Have you ever felt like you’re in a repeating cycle of the same challenging situations?
That no matter what you do, you can’t seem to break free?
Well, it’s possible that you’re experiencing the effects of a soul contract.
A soul contract is an agreement that your soul has made with another soul, often before you were even born, in order to work out a shared lesson or experience.
While soul contracts can be positive and beneficial, they can also be negative and restrictive.
We reached out to soul contract expert and best-selling author of the book “Soul Contracts: Find Harmony and Unlock Your Brilliance,” Danielle MacKinnon, to get her take on soul contracts and how we can break them.
What are soul contracts?
Author of the best-selling book “Soul Contracts: Find Harmony and Unlock Your Brilliance,” Danielle MacKinnon says soul contracts are “agreements we make within ourselves at the very deepest level, the soul level.”
Soul contracts aren’t always a good idea, though, Danielle says.
“When we create a soul contract, we’re doing it to counteract a negative belief we have about ourselves like we’re not safe or we’re not good enough.
And while, at the moment of creation of the contract, it seems like a good idea, in the long term, our soul contracts simply become impediments to our growth until we master them.”
We have all signed soul contracts before, and some are bigger than others, but regardless of the size, they all affect our lives in one way or another.
Danielle explains further by saying, “A soul contract affects every single area of our life. For example, as a small child, I created a soul contract of invisibility to protect myself from my abuser. This made me feel safer from the eyes of my abuser. But as I grew older, being invisible got in the way of other areas of my life. Friends overlooked me, it was hard to find recognition at work, and I never felt that anyone really noticed me.”
Before you panic and think you’re stuck on the negative side of the soul contract forever, know that it is possible to undo them.
“Although it may seem that soul contracts are negative, they are not. The positive side of a soul contract is that, once we master it (or even just begin to notice it), the challenges associated with it go away, and we can move forward in life toward our soul’s evolution,” Danielle says.
How to recognize a soul contract
The first step to breaking a soul contract is recognizing that you have one in the first place.
“Soul contracts show up in our lives through our repeated challenges and patterns. When we repeat the same unhealthy pattern or go through the same negative experience repeatedly, it’s a sign that there is a soul contract at work.
For example, I tried very hard to be noticed at work. I excelled, became an expert, and everyone knew that I was the go-to person in my field. However, my boss didn’t recognize this until I learned the lesson behind my invisibility soul contract, which was that I could be safe, even if people saw me. Once I learned that lesson and let go of my need to be invisible, I was promoted,” Danielle explains.
If you’re still not sure whether or not you have a soul contract, here are some common signs to look out for:
- You find yourself in the same negative situations over and over again.
- You have difficulty moving forward in life or achieving your goals.
- You feel stuck in a certain area of your life.
Something to also keep in mind when trying to spot a soul contract is not every negative or challenging situation is due to a soul contract.
Sometimes we are presented with deeply painful experiences where a lot is being asked of us, and this is not a soul contract but karmic debt.
Karmic debt is when we have unfinished business from a previous life that we need to take care of.
It’s often heavier and more difficult to deal with than a soul contract.
Soul contracts and karmic debt are similar; however, there is always a higher purpose for that exact connection or experience with soul contracts.
Whereas karmic debt is only ever unconscious karma that we are pulled toward but didn’t choose before incarnating.
It chooses us, we are drawn to it, and we must work through it until the debt is paid.
The different kinds of soul contracts
Now that you know how to spot a soul contract and the difference between a soul contract and karmic debt let’s explore the different kinds of soul contracts.
Danielle tells us that no person only has some soul contract; we all have them.
“There are an unlimited number of soul contracts, and no one person has only one. Here are a few of the more common soul contracts:
- Soul Contract of Loyalty: we choose to be loyal to someone no matter what to prove to ourselves that we ARE a good person
- Soul Contract of Sacrifice/Martyrdom: we choose to put our own needs aside in favor of someone else to prove to ourselves that we are good, or that we are deserving, or that we are lovable) to a soul.
- Soul Contract of Control: we see that if we can control everything, we can ensure a good outcome to prove to ourselves that we really are worthy or lovable, etc.
- Soul Contract of Independence: we choose to do everything ourselves because we don’t believe we can trust other people. This helps us feel safe and supported in the world since we’ll never be disappointed by someone else not coming through.
Each soul contract exists to disprove a negative belief. As long as those negative beliefs exist, there is a part of us that clings to the soul contract in order to protect us from it,” Danielle explains.
How to break a soul contract
If you’ve made it this far, many of you are probably thinking, “can a soul contract be broken?”
Well, the answer isn’t as simple as that.
You shouldn’t think of soul contracts as something you can break but instead as something you can evolve out of.
Danielle says that “our Soul Contracts were created in order to protect us from our own negative beliefs. The key is not to break the soul contract but instead to examine it and look for the negative belief that it stems from.”
Once you identify the negative belief, it begins to shift, and the demand that the soul contract has on your life also changes.
“If I slowly by slowly, through my own awareness of my behaviors, thoughts, and feelings, begin to believe that maybe I am safer than I thought or maybe I am more lovable than I thought, those soul contracts don’t need to have such a hold anymore. So, to relieve ourselves of our soul contracts is to start believing differently about ourselves.” Danielle explains.
So, in short, soul contracts can’t necessarily be broken, and they don’t just disappear; instead, our relationship with them changes.
The soul contract no longer controls us, and as we become aware of it, it gives us a sense of power and perspective.
From that space, we can take different actions and make other choices.
How to know whether a soul contract has ended
Many of us want to know if a soul contract has ended.
Danielle tells us that “once we have begun to master the lesson a soul contract has brought to our lives, the repeated negative pattern that soul contract has created decreases and eventually disappears.
The more in the positive direction the belief underlying the Soul Contracts move in, the less that negative behavior will show up – and the less that Soul Contract plays a role in our lives until one day we look around and notice that it’s completely gone.”
It’s important to remember that this doesn’t happen overnight, and it can take a lot of time, energy, and effort to break free from the grip of a soul contract.
But it is possible, and with awareness and intention, you can begin to move in a new direction.
Final thoughts
Soul contracts are a part of life, but that doesn’t mean they have to control us.
By becoming aware of the negative beliefs that they stem from, we can begin to break free from their grip and create a new reality for ourselves.
If you suspect that you might have a soul contract, know that it’s never too late to start working on breaking free from it.
With awareness and intention, you can begin to create the life you want.