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Your past is an invaluable compass to create a better future
However, we often do the opposite. We tend to reject, regret, and rehash our pasts. We might even try to ignore our pasts instead of dealing with them.
If you don’t embrace and accept your past, though, it will find a way to affect you in other ways negatively.
The passage below speaks to me because as I’ve gone through life, I’ve observed how destructive our pasts can be if we don’t embrace and face them.
We don’t need to push away and deny our pasts. We can learn from our pasts and move forward. Our pasts can be a compass that guides us and helps us navigate successfully through life. The people, experiences, choices, and mistakes we have accumulated are all a part of what makes us who we are. Our pasts don’t have to define, but they can enlighten us to be better versions of ourselves.
When you look back on your life, what do you feel? What do you see? What do you wish? Accept your responses to these questions. Sit with the feelings that sprout up with these responses. Embrace everything. Know that from here, it’s up to you.
The Excerpt: Embrace And Value Your Past
“How easy it is to diminish the importance of our pasts and look at our history with a critical eye. We see the mistakes; we see what we think we should have known; we see what we could have done better.
We forget that the reason we can see so clearly is because of the past and because of what we have learned. Often, the very experiences we regret have created this clear vision.
Value what you’ve learned in your past. Each lesson has led to the next. Every person and event in each part of your life has been invaluable in shaping and forming you – in creating the person you are today.
Each part of your past, each person who comes into your life and shares experiences with you, has helped you open your heart more to life, love, a higher power, others, and yourself.
Even those experiences you think of as wrong, or mistakes, have been an essential part of creating you. Sometimes, those experiences formed the most important parts of you because they created your compassion and understanding for others.
Often the most painful events of your life are the ones that opened you to your ability to bring healing, help, and hope to others. Your past taught you to love others and yourself. It has helped you become a channel for Divine love and a force for good in this world.” (The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie)
This content is for informational purposes only — not professional advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any major decisions.