Do you ever feel like your past is holding you back? There are just certain things that you can not shake and for one reason or another they tend to keep you from moving forward with your future. We all have things in our past that we would rather forget. Some minor unfortunate ones, others are things that had a profound impact, but we just can not seem to let them go. No one is immune from being haunted by the past.

The key word in all of that is the word past. It happened, it isn’t happening and the sooner we let it go, the easier it is to move on to the next chapters of our life. We don’t have to forget, that is almost impossible to do. However, when we use our past as a learning tool and stepping stone for the future, our past becomes a tool rather than a hinderance. I know, easier said than done. It takes practice, hard work and dedication to get there.

The one important thing to always keep in mind is that WE CAN NOT CHANGE THE PAST. As much as we would like to go back and do it all over again, we are not afforded the ability to travel back in time to change what has already happened. Our only opportunity is to deal with it and use it to make our lives better going forward. The beautiful thing is that our future is totally in our power. We have the ability to make it anything we want it to be and use our past mistakes as a guide to a more productive and soul nurturing future.

We all have our days where we can’t quite seem to get out of the mire of our past. No matter how hard we try our past conjures up self doubt, makes us question our self worth and does everything in it’s power to bring us down. However, in reality we are stronger than our past. Whether or not it has the ability to affect us and alter the course of our future is completely up to us. No one can keep us from moving forward, just like no one can force us to let go of the past. That power lies solely within us.

If you have been down lately because you are dealing with your past, take this moment to look at that big beautiful clean slate that you have sitting right in front of you and begin to plot your future. Make a dream board and chart a course forward. In the architecture of your future, leave out those things from your past that you know will keep you from meeting your goals. There is a bright new today and tomorrow staring us right in the face. Grab it, love it and live it.

Have a great day and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron