If you’ve ever wondered why you have a fear of heights or look into the eyes of a stranger and feel as if you know them, the answers may be found in your past lives, says Brian Weiss, MD, the author of Miracles Happen. As told to Joan Podrazik 1. That Old, Familiar Feeling Through past-life regression, Dr. Brian Weiss says it’s possible to heal — and grow — your mind, body and soul, as well as strengthen your present-day relationships. He says one of the most common signs of a past life is déjà vu — the sensation that you have met a person before or have visited someplace previously. Sometimes, this déjà vu feeling is a sign of a past life with a particular person or in a specific place. For example, a patient of mine began having anxiety attacks while on her honeymoon in Greece. When she and her husband left for Rome, the anxiety attacks completely disappeared. When she saw me as a patient, we did a past life regression and found that she had been killed in ancient Greece. Her anxiety attacks stemmed from that lifetime even though she did not know why at the time. 2. Your Dreams Are So Real It’s Like You’re Actually There Do you have vivid, detailed dreams of yourself in different times and places? That might be a past life memory emerging. As I’ve written in my book, past-life recollections aren’t always actual memories: they may also contain symbols and metaphors that need to be interpreted so that their meaning and message can become clear. These symbols are no less powerful than literal ones. Think of these past-life scenes more as a poem than a history text. 3. You Got An A In History (Without Even Trying) Talents and abilities, likes and dislikes, and attractions and aversions can also be clues to past lives. You might feel yourself being drawn to certain people or to certain cultures, even if you’ve never visited them. You might find you are able to learn certain subjects or prepare for a profession more easily than others. For example, a particular foreign language might come quicker to you, while others are more difficult. Or you may have an intense interest in certain historical times and events, such as ancient Egypt or the Civil War period. 4. You Have a Soul Mate It is very common to travel through different lives with the same group of souls — I call these groupings, soul mates or soul companions, or soul families. We seem to learn our spiritual lessons and accumulate or resolve our karma with our soul groups. Relationships may change from life to life, but the souls are the same. For example, your grandmother might reincarnate as your grandson. In this sense we never lose our loved ones, because we are always being reunited either on the other side or back here in physical bodies. In Miracles Happen, I describe many cases of soul recognition. In one case, Michelle, whose mother died when Michelle was a small child, was comforted to find that she and her mother were together before in the Middle Ages. They were husband and wife at that time. Brian L. Weiss, MD, is the author of Miracles Happen.