Memories Feel Like Weapons

In our pasts we all have things that happened to us that were painful. Whether it was something as severe as abuse or the loss of a loved one, or even a betrayal of trust. When we remember these things, it can cause us pain. Not physical pain but pain that comes from the emotions we experience when we think about that time.

An Illusion of Protection

A lot of times we think we need to keep these stories fresh in our minds as a way to protect us from letting it happen again. Like somehow if we feel hurt by what our sister in law did that time, we won't be hurt by her again.

I'm here to give you a little perspective shift on this. If we have a painful story, every time we rehearse it and we feel the pain of those memories we aren't feeling the pain from the thing that happened all that time ago. We are injuring ourselves all over again, with our thoughts. The thoughts we have about that situation. Now I'm not asking you to excuse abuse or bad behavior in any way. I'm just asking you to think differently about it so as to help you not feel the pain of the past.

A Cycle of Self-Injury

It’s impossible to feel a feeling when you we 15 and then re-experience it now. You’re having a new thought about something from when you were 15, and it’s creating your new feeling. That’s a life changing thing to know. You cannot experience pain from your past. What happened to you in your past is over. The only pain you’re experiencing is the pain you’re creating now.

The Power of Thought

You might be thinking “I went through this horrific thing. How can you possibly say it isn’t affecting me now?” But I want you to know, this is actually good news! What that person did to you then cannot affect you now. The only way that person can affect you now is if you create a situation where you’re currently a victim.

Dan Sullivan teaches that you get to take from your past what you want and you get to

leave the rest of it behind. You get to decide what you want to think about. You get to

decide what you’re going to make it mean. Notice how you feel when you tell the story

of your past.

You can be free from something someone said to you yesterday and free from

what happened to you when you were five years old or when you were 18 years old. You get to decide what you want to think about your past. You hold the reins to your past and how it influences your present. Embrace the freedom to decide what you want to think about and how you want to feel. It's a choice that can liberate you from the shackles of past pain and pave the way for a more empowering and positive future.