LETTING GO OF THE PAST – so you can appreciate the gifts of the present moment

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.  ~Jan Glidewell   In my Rooted For Life pregnancy/ new mom program  www.rootedforlife.com one of the weekly themes I do with my girls is “letting go of the past “. When a woman gives birth to a child she also giving birth to another part of herself, she becomes a mother. With motherhood comes a whole new view and feelings about life. What mattered to you before might not be as important to you now. I always tell people that their life is going to change and 90% of the time they freak out about that, assuming that change means bad. Change doesn’t always mean bad it just means different. When we cling to tightly to the past it doesn’t allows us to be in the present moment. It’s only in present where we begin to see where we are stuck, what or whom we are holding on to or what needs to go to make room for the new to come in. The women who have the hardest time with having a new baby are the ones who keep trying to get back to the way things use to be. There will be aspects of your past still there but by allowing yourself to be in the present with your child a natural unfolding will begin happening. Some things will stay the same, while other things will fall away. “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”
~ Oprah Winfrey      “Draw from your past, but do not let your past draw from you.” ~Master Bra’tac   I see in my life coaching practice adults that would rather hold on, clinging for dear life to their unhealthy past just because it is familiar. They would rather CHOOSE to be stuck in their own misery then to let it go by trusting and taking a risk in the unknown, that there might just be a future out there to be had that might be better, bigger, brighter and happier then they had ever thought possible.   “It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.” ~ Voltaire   One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us.  ~Michael Cibenko
   It’s in this very moment, the thoughts you that think, the actions that you take and how you are living you life today is what creates your future. So if you bring your past into the now, you are just dirtying up the present with the past and creating more of that to come.  It’s also like wearing glasses in a dust storm and the dirt of your past filters your vision, not allowing you to see and appreciate all the gifts that are before your very eyes in this moment. When we do this we miss out and loose so much, because you can never get this moment back again.   One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us.  ~Michael Cibenko
   THINGS TO PONDER –   About a month or so ago I was at Burning Man and this shaman healer used this great saying about bringing the past into the now. He asked, “ Who is in the room with you  “ Who or what is taking up space in your life and sucking the oxygen out of the room? And why are you choosing to allow them in your room ?    Who or what needs to go?   Who or what do you need to forgive?   What’s your responsibility and what lessons did you learn?   Why are you choosing to stay stuck?   Why are you choosing to keep the past alive?   Is this really where you want to be?  Are you afraid of the unknown?   Do you trust and have faith that you deserve better?   What steps can you take to move forward in your thinking, your actions and your behavior?   Are you ready to let go?     One day at a time–this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering. – Author Unknown