk our path in this lifetime. There are two subsets of life path contracts.
Exchange Contracts... These contracts exist to facilitate an exchange of some kind between two individuals. This exchange, or giving/receiving, could be of resources, information, healing, or connection.
Threshold Contracts... These are contracts for major life events, choices made, goals met, culminations of learning and growth, and eventually, death.
Body Contracts... These are contracts for various issues, ailments, and diseases. They link us to the lessons we came here to learn and the healing that may be part of our experience. They also allow others to fulfill their contracts through the many facets that this experience presents in the process of healing, physical therapy, need of care, and even through the process of death and dying.
Collective Contracts... These are contracts held between individuals and the larger global collective. They put us in specific relationship, positioning, and interconnectedness with humanity and the world. These contracts are completed over long periods of time. A large shift in consciousness or completion of a threshold contract can bring about a new collective contract for us, and thus, a brand new relationship with humanity and the world.
Dual Contracts... These contracts are made between two people's higher selves, putting them in specific relationships and experiences with one another throughout a lifetime. There are three subsets of dual contracts.
Relationship Contracts... Examples of this contract include mother/daughter, father/son, sister/brother, etc. It often includes other close relationships such as married individuals, lovers, friends, employee/boss, etc.
Archetypal Role Contracts... These contracts allows people with seemingly opposing/interconnected archetypes, such as victim/abuser and seeker/skeptic to make connections and work to heal/learn lessons through their contracts. They are, in fact, two sides of the same coin, and have both agreed to dance this dance with one another in this lifetime, and trade roles in the next. In truth, we have all been the victim and the abuser throughout our many lives.
Trauma Bond Contracts... This contract, I believe, is the reason that people stay in toxic relationships, and, in truth, why they exist at all. This dual contract binds two people in a painful cycle of abuse. Trauma bond contracts were chosen before entering into a life, by both individuals in order to experience and heal from both sides of trauma. Both trauma bonds and archetypal role contracts are often times held by the same individuals in a lifetime.
Completing Our Contracts
Because we are meant to be in relationship with one another in so many different ways, it would be nearly impossible to walk through your life and not complete any contracts.
The more contracts you complete, the more lessons you learn, the more healing you bring to this and your previous lifetimes. You see, these are not new lessons or wounds. Your contracts are based on your specific need for learning, growth, healing, and your soul's readiness to shift in consciousness.
You're Doing It Right
If you are walking your path, listening to your inner guidance and your higher self, you will naturally come across and complete many of your contracts. This does not, however, mean that you will always avoid pain. In fact, pain is built into the life you came here to live.
A common misconception is that by choosing one path over the other in our lives, you can avoid pain. A quite common belief is that life should only be joyful, and that trauma can (and probably should) be avoided. It can even feel like you must have chosen wrong if something "bad" happens. In fact, traumas of all kinds are built into this life. It's in these places and what happens after, that healing, learning, growth, and transformation are truly possible, for you and those around you.
A Real Life Example...
My wife, AK (they/them), was recently doored by a car while riding their bike and sustained a concussion. Before they left on their bike that day, I had offered them a ride three times. Two other people had texted them and offered to give them a ride as well. With each offer, I watched AK tune into their higher self and pose the question. Each time, getting the answer that biking was the way to go.
I tuned in later and found that AK had three body contracts tied up in this event. In addition, they allowed twelve exchange contracts to be completed by three other people that day and throughout the next four days following the accident.
A month later, there are four other exchange contracts with two other people connected with this event that still have the possibility of being completed. All in all, that's 19 contracts tied up with this single event. Three body contracts and sixteen exchange contracts.
Even though it looks from the outside like a "bad" thing happened, none of these contracts would have been able to be completed, had AK not followed their own inner guidance.
(AK is doing fine, btw. They have a cool scar and get to shop for a brand new bike helmet.)
Possible Missteps
Listening to the advice of others over your own inner pull, looking to the outside world to show you which path is right for you, or denying your own feelings to make others happy are just some of the ways you might miss out on completing some of the work you came here to do. It is, in fact, yours.
Trust You
No one knows you, better than you. No one knows what you're here to accomplish, except for your higher self. Trust yourself... trust your higher self. When you tune into your own inner guidance, the path that is yours becomes much more clear. In this way, you are sure to fulfill your most important contracts and live the life you truly intended to live. After all, you are the only one who can.
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Interested in getting in touch with your inner guidance? I work with people to give them the tools to tune in easily and often to answer questions of all kinds for themselves. I'd love to work with you! You can book a one-on-one session or schedule a short check-in to chat about best next steps.
Angela Hed Vincent (she/her), owner of True You Tapping, is an EFT Master Practitioner and Energy Medicine Practitioner.
She helps her clients honor and release emotional trauma and energetic density, using their biggest challenges as catalysts for transformation, so they can more fully embody the truth of who they are and the unique purposes they are here to fulfill.
Interested in working with Angela? You can book a one-on-one session or schedule a short check-in to chat about an issue you'd like to get her eyes on.
Angela introduces something new to the world of wellness and transformation. She has developed a unique approach to burnout recovery and intuitive development, and continues to create innovative programs to help people find their balance in various aspects of life.