We experience so much on a daily basis that it can sometimes be hard to take everything in. Some experiences are good and some are bad. This usually doesn’t cause any real issues for people. After all, that’s how life goes. What does cause an issue is when people are not able to let go of the bad experiences they have had in the past.
If you don’t have this problem, my applause goes out to you. However, if you do, you are more than aware of how much of an inconvenience it can be. Life tends to be a bit limited when you are constantly living in the past.
For some people, letting go of the past is much easier said than done. This becomes especially true when people are exposed to frightening or hurtful experiences as children. However, no matter how hard it may be to do, it is vital that we look ahead toward the light at the end of the tunnel instead of back into the darkness we came from.
Those who are not able to let go seem to restrict their own lives. For example, people who were involved in previous relationships that didn’t work out may refrain from dating because they fear being hurt again. The problem with this is the fact that a person doing this may end up missing out on their one true love, all because they let their past rule their life.
When we do this, we are really doing nothing more than letting the people, or circumstances that hurt us in the past take complete control of our lives and “win”. That’s the funny thing about letting go of the past and forgiving others, it’s more for your benefit than anyone else’s.
Take one of my friend’s experiences for example…
My friend’s father left his life when he was still just a baby. Apparently, this didn’t really effect his life until he got a little bit older, probably around his teenage years.
Seeing his friends with their fathers and hearing other people talk about their seemingly perfect families began to take a serious toll on him.
It wasn’t long before anger began to build inside of him….
This anger continued to grow and grow. From what my friend says, this was a very bitter time in his life. He began to close himself off from other people because of the anger he felt toward his father.
This continued for many years and things progressed until my friend’s past literally ruled his entire life.
People tried to explain to him that it was important that he forgave his father and let go of the past. However, my friend was still too young and a bit too immature to take to heart the advice that was being given to him.
However, just as the majority of people do, my friend got wiser as he got older. He was eventually able to see the logic behind letting go of the past and forgiving his father.
He finally realized, the only way his life will ever get better is to forget about the past, no matter how bad he wanted to hold on to his anger.
My friend got his life back soon after and once again became the person I once knew…
While your personal circumstances may be different, can you relate to my friend? If so, you can get your life back too, just as my friend did.
When you really think about it, it really doesn’t make much sense to trap ourselves in the past. After all, what’s done is done. We cannot change our pasts. Trust me, if we could, I would go back to last week and pick the winning lottery numbers.
We can learn from experiences in our lives but we must learn to draw the line between learning lessons from it and letting it rule our lives. At times this can become a very thin line, however the more you practice with it the easier it will become.
It would be great if we had a button we could push to forget things from our pasts. Unfortunately, this button does not exist and never will. Therefore, it is up to us to learn how to deal with things, especially past experiences, so that we may live the blessed life that every person is entitled to.
You only get one life to live. Therefore, you should do everything you can to make the most out of it. The last thing you want is to realize one day that you wasted your entire life letting the past rule you.
There is no reason to drag yourself down and limit your life! Break the chains and rise above your past!
To learn more about taking control of your life, click here
