With all the past life regressions I've conducted, I have never once had anyone say "oh damn I'm getting reincarnated again, what a pain!" But what I HAVE heard often are words like "well that was a wasted life, I can't wait to do it better next time!"

Everyone chooses whether to incarnate, or not (in other words, to be or not to be, lol) and also chooses how where why when and with whom. With a little help from our friends, of course. And while many people say they wouldn't want to come back and "do it all again", from the perspective of the "other side" it seems we are usually very enthusiastic about doing it all again. Maybe it helps that from "there" an entire lifetime seems like the blink of an eye - hey, no sweat, I'll get it done and be home in a flash!" We forget how emotionally draining a physical incarnation can be.

I like the way you put it, StephenK :when we do make such a decision we're then much "smarter" than we happen to be while cloaked in this body....

We're able to see where we got it right, didn't quite get it right, what we needed to learn/experience/understand, who we hurt, who we lifted up, how much light (or darkness) we spread, what we need to do. None of that is possible from the perspective of the physical, where our focus tends to be on getting through the day, paying the bills, and trying to stay sane.

I liken it to looking at a huge tapestry - when we're incarnate, it's like we're right up close to the tapestry and all we can see are a few threads. We have no idea what the picture or pattern is. But the further back we get, the more the picture reveals itself, and the easier it is to see our mistakes as well as our accomplishments.