Of course, forgetting the past is not an easy process. It is very difficult for some people to break away from horrible memories, failures, disappointments, hurt, defeats and so on. But all those things has happened somewhere sometime in the past. Because we keep them (consciously or unconsciously) in our hearts and minds, they still have the power to dominate our progress, to destroy our peace and fill our lives with fear and guilt.
Living in the past is like living in a prison. Both make us hopeless and helpless. Both have such controlling power, that make us feel powerless, worthless, and paralyzed. Prison is a place where your normal routines and relationships that make life worth living are cut off. It is a place where you are subjected to somebody who is on the position of authority. Like a prison when our past has a negative influence on our present and future, it makes us miserable, depressed, and hopeless. It puts us in such a cold and dark corner of life and takes our joy and peace of mind.
No matter what happened in the past we need to close the door and open a new chapter. We need to learn to live in the present and hope for a better future.
No matter what happened in the past we need to close the door and open a new chapter. We need to learn to live in the present and hope for a better future.
You may be hurt somewhere in the past and you may still feel the pain and the shame. You are a victim. You suffered. But it’s unfair of you to keep on carrying the shame and the pain any more. You need to stop the pain so that you can move on with your life. The healing process must start from you. You cannot change the past, but you can change your present and future.
You need to learn how to forgive yourself and those who hurt you. To forgive is to let go of pain, resentment and regret from our past experience. Lewis Smedes says, “When you forgive you set a prisoner free. And then you discover that the prisoner was you.”
Don’t be a victim of your past. To be a victim is to hold onto hurt. It will eat up your soul. It doesn’t matter what you do, or how hard you try — you are never going to have a better past. But you have a choice to have a better present and future. You have to start closing the door to the past and start to move on. A fresh start and a new beginning are the results of forgiveness. As Dr. Martin Luther King similarly said that “… Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning…”
Don’t be a victim of your past. To be a victim is to hold onto hurt. It will eat up your soul. It doesn’t matter what you do, or how hard you try — you are never going to have a better past. But you have a choice to have a better present and future. You have to start closing the door to the past and start to move on. A fresh start and a new beginning are the results of forgiveness. As Dr. Martin Luther King similarly said that “… Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning…”
We all have things in our past we wish they were different, but the reality is not. The past is over and there is nothing we can do about it. But there is something we can do today about the future. It is forgetting those things, which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things, which are before. Remember this- you cannot look ahead and behind at the same time. Each day, each moment is a miracle. Moving forward is not easy but it is not impossible too.
Author and Credits: Eyob B Kassa