subject: Put the Past in the Past [print this page] Put the Past in the Past Put the Past in the Past
This is a tough one but I have confidence we can tackle even this one! The past has molded us into who we are today but it shouldn't control us the word is shouldn't. We do ALLOW it to control us though. We make the choice to carry the baggage of the past to our everyday living.
I sometimes think we do this because it's easier to carry it then to discard it and start fresh with our own ideas and our own thoughts and not our parents' ideas and thoughts. Especially if the people on your bus have been negative influences, have been basement people. Well, it's time to hit the nearest bus stop and ask them politely to exit. You have no more need for them to stay on your bus. We really have to think long and hard if negative past experiences are still affecting our daily lives. Do we behave the way we do because of what we were taught or are we coming from a place of love and appreciation for life?
Remember, it's easy to stay stuck in what we were taught even if this pattern doesn't work anymore; AWARENESS of our actions, awareness of our words, and awareness of our reactions. To make a change, we must be AWARE that a change needs to happen. Again AWARENESS! We all have been hurt in and from our pasts. We have wounds from our past and the sad part is we take those past hurts and wounds and keep opening them up in the now and it causes us to not change. "WE" decide that we want to become victims of our past.
Think about some events of your life and how you have reacted to them? Did you react like a victim from your past or did you react in a thoughtful way with new ideas and thoughts without being a victim? Like I said earlier, we are who we are due to our past experiences. Negative things happen to us all but what do we do with those negative things? Do we take those past thoughts and experiences and turn it into a positive or better yet say, "This doesn't work anymore and I really don't like this the way this feels anymore," and change your old ways? In the book, The Pocket Pema Chodron, she states, "the heavy-duty fearing that we're bad and hoping that we're good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun." Our past can be the cloud that is blocking who we truly are.
Remember may the possibilities of today excite us all!
