Are you being held hostage by your past? We often walk around thinking we are living in the present. Yet, our minds are holding onto failures, mistakes, hurt, grudges, and disappointments from the past. For us to truly live in the moment we MUST release the past so we can live in the here and now.
Holding onto the past is like having shackles on your mind. You can’t go where you want or need to go because your mind keeps jerking you back to your past and you keep reliving the hurt, disappointments, failures, and mistakes over and over again. Every minute you spend dwelling on the past is a minute you are missing out on the good people, good times, good places, and good things that the present has to offer.
What is the purpose of living in your past anyway? You can NOT change one second from your past. The only thing you can do with your past is accept it, learn from it, and keep it moving. But please do understand your past does serve as a purpose if you allow it. That purpose is to help you to improve yourself for the future so that you can do better, be better, and live better. It also serves as a reminder of the disappointments you have lived through, the mistakes you have learned from, and the challenges you’ve overcome. It’s the reminder that despite it all you have survived it.
If you have been hurt by others in the past or have hurt others in the past forgive them and forgive yourself. Don’t waste your precious time holding onto grudges, hurt, and bitterness. Life is so fragile, unpredictable, and short. I am sure you have goals, hopes, and plans you want to achieve in life. Focus on making those happen for your future. Your future you can change but your past can only change you. Did you catch that? Let me repeat it. Your future you CAN change but your past can ONLY change you. It can change you for the better or worse. It’s for the better when you choose to learn from the past and live for the present. But to live in the past and not learn from it and move on, is unfortunately for the worse. But the choice is yours.
As for me, I decided a long time ago to free myself from my past. I am truly better and wiser for it. I realize how life can change in just a second. I want to make every second I have in the present to be as good as it can be for me and I want to be as good as I can be for it. I encourage you from this moment right now to do the same. Take off those shackles and FREE YOURSELF!
