Letting Go of The Past: A Ritual To Help You Do So

Imagine waking up every single morning and simply being able to let go. It doesn’t matter what happen years ago, it doesn’t matter what happened a week ago, and it doesn’t matter what happened yesterday.

Imagine yourself carrying around absolutely zero emotional burdens of your past, where the only thing that is on your mind is what the day ahead is going to bring. 

How amazing would that be? 

As we all know, life tends to get busy and chaotic. The simple truth of the matter is that most of us have a difficult time finding balance between all of the various distractions and chaos that life throws our way. 

We have a difficult time letting go, and instead, we hold onto the pasts almost as if we are waiting to relive them over and over again. We hold onto the various mistakes that we have once made and allow them to influence the choices and decisions we make moving forward. We have a difficult time finding stillness, peace, and clarity in our lives knowing that our pasts are anything less than perfect. 

Simply stated, we have a tendency to focus on what “could have been” and hold onto our pasts as though they contained everything we have ever wanted. 

The problem with this mindset is that the more we hold onto our pasts, the more suffering we are going to experience. Not just in our lives today, but for many days moving forward as well.

Holding onto the past doesn’t encourage growth, it doesn’t encourage self-belief, and it doesn’t help us to move forward with our lives. We have to learn how to find balance and accept our pasts while also being able to let go so that we can focus on the life ahead of us instead of the one in the review mirror. 

There is a quote from Mary Engelbreit that goes: “Don’t look back – you’re not going that way.”

How To Start Letting Go Of The Past

It might sound hard to find the strength and courage to let go of the past, and for some things it is. We all have scars and various difficulties that are deeply rooted in our memories. But unless we learn to let go of them, they are only going to continue to take away from both our present and our futures. 

As you wake up in the morning, take a few moments to focus on you. Tune out any and all distractions, and devote the first few moments of your day by focusing on what is directly ahead of you instead of all that you have left in the past. Find calm and stillness in your soul and simply let go.

Let go of the mistakes that you have made, and let go of the idea of perfection. Don’t try to be perfect, don’t try to look perfect, and don’t try to act perfect. Perfection is merely an idea that we will never be able to achieve in this life. 

Let go of expectations. Let go of trying to become the person that others want you to be, and start focusing solely on becoming the person that you want to be.

The life you are living is your life, not anybody else’s. You have to do what is going to make you happy and what is going to leave you feeling fulfilled. Make yourself your own number one priority so that you can become the best possible version of you. 

Let go of the judgments that have stopped you from enjoying life to the fullest. Dig deep, uncover every last belief from others that you are holding onto internally, and let it out. Let those beliefs and judgments out into the Universe and never look back. They do not reflect who you are, all that you are capable of achieving, or the life that you deserve to live. Judgments are only other people’s way of trying to cover up their own internal insecurities. 

Let go of the blame that has stopped you from taking chances on yourself and seizing new opportunities. Sure, you have made mistakes in which you are not proud of and have done some things that may not have been good, but you are not your mistakes and you are not your past. Life is nothing but a learning opportunity. Learn from the mistakes in which you have made and allow them to help shape you into becoming the best individual that you can be. 

Let go of the stress that is weighing you down. You do not have the ability to change what has happened in the past, the actions of other individuals, or the obstacles that life throws your way tomorrow. The only thing that you can control is where you are in this very moment and how you perceive the world around you. Stress will only add to the burdens in which you are already feeling, so do yourself a favor, take a deep breath in, and exhale out all of the stress that you are feeling. 

Before You Go

Every morning when you wake up, let go of the past. Let go of all of the pain and suffering that you are feeling, the emotions that have been haunting you from your past, and the challenges in which you have endured. 

You are you, and being you will always be your greatest strength. Allow yourself to let go. Allow yourself to be free. Allow yourself to be you and to live the one life that you are blessed enough to live. 

Today is a new day, and it is up to you to make the most out of it. Letting go of the past will only help you to embrace all that today brings and to make the most out of the opportunities that life presents you with.

Michael Bonnell