Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? Reviews

• Fascinating and Important Book

  
  By A3UV7L5ND3EH8T on 2007-03-05
  "There is a need to create limitation, as the soul uses limitation in your realm for growth. As you experience limitedness, there is a need to overcome frustration, work within one's own parameters, and focus energy--an energy that cuts through the density in your realm and creates spaces of light and a higher vibration." - From Courageous Souls
  
  At some point, everyone on Earth has asked "Why?" in the face of difficult circumstances. Why did my fiancé die in a car accident? Why is my mother an alcoholic? Why is my son Autistic? Why do I have cancer? Why is my brother a quadriplegic because of a diving accident? Why do some people die at the hands of serial killers or suicide bombers?
  
  Like existential detectives, many of us try to wrap our heads around life challenges and, ultimately, find out "whodunit?" Was it because of a nasty devil wanting to afflict? Is a capricious god punishing me--or is the wheel of karma catching up? Is negative thinking the root of my illness?
  
  What if NONE of these scenarios was the case--but, in fact, we CONTRACTED our life challenges before incarnating?
  
  In his book Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?, author Robert Schwartz takes readers behind the veil of forgetfulness into the conversations and decisions that have taken place "between lives". Interviewing about a dozen people who have experienced loss, illness, accidents, and addictions, Schwartz explores the idea of agreements made before birth to learn and experience certain life lesson--and coming to know our true selves.
  
  In addition, the author facilitates sessions between these individuals and several mediums. These mediums access the Akashic Records (an etheric "book of life" that records every thought, word, and action) for information on pre-birth planning sessions or "channel" messages from their spirit guides about specific agreements.
  
  Echoing the case studies of hypnotherapist Dr. Michael Newton, author of the books Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls--as well as the children's book The Little Soul and the Sun by Neale Donald Walsch-- Schwartz maintains that Earth is place of duality where powerful creators incarnate in order to learn through opposites. A candle surrounded by brilliant light can only experience darkness by entering it.
  
  "Who but the most power of souls could conjure an illusion that appears real to its very creator?" he asks. While we're on the other side, we consult with members of our soul group and guides and agree to perform certain roles--all for the purpose of soul growth and experience. By incarnating on the Earth plane--being born--we enter a "river of forgetfulness", as Caroline Myss describes in her book Sacred Contracts. We forget so we can have a powerful "remembering".
  
  If we accept that each human has contracted particular life lessons such as parenting a disabled child, losing a loved one, participating in an addiction, or experiencing an illness, then the concept of being a "victim"--either of a negligent person, system, or god--is neutralized. Even more than that, there is a sense of meaning and empowerment that enables the personality to move forward, heal, and even contribute to the well-being of others and the raising of group consciousness.
  
  Courageous Souls parts the curtain on the great stage of life, revealing the elaborate play and agreed upon roles that humanity acts out here on Earth--all motivated by deep love and respect for one another. Schwartz writes:
  
  "We love the souls whom we plan our lives. During our earthly existence, they may be people who complicate matters, cause us stress or worry, or even become our `enemies'. When not incarnate the estranged husband and wife, the abusive parent and neglected child, and the warring ex-business partners are loving friends. They care deeply for one another and will often reincarnate together in an effort to master lessons unfinished in previous lives."
  
  Of course, empirical verification of the stories and channeled information relayed in Courageous Souls is impossible, but so are, ultimately, any assertions made by a sacred text, religious leader, or jaded philosopher. One thing I know for sure: ALL of us tell stories to ourselves (and others) that attempt to explain why things happen as they do. Many of those interpretations of "the facts" come from outside us, such as the doctrines of religion or the mores of a culture.
  
  So if we're all telling stories about what we're experiencing on Earth in the attempt to explain situations or create meaning, why not tell ones that embolden, enlighten, and inspire? What is accomplished by playing the victim, wallowing in blame, or becoming entangled in mind games of "woulda, coulda, shoulda"?
  
  What IS has already happened--and how empowering is the idea that we all are playing our roles brilliantly--and that we will embrace all the actors on the other side, congratulating them on their performance and their act of service!
  
  If these ideas sound like the kind of reality you would like to learn more about, then I highly recommend Courageous Souls by Robert Schwartz. By allowing us, the readers, to eavesdrop into pre-birth planning sessions and post-"trauma" interviews, we are given a precious gift of comfort, peace, and meaning--urging us forward in our unique destinies with the knowledge that none is a victim...and EVERYTHING can be used for our highest good.
  
  Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)
  
  

• A New Way to Look at Life

  
  By A1N2L9A6I686G5 on 2007-03-11
  In "Courageous Souls" Robert Schwartz not only discusses the concept of pre-birth planning, but he also provides an in-depth look at both the pre-birth planning process (which occurs while in spirit before each incarnation), as well as the various reasons a soul may have chosen the particular challenges they're dealing with in this lifetime.
  
  What I found particularly interesting were the personal interviews the author did with several participants & the subsequent sessions with various mediums/psychics to assess each person's pre-birth planning sessions. Together these sessions provided background information regarding each person's challenge & the reasons their soul chose that challenge for this lifetime. The types of challenges discussed include: physical illness, parenting handicapped children, drug addiction & alcoholism, death of a loved one, & accidents.
  
  Reading this book allows one to consider a whole new way to look at life's challenges - a way where each challenge does in fact serve a purpose, and a high purpose at that! A way where there is no reason to blame or judge or hate - because we're able to recognize that each person on this earth is also serving a purpose.
  
  Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in spirituality & the concept of pre-birth planning - it's truly inspiring.
  
  
  P.S. This book also offers the names & contact information for the psychics/mediums who worked with the author on this book - a great addition for those of us who would like some assistance in accessing our own pre-birth planning sessions!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Pondering the Possibilities Outside the Box

  
  By A328S9RN3U5M68 on 2007-02-27
  Robert Schwartz is an eloquent spokesman for his explorations in the realm few of us have even considered, much less explored fully: the concept of pre-birth planning as a convention of souls who make decisions about incarnation - place, time, circumstances, and challenges - that will heighten the overall improvement of not only their repeated growth in the process of rebirth but also the gift to the betterment of mankind.
  
  Schwartz' manner of writing is so tender and so lacking in preaching that he gradually draws the reader into his realm of thinking in a way that allows us to suspend any doubt or prejudice we may have about spirituality or after life or universal karma. He uses conversations with people who share their experiences of living with such 'handicaps' as physical illness, parenting handicapped children, deafness and blindness, drug addiction and alcoholism, accidents, death of a loved one and alters the word 'handicapped' to 'challenges'; 'Challenges are mirrors that reflect to us our feelings about ourselves. In that sense, they are gifts. Wisdom allows us to recognize them as such.'
  
  In addition to discussing the above challenges with particular people who have them, Schwartz introduces us to mediums and channelers who channel the souls of the people we meet, allowing Schwartz to relay to us the conversations between the spiritual world and the physical world. In this very quiet manner Schwartz offers an explanation as to why 'untoward events' happen: his conversations with the various people he shares (for instance the autistic child or the parent of that child) allow us to consider that these choices are made in the spirit world prior to our birth and that these challenges offer the opportunity to separate the physical self-centered being from the choice to make the situations examples of growth, and of revealing love to those around us.
  
  Schwartz takes no credit for the information he presents in this book. His drive is to open doors to us the readers to consider his findings and philosophy as a means to learning more about how life and the spiritual world are enmeshed. 'I have learned from the wise nonphysical beings with whom I have spoken...Through them I now understand the immense power of this most elemental truth: that we are not our bodies...If you also know that you planned your disability, that it indeed has a deep significance, then your life may become a quest to uncover that meaning. Suffering is lightened, emptiness replaced with purpose.'
  
  Writers such as Robert Schwartz challenge our inside the box thinking, encouraging us to suspend prejudice and the state of being uninformed to enter the arena of growing spiritually. The beauty of this enormously moving book lies in the simplicity of the style Schwartz has chosen to communicate. This is not a sensationalized series of speaking with the 'great dramatic séance', this is instead a welcome to another way of viewing our lives - this one and the ones that have been and will be. Grady Harp, February 07
  
  

• An Empowering Way to Reframe Painful Challenges in Our Lives

  
  By A3FXT4UPI30K7S on 2007-09-17
  It has been said that asking oneself the question, "Who was I before I was born?" can teach us the most about our true spiritual identity -- yet few of us have been so enlightened as to have heard the full reply. COURAGEOUS SOULS takes this starting point one step further by exploring just how we may have crafted our entire life around all of our life circumstances -- both the high and the low points.
  
  What sets Robert Schwartz's book apart from other books about spirituality, reincarnation and the afterlife is his organized use of intuitive readings as companion pieces to accompany the various life stories he includes. These intuitive sessions provide a deep sense of interconnectedness and unconditional love shared in our lifetimes which we sometimes lose sight of, as well as insights into how we continue learning life lessons from one life to the next. The stories include descriptions of people who have experienced tremendous suffering who are greatly inspired and relieved to see an underlying sense of purpose and meaning to all they have gone through.
  
  COURAGEOUS SOULS is an exceptional book for anyone interested in exploring the true nature of their spiritual identity, who is willing to keep an open mind regarding the value of some of the most painful challenges we humans face in our lives on Earth; this is highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to reframe and find deeper meaning from the painful challenges, setbacks or hardships in their lives.
  
  

• Seriously Flawed, but E for Effort

  
  By A32NT6ZUV7905I on 2007-12-10
  This is a strange combination of wishful thinking, naivete and some spiritual wisdom. It is mainly a monument to what is called the "pathetic fallacy", the tendency of man to impart meaning and purpose to natural things that are innately attributable to chance, like seeing faces in clouds. In the case of human suffering (euphemistically called "challenge" in New Age circles), there is naturally an extra strong motivation to find meaning and purpose, because then it doesn't seem as bad. So a person can always ingeniously invent meanings and purposes justifying his own personal history of suffering and tragedy. Human imagination is a powerful force. This is overall a naive rationalizing away of the ugly reality of human suffering, and is beloved by so many New Age "true believers", usually driven by hidden fears.
  
  In the case of this book, the usual New Age metaphysical notion that we "choose our life" is the paradigm: we (as our soul) usually choose our suffering, and the meanings and purposes accordingly also were chosen by our soul.
  
  In my view this may actually be the case in some instances, but nowhere as often as suggested in this book. Chance and the impact of multitudes of free will choices of other humans obviously results in much suffering, unless souls somehow abrogate the operation of physical natural law and human free will.
  
  For the amount of human suffering that may be through soul choice, the book purports to offer comfort. But this blithely assumes that it is comforting to see one's pain as coming from soul choice. The vast majority of the human race are aware of themselves not as souls but as unique human personalities with memories going back to childhood. 99.9% of the human race automatically identify themselves as their bodies, and for them suffering is one with and identical to physical pain. To most persons a soul choice of suffering is as unjust as it being the choice of another human being. This isn't because they have consciously made the choice to reject New Age metaphysics - they don't live where they could be exposed to it, and don't have the liesure to indulge in it.
  
  Most people would angrily reject (I can imagine the expletives) anyone coming up and telling him "don't worry, it's for the good of your soul". Do you want to go to a nursing home and tell one of
  the lonely, abandoned, and painfully sick maybe bedridden elderly
  that they shouldn't feel sorry for themselves - after all, they have really chosen this situation? Or try it with a quadraplegic in a veterans hospital.
  
  I apologize if the following is is too intensely negative for
  some people, but the reality is that there are endless horrendous
  examples of long, slow, incredibly cruel dying that can take years,
  to say nothing about purely mental and emotional suffering. I would
  like to cite an example combining both from my own experience, in
  periodically visiting and trying to comfort a member of my wife's
  family who had had a severe stroke. It took him five years to die. He
  was severely disabled by the first stroke, necessitating a 24-hour
  medical care nursing home. At the beginning he was still able to
  speak a little, and said he wanted to die. He repeated this on
  several subsequent visits while he was still able, using paper and
  pencil, with a terrible begging desperation in his eyes. He was in
  constant physical pain due to various effects resulting from the
  stroke and being bedridden. His condition slowly, gruelingly
  worsened so that in the last couple of years he was shrunken,
  twisted and incoherent. But he still was conscious, and obviously
  continued to suffer terribly despite being incapable of coherent
  thought.
  
  This is not a fictional horror story - it really happened, and is
  hardly unique.
  
  I would like to propose a thought experiment: put yourself in my
  place on one of my visits, rise above any instinctive fear of one day
  going through the same nightmare ending, and see if you can feel the
  goodness of this life and the soul choices that led to it.
  
  The brutal reality of innocent suffering is still there. It can't be rationalized away. Soul choice may be involved, but it is not good or right or loving from the human point of view. Maybe from the soul point of view, but we live as humans not souls.
  
  A note about the channeling methods used to elicit the information. In my opinion much of this material involved the power of suggestion and the psychological phenomenon called confabulation. Investigators often find what they are looking for, no matter what it is.
  
  
• A GREAT Book, I Thoroughlly Enjoyed It
  By A13OWJOBS7Z90I on 2007-04-13
  I have greatly enjoyed Dr. Newton's work and this book is a great adjunct to it. I liked the format and the fact that Robert Schwartz is not a scientist or someone who was psychic or something from birth. He is an everyday guy and undertook a journey to learn more.
  
  The way he had the different mediums and psychics work with the people in the book and give different perspectives was refreshing! This book was an easy read and a pleasure.
  
  
• Planning our Lives
  By A3KIF1HS3F2VET on 2007-05-20
  After reading this book, I have no more questions about how I planned my life. I also gave up blaming anyone for anything. it is completely clear that I requested my best soul friends to participate in my life. Out of their great love for me they agreed to play certains roles for me to support my soul's learning and my soul's evolution.
  This book shows there is nothing to forgive as you asked for every situation in your life.
  Maybe you only need to forgive yourself for being so hard on yourself.
  
  Robert Schwartz has a clear style. it is easy to read.
  This book will change your life....it is a must.
  
  
• COURAGEOUS SOULS: A Terrific Book about Healing with a Very Unique Approach
  By A1XBIZ9GWMLKEH on 2008-01-07
  COURAGEOUS SOULS is an in-depth exploration of pre-birth planning.
  It starts with two sensational quotes and we, the readers,
  know we are in for a treat.
  
  "At each shift of the paradigm, the impossible presents its
  impeccable credentials...
  and the unthinkable becomes the norm."
  
  Rabbi Michael Berg
  Becoming Like God
  
  "Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms,
  you would never see the beauty of their carvings."
  
  Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
  
  Robert Schwartz poses fundamental questions about the meaning of life, the challenges that we face.
  Do we choose or plan any of them?
  His unique approach helps us come to terms with tragedies, overcome challenges
  and accept our life path through the healing process.
  
  I was fortunate to train with Dutch therapist Tineke Nordegraaf, and COURAGEOUS SOULS echoes the results
  of her model of holographic reincarnation therapy. It is a very empowering book.
  
  Helene Cardona, author of The Astonished Universe
  
  
• Perhaps it is a friendly universe after all.
  By A3B0WKB33EALG4 on 2007-01-03
  It is said that Albert Einstein once commented that the question of whether or not the universe is a friendly place was the most important question facing humanity. Robert Schwartz has written a book that not only comes down, strongly, on the side of friendliness, but also provides accounts of just how friendly it is.
  
  Robert has interviewed ordinary people who have experienced great life challenges. He has paired these people with mediums who have the specific abiltiy to tap into pre-life planning sessions and what some refer to as the Akashic Records. The results are a glimpse into the possible meaning of what often seems senseless pain and meaningless challenge.
  
  In the shamanic and spiritual work I have done with people for many years, I have often been confronted by clients with questions about how their lives, in total, and lives, in specific detail, can be explained in a way that is meaningful and suggestive of that friendly universe to which Einstein referred. Often I have been sought to assist them in sorting through what they have perceived as obstacles or challenges and what they have experienced as physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual pain.
  
  I have discovered that many people find it perplexing to wrap their brains around the concept that we humans are typcially seeing but a minute part of a grand scheme, as if able to access but one dimension in a multi-dimensional, infinitely interconnected web of meaning. I believe that Courageous Souls can be of great help, as it opens the door to accessing more of those dimensions in a very concrete, understandable, and useful way.
  
  This is Robert's first book of what I hope (and expect) to be a series that gently and beautifully--sometimes also startlingly--adds to our understanding of the agreements we make before we step into human form.
  
  
• Couageous Souls is a Definite Winner
  By AILS8LRX4SXJK on 2007-02-27
  Robert Schwartz has written an exceptional book. It provides insight on why bad things happen to good people. It is a book filled with fascinating information. I read it slowly because I had to stop, think, and digest impressions while I had an Ah Ha experience. I underlined about half of the book since I thought the ideas were so exceptional and important and I wanted to understand/remember them.
  
  On divorce Schwartz writes: "We often plan to be friends or even spouses with other people for finite periods of time. Since we have no memory of these agreements, we may view the end of a friendship or marriage as a negative event. It is not. We part ways with others when we have completed our plans with them." Schwartz is referring to what he calls pre-birth planning where everyone plans their lives here on earth.
  
  Schwartz relates stories about people with a physical illness, parenting a handicapped child, deafness and blindness, drug addiction and alcoholism, death of a loved one and accidents to make his points. He makes his philosphy and ideas come alive with truth and sensibility.
  
  If you have ever had a physical illness, lost a loved one, or had an accident this is a must read. If you want to understand the meaning of any of your life challenges this is the book for you. I would consider this a must read for everyone - no matter your faith.
  
  
  
• Perspective Shift
  By A3SC6ZWQCAVI8C on 2007-03-16
  If you truly want a shift in your perceptions, read this book. If you truly want to move away from judging others, read this book. If you want a soothing balm for your weary soul, this will sooth and rejuvenate. It is beautifully written, thought provoking, profound and moving. It spoke to me at just the right time in just the right way and I will never forget what Mr. Schwartz has laid out so amazingly on these pages. I have honestly never read anything like it, the only other comparison I have run across are Dr. Newton's books on this subject. This one is put together in an altogether more approacable way. WHAT IF this is all true, WHAT IF these are the explanations that have so defied our LOGICAL reasoning of human behavior since the beginning of time - why else all the suffering and pain? WHAT IF this beautiful, perfectly orchestrated scenario where EVERYTHING has a purpose, no matter how it looks on the "outside" were in fact, the true reality. Just for the mere fact of expanding your awareness, shifting your perspective if only a tiny bit - this book would be well worth the money spent. The ideas contained within it's pages are enough to actually change the world, and I don't say that lightly. If we all REALLY understood that we all came from the same loving source, are made up of the exact same powerful energy, will return to the same source and we are only here to learn love in all of it's wonderful manifestations, where would all the hate, fear, anger, jealousy fit it. It wouldn't. I submit to you, one day this book will be on every table in every home, it might be a 100 years or so, but one day !!!
  
  
• Believe in your own wisdom...
  By A379TDAAMLETD4 on 2007-02-24
  With the grace and elegance that occurs only in deep communion with spirit, Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? by Robert Schwartz, describes the pre planning and post incarnation journeys of individuals who seemingly suffered at the hands of life and yet emerged victorious.
  
  This book arrived in my life at an auspicious time. I was supporting a second family member suffering from a deadly disease. Questions arose - "Why is this happening? Has there not been enough suffering already? Why now and why again?" What a relief to confirm, through this book, that I had "chosen" this journey.
  
  I know now the harder the journey, the greater the commitment to spiritual growth. Schwartz' interviews, woven with love in words and time, helped me believe in the wisdom of my own soul and its confidence in my strength to reach for and achieve new learning. I emerge on the other side of Courageous Souls with love and compassion for myself and those with whom I have shared and will share this journey.
  
  If there have been simply too many "coincidences" in your life for this to be random, read this book. It will help you believe in yourself and in the greater goodness and everlasting nature of all life. And the answer to the author's question is, "yes!"
  
  
• I much preferred the works of Micheal Newton
  By A1USKL6X2GSTKH on 2007-08-10
  For the last 35 years I have devoted considerable attention to uncovering and writing about my own past lives, and studying how the karma from each of them has played out in the events and relationships of my present life. After uncovering three historically identifiable, though far from famous, past personas, I was, like many others, frustrated that neither I, nor any of the writers I had consulted seemed to be able to throw any light on the issue of what happens to us between lifetimes.
  
  And while I'm sure many readers will enjoy what they find in "Courageous Souls," in all honesty, I must confess to being very disappointed in it. At first, I thought perhaps the book just suffered from comparison to the writings of Michael Newton. But it was more than that. Unlike Newton's works, this book just doesn't ring genuine to me. I suspect that the quality of the material presented may have something to do with the methods by which the information in this book was collected, via channels and psychics rather than via the super-conscious minds of the actual subjects involved.
  
  The works of Michael Newton, on the other hand, are arguably the most credible and fascinating accounts of this entire genre. By directing the focus of his subjects away from their subconscious and toward their super-conscious, it seems Dr Newton succeeded in accessing a spiritual dimension previously untapped by the vast majority of researchers in this field. Once there, he was able to painstakingly document over many years what is undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive, detailed and believable models of what takes place in the afterlife anyone has ever put forward. Most importantly, it portrays in very convincing terms just how each of us goes about planning and designing our future lives. And once we absorb such a concept it becomes difficult for anyone to fail to take responsibility for their own lives, even with all its challenges and disappointments.
  
  As fate would have it, I discovered Newton's works just after reading "Same Soul, Many Bodies" by the prolific Dr Brian Weiss. In it he discusses his experiences with "future life progression" as a technique for inspiring and motivating patients to change the directions of their lives by revealing the potentialities awaiting them in future incarnations, if they can just make the right choices in the here-and-now.
  
  Comparing the claims of Dr Weiss with those of Dr Newton seemed to leave me with something of a paradox, which was namely this: If Dr Newton was correct that when we die we return to the spiritual realm to take on the work of planning and designing our next life, how would it be possible for Dr Weiss to explore our future lives while we are still alive, since the planning process had not taken place yet?
  
  To resolve this conundrum I decided to have a chat with my spirit guide, Prakash. He first reminded me that linear time is only an operable construct in the physical dimension, and that from the perspective of the spiritual realm all physical incarnations co-exist simultaneously in a moment of eternity. Therefore, it follows that all those between life episodes that Dr Newton describes likewise exist in that same simultaneous eternity. The only reason is seems confusing is because Dr Newton is exploring and reporting what appears to be a linear sequence of lives and their related planning episodes, which necessarily skews his perspective due to his viewing the information from his location here in this dimension of linear time.
  
  This gave me an idea. From all of my past lives that I have explored over the last three decades, two have stood out as closely related, even though they were separated by 700 years. The first was my life as Genghis Khan's nephew Yegu, and the second was my life as Field Marshall Count Helmuth von Moltke (the younger), nephew of von Moltke (the elder), his uncle and namesake, the military genius and hero of the Franco-Prussian War who helped Bismarck unite the German Empire. In the first life the plan for me to succeed my uncle Genghis failed, but in the second I did succeed my uncle as Chief of the German General Staff prior to and during the initial phases of WW I. As you might suspect, von Moltke (the elder) was a reincarnation of Genghis Khan.
  
  What occurred to me is that exploring the planning stages of these two incarnations in tandem would provide a rare opportunity to see this whole planning process at its most complex. Fortunately, Dr Newton's third book, "Life Between Lives" was designed as something of a do-it-yourself training manual for just such explorations. So I guess that will be my next project.
  
  Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma
  
  
  
• Give yourself a treat and buy this one now...
  By A1BGIR3C2OWNRW on 2007-03-14
  There are no "accidents"! If you have been led to finding out about this book as I was, do yourself the favor of buying it. It has helped me understand so much. I had already had exposure to many of the ideas and concepts in the book, but the way that they are presented is truly unique and enabled me to see my own lessons when reading through the interviews. Thank you, Robert!
  
  
• Be prepared to change your perception of your life
  By A1YZ3IJXI2J119 on 2007-03-21
  Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (2/07)
  
  What if we planned our life challenges before birth so that we could use those experiences for our growth? The author, Robert Schwartz refers to this as "pre-birth planning." "Courageous Souls" is written with this idea in mind. Some of those experiences that we call "déjà vu" might actually be memories from our pre-birth planning. If you know that you made an agreement prior to birth, to face difficult challenges, it will help you adjust your perception about these challenges in a positive way. It is hard to be stuck in a victim role once you realize that you made the choice to learn from the events that you are dealing with. Schwartz says that, "In writing `Courageous Souls,' I set out to teach what I most needed to learn."
  
  Ten people were interviewed for this book. Respected channelers and mediums were also used to help investigate the spiritual side of these questions. The author himself had many sessions with mediums to gain a greater understanding of the challenges that he chose during PBP. Contact information for the channelers, mediums and people interviewed is listed in the appendix.
  
  The chapters are set up according to the challenges being faced within them. The two that touched me the most were, "Parenting Handicapped Children," and "Deafness and Blindness." I teach people that are disabled and learning why they might have chosen to be disabled really, really touched my heart and made me feel better about their hardships. Schwartz says, "Life challenges are a particularly powerful means of creating feelings which are in turn, vital to the soul's self-knowing..." "Courageous Souls" is an incredibly powerful book; it should be read by everyone.
  
  
• Courageous Souls is a thought-provoking book
  By A3PX1CZW8IXA8I on 2007-02-23
  This is a well-written, easy-to-read book that is very insightful. No matter where an individual is on their spiritual path, Courageous Souls helps provide the reader with possible explanations for those "Why" questions that often affect everyone at some point during their lifetime.
  
  
• Life's Journey Explained
  By AHT6MGZU2ETT4 on 2007-04-17
  I am not a fan of reincarnation so when I first began reading "Courageous Souls" by author Robert Schwartz I quickly thought this book is not for me. However, as I continued to read and kept an open mind I learned many things that I would have not otherwise known. I also saw many similarities in the life experiences discussed in the book and my own life. As I read each page, I became more engrossed about the various topics such as Pre-birth Planning and Physical Illness. I read the first half of the book non-stop and only put the book down due to an interruption of the telephone ringing. After reading the book, I am still not a believer in reincarnation but I agree with many of the shared beliefs of the author. This book will change the way you think about your life and how your life experiences shape your thoughts and feelings about yourself and the world.
  
  
• A Book That Will Help and Heal You
  By A2CYROMNWNAP36 on 2007-07-30
  A dear friend told me I simply must read Courageous Souls and insisted on lending me her copy. Initially feeling a bit sceptical I was immediately won over by the wonderful stories and the ring of truth that emanates from this collection of special life experiences. Read this book if you want to better understand the whys and wherefores of your life and relationships. Read it if you would enjoy learning more about why we and our dear ones make certain choices. Read it if you harbor resentment that needs healing or bitterness that needs assuaginging. This is a very valuable book for anyone who wants to know more and is willing to learn.
  Tasha Haleprt Author of Heartwings: Love Notes For A Joyous Life.
  
  
• This is a must read book with my highest recommendation
  By A2XKAVYULRKL9 on 2007-08-16
  Why me? It is a question so often thought, cried, moaned, or screamed. Blame is placed on higher powers as surely as emotion is felt. Isn't it possible though, that our trials and tribulations, our painful experiences, are full of purpose? What if an author would share with you that your own soul actually planned for these things to happen? That there is indeed a reason for it all? Robert Schwartz, author of "Courageous Souls," shares his view that we plan our life challenges before birth. This is a must read book with my highest recommendation.
  
  Robert begins by explaining his research of his own, very personal experiences with his spirit guides, and then the research he did with the help of four gifted mediums and channels. Through the life experiences of ten people, with the help of his team, Robert relays how those interviewed went through various life challenges, including drug addiction, accidents, physical illness, and the death of loved ones, and why. He interviews these people, shares their stories, then has the medium or channel delve into the pre-birth planning done by the soul. Here, the reader comes to understand the soul groups, soul mates, akashic records, spirit guides, and planning of the challenges and lessons we are on earth to face. Discussed in great detail is the fact that we are here on earth as personalities and that when the body dies, the soul goes on, and on, and on. We may have lived in a completely different part of the world before, with other souls who are now our husbands, parents, or children, and were then our friends, business partners, or even tormentors. As a soul group, the life is planned, with tremendous challenges that provide opportunity for growth.
  
  I've always loved that quote, ""We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. How very true that is, and I believe it is the main point of Robert Schwartz's book, "Courageous Souls." Eloquently and purposefully delivered, the book is one that will help readers to understand these concepts, begin to understand why events in our lives take place, consider that things that happen to us are part of our lesson plan, replace the anger or guilt felt over situations with forgiveness and peace, and begin to recognize the patterns that are in your life that revolve around your own soul's goal for you.
  
  For anyone who has ever asked, "Why me?" and anyone who has ever felt that there had to be a reason for this life, I recommend "Courageous Souls." For anyone and everyone, I say, please read this book; you'll be absolutely enlightened.
  
  
• Some of life's challenges explained.
  By A3SMT15X2QVUR8 on 2007-09-06
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  Before I even finished reading this book, I ordered more and had them sent to my friends. This book is amazing.
  
  Told through many soul journies, Robert Schwartz brought in the talents of true mediums who were able to discover decisions that these people made before they were born - again. He did not use just one medium, but several, and they are listed in the back of the book. The individuals who shared their stories are also listed with email addresses -- and if they are able and have the time they will answer your questions.
  
  This book came to me at a time I really needed to be reminded of my own experiences through many lives and the time between our next life. The stories are beautiful because they are able to explain why certain tragedies happen to a person.
  
  I highly recommend this book, especially to those with open and searching minds.
  
  
  
  
• The Big Picture
  By A3T3V9PQ67CMVK on 2008-06-18
  Everything always makes sense when you can see the big picture. This book provides a glimpse into why events we perceive as "bad" happen, through a varied collection of individual cases.
  
  Our lives in this "reality" are just learning experiences, to expand our awareness of ourselves, we agreed to before we arrived on the planet.
  
  
• Do you believe in Pre-birth Planning?
  By ADS99W8WMEXZ2 on 2007-01-06
  In Courageous Souls, Do we plan our life challenges before birth? Robert Schwartz explores and explains why he believes in pre-birth planning. He gives details on why each of us decides to experience illness, accidents and death. He talks about how you can consciously use life challenges to increase your spiritual growth and understand your family, friends or anyone in your life. Though this is not the type of book I normally would pick up it is interesting to read someone else's view on "why things happen" or "how things happen". Interesting concepts lend to a book you won't be able to put down.
  
  
• Important Addition to Reincarnation Research and Literature
  By A31RULW0KNYJ5H on 2007-02-23
  Written in an easily readable format, this important book examines a fascinating aspect of reincarnation. Using interviews, hypnotic regression sessions, and medium trances, the author explores an intriguing idea: we pre-planned our most difficult challenges, including illness, loss, accidents, trauma, etc.
  
  The overwhelming message is that we are here for two reasons--to love and to learn.
  
  It's an enlightening and compassionate message, and hopefully the author will continue his research and writing. This is the kind of book that can change a person's life.
  
  
• Not a preachy guilt trip book about religion. Thank God.
  By AY2I93QHFGNPS on 2007-05-27
  Excellent all the way. Except Schwartz needs to finish up though. Courageous Souls is the first book that finally goes beyond many of those dopy "beyond the white light" reads. His documented sessions with the subjects in the book are all well done and kept in the context of transcribed fact, rather than Schwarts spewing out opinion after opinion about what it is he's hearing. Its mind blowing stuff. But, the book seems to sort of end abrubtly and you get the sense that he has much more to tell. As an example, maybe it wasn't, but modern day christianity is not addressed. In fact this book almost seems to stay away from the subject except on occasion when the spirit guides make a somewhat translucent reference as to who their big boss is. I like books such as this that don't curse me for what I dont know or believe and this one does not. It does not add yet another translation to anyones bible or book of rules. If Schwartz continues his book as another volume, I hope that we may see yet more comprehensive dialog about how many of todays out of control religious organizations came to be and why they still exist. I know that's walking on eggshells in the commercial book world but he clearly heard more during these sessions than he wrote about. If the material is there, I hope he takes a chance and tells us more, even at the risk of hurting someones feelings about their "god". Courageous Souls takes the term "Human Evoloution" and guides you to an understanding that will help lift the fog on the question of Why we are.
  
  
• groundbreaking and empowering work
  By A32BV645GI1GCP on 2008-02-24
  I have found Courageous Souls to both confirm and validate my own experiences as well as my understanding of life's deeper purpose and meanings. This book explains in clear, simple language why "bad things happen" and why sometimes "bad things happen to good people" in a way that helps readers make sense of their own lives and make peace with their choices--however their choices were viewed by themselves or others. Janet Boyer in her review does an excellent job of summarizing the concepts in the book, so I will not repeat them here. However, I will add that applying the understandings in this book to one's own life will help one see the bigger picture, take responsibility (respond appropriately in life), and make the taking of responsibility that much easier. And once you learn the bigger picture and take responsibility for what you came here to do, the world will stop trying to awaken you through often painful crises and challenges. Taking responsibility equals personal growth, helping us become masters of our own lives, leading to greater satisfaction and peace: a new world.
  
  I as well struggled to make sense of my own life and chronicled what I learned in my just-published book "What Everyone Believed: A Memoir of Intuition and Awakening". What I came to understand is not only that we have these pre-birth contracts (or soul agreements) with others, we now have the incredible opportunity to "congratulate ourselves for the roles that we played" not only when we're "on the other side" but right now, right here, physically on this planet. (Imagine the level of love and gratitude this will create.) We can complete the cycle of these hardships and challenges (sometimes referred to as "duality") and create a new world by bringing forth our soul potential, accessed through our intuition, our inner knowings--because it is now time for this. Living from this new consciousness is what the term "ascension" actually refers to. Then you don't feel like you want to "stop the cycle of reincarnation" (why would you want to??) because life becomes a joy. Courageous Souls is a wonderful and uplifting contribution towards this not-so-distant future.
  
  Christine Hoeflich, author of What Everyone Believed: A Memoir of Intuition and Awakening
  
  
  
• Life's Challenges now makes more sense.
  By A1FKYC8BSVAKE4 on 2008-05-05
  Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?Best book I have ever read on the subject of Pre Birth Planning. So well written and easy to relate to. It has brought great healing to my life and I continue to explore all possibilities. It has certainly given me a better understanding to life and knowing that everyone is on a journey to better their soul. A must read for anyone on a spiritual path to healing.
  
  
• Courageous souls is awe inspiring
  By A33DCXY49W030M on 2007-02-05
  Although I have read other books, none can compare to this. It is easy to read, stays on task, and explains the topic in depth. You can't read it and not have it change your life forever. Everyone should read it and pass it around, it just might help humanity as a whole, if we did. Bravo to Schwartz!
  
  
• Courageous Soul truly inspirational!
  By A2UOHP4S2IPAKH on 2007-02-11
  Courageous Soul by Robert Schwartz is marvelously written and it's a must read
  
  The author with the help of Mediums and Channels introduces us to ten real stories of people who have experienced loss pain and challenges in their lives.
  
  This book will have you the reader engrossed. The author gives us the opportunity to ask and examine.
  What if their truly is a reason for why bad thing happen to us ?
  
  The touching stories and insights that are within these pages are inspirational and has the potential to change the perception of our own lives.
  
  Jay Grayce
  Jay Grayce Radio Show
  
  
• Excellent Read
  By AK9EW1MV0S0GN on 2007-06-26
  If you are wanting to know the age old question of why are we here then this is the book for you. I don't know how many times I have said why did this happen to me. I no longer have to wonder because I now understand it was something I planned all along. I know it may be hard to believe but it really does make things a little easier when life hits you with some hard lessons.
  
  This book is a must read I promise you won't be disappointed.
  
  
• Interesting but unrealistic
  By A1YDSBJ73QVOQW on 2008-02-13
  When I first found out about this book I was skeptikal about the idea that we might plan our challenges before birth but was fascinated enough by the concept to at least give it a chance.
  
  It did manage to keep my attention but I found it to be a bit far fetched. According to the book we should be grateful to those people who have caused us harm in our lives because they have done so not out of malice but out of love and respect for the paths we have chosen before birth. I guess I just don't see how that fits in with the concept of karma or responsibility for one's actions. It seems to me that buying into that idea would almost give those who hurt me an automatic get out of jail free card.
  
  On the flip side I can see how those who are seeking a new way to look at their lives might benefit from this book. It certainly does present readers with an innovative perspective into some of life's biggest challenges.
  
  Overall, it's interesting and thought-provoking but not very realistic.
  
  

• Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives
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