Do You Dwell on the Past Rather Than Live For Today?
I wasted many years of my life because I lived in the past. I always felt cheated because my family and my childhood weren’t happy and fun. How naive I was to think that everyone had happy childhoods except me! It took years of counseling to get over my past and to start living in the present.
I had a giant “AHA” moment one day during counseling. After a few years of hard work to overcome dwelling on the past, I had an experience that indicated a huge change had occurred.
I always felt that I had this large hole in my soul that was preventing me from feeling successful. One day as I was meditating, I physically felt a movement inside, and I felt this hole close. I learned that that hole was the pain of my childhood. It was the center of my life until that day.
Up to that point, my therapy focused on my past and my problems in childhood. After that day, my therapy and thinking focused on living in the present and planning for the future. The problems that had controlled my life were now nothing more than unhappy memories.
We can overcome our childhoods. For some of us it takes years, but that’s better than living in the past for our whole lives.
How do we overcome our childhoods?
To truly enjoy life, we must live in the present and not the past or the future. We can’t change the past, and we have no idea what the future holds, but in the present, we have power to make choices and be the person we want to be.
Personal Growth Exercise:
Here is a simple but powerful exercise that will help you overcome past hurts. Take time to come up with some specific hurts you’ve experienced. Hold those in your mind as you work through the exercise.
Positive affirmations are a repetition of positive statements that assist us to change our beliefs. This exercise addresses the source of the old beliefs and uses positive affirmations to create new beliefs that will be more beneficial.
On a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle to make two columns. At the top of the left column, write, “God Made Me.” At the top of the right column write, “My Parents Taught Me.” Use the space below to write down what your parents taught you and then write how God made you. Here is what I used – it changed my beliefs about myself in a short time:
Every day, in the morning and evening, read the left column aloud to make this external affirmation and internal belief. This is a quick and powerful way to make changes. Some problems will take more effort to resolve than others, but this is a good first step.
This is an excerpt from Bruce’s book “Attitude Determines Destiny”.
As a motivational speaker, he conducts seminars and workshops based upon the ideas in his book. He entertains and inspires audiences wherever he goes.
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