Is It Time To Let Go Of The Past?

Hello and welcome to the session,

I invite you to take a seat or lay down and get yourself nice and comfortable and close down the eyes if you wish and take three deep slow breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth and I invite you to scan your entire body and just relax any muscles and let go of any tensions that you feel,

Release the jaw,

Unclench your fists,

Drop your shoulders let go of any tension you're holding and as you're scanning your body and as you're breathing deeply you're just allowing yourself to sink and settle into the moment,

You're aware of the sensations coming into your body noticing the sounds in your environment,

Noticing the colors of your room or behind your closed eyes,

The physical sensations your body is picking up,

Clothes on your skin,

The temperature of the room and just take another deep slow breath in through the nose and out through your mouth and turn your attention to your thoughts,

To your mind,

Just notice the thoughts that are coming and going,

Just observe them like you would observe cars driving down a freeway you notice them,

You watch them and then you let them go,

There's no attachment,

No judgment,

Just an observation and an acceptance of the contents of your mind in this moment and into that space of openness,

I want you to invite the opportunity to welcome in the wisdom and the insights of today's question with an open,

Calm,

Pliable and flexible mind,

One that is optimistic about the future,

One that is curious,

One that is inviting in the wisdom of our ancestors,

Of the universe,

Of God,

Of intuition,

Of the muse,

Of whatever it is deep inside us or external to us,

That we draw upon for strength and guidance,

To allow ourselves to be fully receptive to the question,

What would it mean to let go of the past?

What would it mean to let go of the past?

So this question brings up some potential possibilities,

There's some theoretical ideas that I think are worth exploring,

When I was younger I used to play a little game with myself and in this game I would imagine that life started this very moment,

That I just sprang into existence and all of a sudden,

Boom,

Everything is here,

The world now exists,

I have memories that make it seem like there's a past,

That there's a coherent narrative between me and prior versions of me,

Different days,

Leading all the way back to my conception,

But for whatever reason this moment is the first moment of existence,

Now this thought isn't unique,

There are different philosophical branches and thought experiments that deal with this very phenomena,

Every day that we wake could be the first day of our existence,

We're just unaware,

But why am I bringing this up now?

Really,

You know,

The only thing that actually truly exists is this moment and now this one,

The future will come and the past has happened,

But we're really living in the perpetual now,

It's like there's a bunch of nows stacked back to back to back to back to back that make up our lives,

So really there's nothing stopping us from making changes,

From tweaking things,

From moving in a different direction other than the illusion of our pasts,

You know,

I wake daily and I meditate and I exercise and I get up and I live roughly the same day again and again and again doing the same things,

Saying the same words,

Acting the same way,

But if I hold this question,

What would it mean to let go of my past?

I start to free myself from the trap that I've created for myself,

Now I say trap loosely here because,

You know,

We do things that help us to function and survive,

But we can become trapped by habits,

By thought processes,

By things that we think we need to do,

That we must do,

By our old goals,

Take a moment and just consider what you hold to be true and valuable in your life,

Maybe your highest value is money or family or status,

Maybe you have a goal to create or do or achieve something,

And now here's the kicker,

When did that goal enter your mind,

When was that value established?

When I look back I can see that a lot of what I have been doing and striving and aiming towards was instilled upon me by parents,

By society,

By religion,

By education,

By the place and time that I was born,

By expectation that I put upon myself of what is right and what should be done,

But all of those things aren't real,

They are real in a way,

But they're also just concepts and they're concepts that are completely contained in my mind.

Now yes,

Society and law and education,

Religion,

Family,

All of those things will explicitly say and do things,

Will put restrictions on us,

But the way we respond to those restrictions is up to us.

Our options may be limited in some ways,

But we have options,

Particularly if we approach this from a place of openness.

If you look or consider the gamut of the human experience,

Of what different people do and how they live and how they survive,

Most of those options are open and available to most people.

Now yes,

There are restrictions based on financial and gender and age and ethnicity and location,

But you are free to make choices,

To do something different to what you've always done.

Those options are available if you were to let go of the past and make choices in the present.

But this question digs deeper.

What would it mean to let go of my past when my past has made me?

You know,

In the same way I could make different choices,

If I was to pretend like I just came into existence in this very moment,

That sort of undermines the very concept of the self.

Who I am feels like the accumulation of who I was,

What I've done,

Multiplied against my current situation.

But if I was to let go of my past,

I'm free to be me in this moment,

For who and what I am.

There's power here.

And the final thing this question sort of brings up in my mind is,

If I were to let go of my past,

I'll be letting go of a lot of tension,

A lot of anger,

A lot of resentment to the pains and problems and traumas of my past.

I wrote a poem a little while ago that touches upon this point.

It says,

If I were to let go of my pain,

Who would mourn the future I was never able to have?

If I were to let go of my pain,

Who would mourn the future I was never able to have?

Now with this poem I'm highlighting the tendency,

The trap,

Of holding on to past issues,

Slights,

Pains,

Expectations,

Unmet.

Because if I had a different past,

My present and my future would also have been different.

And what happened to me and how people treated me has impacted my future in ways that I can't even comprehend.

Because of those things,

Where I am now is different to where I would have been.

I am different to who I would have been.

Where things have changed.

So this question of,

What would it mean to let go of my past,

Means to,

In a way,

Forgive,

To move on from,

To accept,

To process,

Really to heal,

Or to start the healing process of the past.

Now of course this is easier said than done,

Because those memories and feelings reverberate into the present,

And forward into the future,

And the people involved might still be around.

But once again,

Life happens,

And who we are is based on how we respond to that life.

So if I was to let go,

And simply sit,

In this moment,

In the now,

And in this now,

And in the next,

I could see myself being more free,

Freer than I've ever been,

More functional,

Happier,

Because I'm no longer beholden to a past that really doesn't exist anymore,

Other than the memories,

Other than the rut that I find myself in.

So I wonder,

What would it mean to let go of the past?

Well done.

This brings us to the end of the session.

At the bottom of your screen,

You'll see an option to view the classroom,

Or to ask a question.

Before moving on,

I invite you to take a moment to click through,

And share your insights,

To read the answers from other students,

And to hear my replies.

Remember to start your responses with session 5,

Or to restate the question,

So we know what one you're referring to.

This is an opportunity for deep learning,

Further introspection,

And insight,

So don't miss out.

I look forward to seeing you in the next session.

This track was taken from the course,

Discover Your Divine Purpose.

It's out now on Insight Timer,

And available via my profile.

I invite you to join in.