We stand on the doorstep of a New Year full of fresh opportunity and exciting adventures. The door is wide open and full of bright light. We stop for a moment and embrace the warmth and sunshine that fills us with new life. There is so much hope and promise as we head into a fresh year, and we vow to leave our past behind as we step through the threshold of possibility. Regardless of what you have faced in the past, the future is unwritten, and despite what history tells us, what comes next is sure to be flawless.
As a culture, we teach that the past should be forgotten so that we can move forward into our future. The past is a closed door, a land of lost opportunity, pain, mistakes, and ripe with regret. The past is no place you should spend any time because it has nothing to offer your future. The past died with yesterday, and the future is the promise we desperately crave.
Except, what if there is no peace for tomorrow without the unsettling history of the past?
What if the bright light that shines before you is a reflection from the cracks in the door of yesterday. The light streams through the holes, riddled with lessons and shining like a map of intention and purpose.
There is no promise of hope without the experience of pain.
Suffering makes life beautiful and lends perspective, grace, patience and an enlightened view of the future we embrace. Our past pain shifts our center and redefines the choices we make in moments of adversity. Each life lesson, painful and challenging as has been, helps you evolve to the higher self and gives you a rich tapestry of dark hues and vibrant pastels. Your painful past breathes life into your beautiful future. All you have experienced allows you to appreciate all that stands before you. The depth of pain gives life to the birth of promise and the hope of tomorrow.
Within the pain of the past, I’ve learned the lessons of love and the importance of cherishing each and every precious moment given to us. Within the pain of the past, I’ve come to live the full depth and breadth of this life and accept the uncertainty and transient nature of our existence. All of my yesterday’s have taught me to say how I’m feeling more freely, live how I’ve dreamed with more determination, and work where I feel the fire of passion without apology. The past is a well-designed roadmap for your future. Each milestone is providing valuable clues as you forge into the new territories and daring adventures.
The past only becomes dangerous when we live beyond our lesson and stay stuck in what could have been. We can’t control what the past took away, and we can’t shift the paradigm to a new reality without acceptance of the old. We focus all our energy on remorse and despair missing the opportunity to refocus on hope and newfound happiness. What the past took away is gone forever, and while the lesson and the grief will stay with you as part of the soul, the decisions to stay stuck in what could have been will destroy the days and moments that remain.
As you stand on the doorstep of tomorrow, allow the light from yesterday to guide the way as you become the best version of your higher self. Take what you’ve learned and apply it to every step FORWARD. Glance back now and again for gentle guidance and forge your way forward onto a road of your choosing. The path forward may look nothing like the trail you left behind. The beauty of each new moment is that we have the opportunity to change direction and adjust our purpose. The new reality will be daunting, scary and require bravery that asks you to dip into your reserves of fortitude. Fortitude that has been built from past pain and helps you realize that you can indeed not only survive, but thrive. The past reminds you of your inner strength and it’s lessons remind you that the mountain ahead is passable with enough small steps between the base and the summit. Beyond each peak lies one that is just a little steeper but your training over many years conditions your body for the new elevation. Whatever you have faced before will prove to you that you can face whatever comes next.
The next 365 days are unwritten, and you alone hold the pen that will tell the story. I won’t ask you to turn the page and never look back at what came before. I won’t ask you to start a new story because a story without history lacks depth and beauty. The best stories are intricate and interlaced with elaborate, and complex layers. So as you write the next part of your individual best seller take what you need from yesterday and leave the rest where it belongs, tucked away in your heart for safe keeping.
Tomorrow is a brand new start but yesterday is the reason tomorrow holds its promise. What came before gives life to what happens next and only you can decide if it will be beautiful and worth writing.
Happy New and Past Years.
Michelle
Read more from Michelle in her best selling book, Healthy Healing http://www.healthyhealingbook.com
This article written by Michelle was originally housed on the Huffington Post at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/2017-take-the-past-forge-the-future_us_58669a3de4b04d7df167d454
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