How Letting Go of the Past Helps Your Future

Damaris Teacherprenuer
2 min readOct 30, 2024

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Photo by Dimmis Vart on Unsplash

Effects of Holding On To The Past

We all have a past, things we did that we regret and mistakes we made that we wish we never made. Holding on to them holds us back from growth and moving forward to a better future more abundant future.

Moving forward before forgiving ourselves leads to many effects on the mind, body and soul. Which in turn and with time affects our outer world. The process of self forgiveness is not an easy or quick one. It takes time, patience and effort.

Our mind tends to want to hold on to and relive the past making us susceptible to depression, anxiety, self doubt, PTSD and low and unhealthy mental health over all.

Taking one day at a time is the key, just like an alcoholic takes it one moment at a time letting go of the past is allowing yourself to be mindful with the present and not the past.

The Past and Resentment

As a recovering alcoholic I am very familiar with resenting past decisions. Feelings of embarrassment and anger. All types of emotions arise when we focus our attention on our past mistakes / actions.

When we stay focused on them and not the present moment we drive ourselves “crazy” thinking of how things could have played out differently. What we could or should have said or done. When in reality this is pointless because there is nothing we can change about the past, only accept it and make the present moment a better opportunity for a better future.

Depression can creep in like a silent snake, each day getting worse ruining your mental health. Catching you off guard until one day you feel hopeless with thoughts of ending your life (in extreme cases). Resentment can turn into anger and anger into depression, it shows up in all kinds of ways.

A New Future With Hope and Faith

Acceptance is key to finding hope and faith for the future, it gives you a healthy foundation to stand on. One that provides healthy thoughts about the past, thoughts that encourage positive change so those mistakes wont happen again. Thoughts that make you feel like a champion for getting through the past and moving on from the hopelessness, messy past mistakes.

It is easy to focus on the past when we don’t know what the future will bring, that is why being in the present moment is so important. It allows us to bring in positive thoughts which brings positive actions.

Thoughts become things, just like Bob Proctor said, “Thoughts become things, if you see it in your mind you can hold it in your hands”.

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