Our past, a treasure or a limit?

Yes, we are human beings. And yes, sometimes that means we make mistakes. We are too attached to our past.

We are taught that we live in a past-present-future structure of time. In the same way, our individual minds and souls are programmed to either be too attached to our past, live in the moment of the present time or always look up to the future. Each person decides, generally, intentionally or unintentionally, to focus more or less on one of these elements of time.

Today I am going to focus on the past, on how it affected me over the years and, maybe, how it could affect other individuals.

I, personally, have a love-hate relationship with my past. Obviously, I would never let go of my beautiful memories that shaped me into the person that I am today alongside other things. My memories guided me and gave me inspiration for how to choose wisely my next step in life, whether it was about relationships or careerwise. My past is a treasure to me sometimes, reminding me of how much I love the people around me, especially my family and friends. My past is also a treasure to me when it comes to the lessons that I have accumulated over the years in the shape of memories about experiencing the everyday life.

My past also brought me a lot of pain and pulled me back from evolving and growing. I still have constant battles with my past self and present self, as though they are two people fighting with each other when it comes to decisions as to whether to do a certain thing or not. There are some specific examples that cross my mind when I think about my past self.

When my present self is telling me that I can do anything I set my mind to, my past self is reminding me about my failures, therefore projecting a future possible failure into my mind.
When my present self is feeling happy about a certain idea, my past self reminds me that my normal life should be full of sadness, as my childhood was sometimes.
When my present self wants to overcome a fear, my past self reminds me that I was never able to do that in the past. So, why would I be able to do it now?
When my present self wants to give chances to people who would like to be part of my life, my past self reminds me of how many people disappointed me.

The list is endless, and I am sure you also have some similar stories to tell. The truth is that I fought a lot with my past mindset, my past failures, my past sadness, my past ME.

I finally came to terms with the fact that my past often tried to limit my courage, my power to do things, my will to move on. Thus, the best way to not let your past influence you is by living in the present moment as much as you can. It does not matter if one year ago you were not able to speak a foreign language, if today you are willing to learn how to do it. It does not matter if last year you were afraid of flights, if this year you are willing to overcome your fear and travel to your favorite destinations. Be bold, be brave and do not let your past limit your limitless power to do whatever you want to. Use your past as a tool for not repeating mistakes, for learning how to be better and for reminding yourself about your beautiful memories.

Of course, I would like to tell you that there is a magic formula out there that would help you keep the memories you want and forget about the limiting ones. But there's not. No tricks, no magic, just a process of making your soul and your mind aware of what is best for you. At the end of the day, our lives deserve to be experienced fully and gracefully, by exploring possibilities to do whatever it is that our minds and souls wish to do.

Our past may be full of sadness, full of joy or a combination of both or other emotions, feelings and memories. It is necessary to remember it sometimes, as it can help guide us through our lives. It is also important to find ways to let it go when the only thing it does is bringing us sadness and pulling us back from evolving.

But what if? I was thinking one day… what if one day our brain would wipe out all our memories about the limits we or others created in the past? And then I remembered that we did have a moment when we had no fears and no limits. That was the moment we came on this Earth, the moment we were born!! I have realized that, actually, every single limit is created by our minds. We would have to discredit our history, our ancestors and parents in order to change some limiting mindsets that stop us from evolving. And, of course, we must not be naïve and forget that there are real dangers in the world. But, it does make us think sometimes…if our mindsets created these dangers, what if they did not even exist in the first place?

There are a lot of questions that might never be answered. In the same time, there will be a lot of pushed limits and broken boundaries, as people have more and more courage to stop abiding by the rules and, more specifically, to stop feeling limited by their own past failures and fears.

To conclude my thoughts and leave place for yours, I will say that my past is a treasure or a limit. It is a place filled with love and memories of my close ones. At the same time, it is a place that holds my fears alive and limits my potential. It is my choice and responsibility to learn from my past. And it is my choice to not be stuck in the past, live and cherish my present life whilst planning my future. We, as humans, are intelligent beings and we are capable of doing that.

Now, I want to know, what does your past mean to you?