The Healing Power of Letting Go

Do you ever feel that you’re sometimes too attached to the past? Do you sometimes find yourself replaying old events in your mind, events that caused you pain, stress or anxiety? When was the last time you closed the door on the past and turned your focus clearly towards a brighter, fresher, happier new future?

Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it’s letting go.

– Hermann Hesse

One of the greatest challenges that we all face is our reluctance to let go. We tend to suffer throughout our lives from the habit of clinging to the past. We seem to be addicted to reliving the negative events and experiences that have conspired to leave their mark on us. Does that sound familiar to you?

And there’s more.

Have you noticed how we tend to hold onto the kind of events that produced the greatest pain and discomfort? Isn’t it strange that we don’t recall so easily the occasions when we were really happy? It’s as if we prefer to dwell on the negative experiences that reinforce our capacity for suffering rather than turning our thoughts to those precious moments of joy.

To let go is to release the images and emotions, the grudges and fears, the clingings and disappointments of the past that bind our spirit.

– Jack Kornfield

Letting go of the past is an essential ingredient in the quest for a new and better future. The more we dwell on past problems, difficulties and disappointments, the more likely we are going to recreate the same conditions again in the future. Because that’s where our emotional energy is focused and that’s how we shape our expectations of the future. It’s only when we free ourselves from the past that we can create a future for ourselves that truly matches our goals and ambitions.

Part of the problem is the way we engage with everything that has gone before. We experience the past through our memories – a notoriously unreliable medium! – and colour our recollections with the emotional shading that we automatically associate with each recalled image. The past is richly endowed with emotional significance. That’s why it exerts such a powerful influence on our perception. The past becomes a familiar narrative that shifts and adapts with every telling. It’s a story. And rarely an accurate reflection of what really happened.

Freeing ourselves from this narrative is one of the most liberating endeavours we can undertake. As we learn to cut the painful ties that bind us to the past, we can seek new lives that represent our true potential for happiness, wellbeing, success and fulfilment.

I demolish my bridges behind me - then there is no choice but to move forward.

– Fridtjof Nansen

Forgiving past mistakes and moving on is a great starting point. Forgiving others is also important. But forgiving ourselves is perhaps even more significant because it helps us to rise above the burdens of guilt and pain that often hold us in the grip of past mistakes.

Forgiving ourselves is an act of kindness that helps to neutralise the past and signals that we’re ready to move on. We can acknowledge that we’ve learned from our mistakes and that we’re ready open our lives to new possibilities. That’s a moment of personal liberation that can mark the start of a much more positive phase of experience. And letting go is the key.

Holding on is believing that there’s only a past, Letting go is knowing that there’s a future.

– Daphne Rose Kingma

Our mission and our daily motivation at The Wellness Foundation is to help you achieve your goals, fulfil your dreams and help you realise your ambitions.

If you found this suggestion helpful enough to persuade you to learn to go of the past, your life is probably going to change in ways that you can’t even imagine. Recognise the incredible benefits of turning your attention to your future and the realisation of your dreams and goals. Make full use of this moment to transform your experience by declaring that you are now the source of every positive experience you could possibly enjoy. Make this your new habit and watch your life and your destiny unfold on the wings of powerfully positive currents.

It’s a moment that could change your life forever.

In the meantime, please feel free to share this post. Encourage all of your family, your friends, colleagues and acquaintances to harness their deeper potential for a better and more successful way of experiencing and enjoying the gift of this life to the max.

It’s our intention to be a positive force for change in the world. Let’s help everyone to rise above their limitations and enjoy greater levels of freedom, happiness, inner calm and success in all areas of their lives.

Together, we really can make the world a better place.

Greg Parry created The Wellness Foundation and the Cognitive Empowerment Programs specifically to help people master their stress, overcome their limitations and explore the power of their true potential.

You can contact Greg at:

[email protected]