Your Akashic records are the accumulation or an archive of all of your past lives. It's an accumulation of how you have used your soul's blueprint or your natural abilities in each life to expand the growth of your soul.  Some lives you had great success; others you collected more data on what you didn't want. No life is a failure. Every life is key for you to completely "grok" your life purpose and grow your soul into its mastery.