The Four Signs of Children's Past Life Memory are:
1. Matter-of-Fact Tone
Most past life memories are first communicated in statements of fact from the child. Quite spontaneously, while riding in a car, or playing on the kitchen floor, a young child will say, very matter-of-factly, "This is just like where I died," or, "My other mother used to make that." This switch to a matter-of-fact tone imparts a significance to the child's communication that suddenly commands the attention of a busy parent.
2. Consistency Over Time
Children will retell a past life experience repeatedly over a period of days, weeks, months, or years without significant changes in the story or details.
Consistency over time marks a major difference between past life memory and fantasy. With fantasy, a child will fabricate a story—even an elaborate story—but rarely can he repeat it with the same details the next week, the next day, or even the next minute. Fantasies spout from the imagination of the child. They are volatile and soon embellished, changed, or forgotten altogether. But past life memories are a mental movie of real and personally significant events that actually happened. They are stable, like memories of crucial events from this life. Each time the story is told, the child looks inward and describes the same coherent image residing in his mind.
3. Knowledge Beyond Experience
If you hear your young child speak of things that you know he or she hasn't learned yet, or could not have been exposed to, it is likely you are hearing a past life memory. Remember, when evaluating this sign, that you, the parent, are the judge of what is beyond the experience of your own child.
Obviously, it is easier to know what your child could or could not know if your child is very young and hasn't been far out of your range. You know what he has been exposed to through conversation, radio, TV, movies, and books. So, for example, when your one, two or three-year-old accurately describes the daily routine of a sailor, and correctly names the types of masts his ship had, and you know that this is something that he never learned, (you don't even know these details), this could be a sign of past life memory.
4. Corresponding Behavior and Traits
If you hear statements from your child that you suspect are describing a past life, look for behavior and physical traits that might be explained by the story. Think of any phobia, unusual mannerisms, unlearned skill or pronounced talent that would otherwise have no explanation or are out of place for your family. The same is true of physical traits: if your child tells you a story of a past life injury or death, and has a birthmark, a birth defect, or a chronic physical problem that matches the past life incident, this is evidence that the story is a real past life memory, and not fantasy.
Conversely, if your child has an unexplainable behavior that baffles you, ask yourself if you recall anything your child has said that might be related to the unusual behavior. Be alert for snatches of conversation, or odd remarks. Or, as Tommy's mother did in one of the cases below, wait for the right opportunity and simply ask the child directly. But if no story emerges, don't force it. There may be another explanation, or your child simply does not remember.
