On Making Peace with the Past

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

It’s a new year.

A time that is undoubtedly filled with possibilities, optimism, and even magical charm. A time when you can let go of all that held you back in the previous year. A time when you can finally turn a new leaf.

I share this optimism around the new year. Growing up, no matter how tired I was, I would stay up till the stroke of midnight to experience the magic of starting something new.

However, I’ve noticed that in our tendency to rush headlong toward the future, we may actually be unknowingly sabotaging our plans and goals for the new year.

Why? Because when we fail to make peace with the past, it has a way of haunting our future. If you’re unwilling to reflect on your experiences, positive or negative, you’ll be more likely to repeat past mistakes or fail to recognize new opportunities.

So, before you move full steam ahead toward 2018, let’s take a moment to honor the year that has been with all its ups and downs. Here’s a 3 step process for helping you make peace with 2017:

1. Reflect on your experiences

Take a few moments to sit quietly with a pen and pad. Allow your mind to wander freely over all the high points and low points of the past year.

If helpful, jot down some notes about the significance of each memory. What experiences did you love? Which ones did you hate? Which ones do you ruminate over? Which ones represented opportunities gained or missed?

2. Express gratitude

This step has an easy part and a hard part. It’s relatively easy to express gratitude for the good and pleasurable experiences. It’s not so easy to be grateful for the hard times. And frankly, why should you?

You may have heard others say before to be grateful even for the bad times. But I think what they are really trying to say is, be grateful for the opportunities gained by going through those difficult periods. What did you learn? What were some unexpected positive side benefits?

If you have a hard time coming up with something, keep thinking. There’s almost always something. Be grateful for that.

3. Let go

When bad things happen, it’s natural to want to make sense of it. It’s natural to seek a reasonable explanation for why something happened.

However, in a messy world, some things happen for no good reason at all. Hence, we need to be purposeful about letting go those painful parts of our past that just don’t make sense.

The perspective of time sometimes gives us the answers we crave, but it might not. And you have to be ok with that.

Make peace with the past to brighten your future

Tired of feeling stuck year after year despite your best laid plans? Now may be a good time to try something new.

Slow down, take time to reflect on your experiences so you can truly reap the benefits that comes with daily living.

You’ll feel more calm, grounded, and confident in your ability to create the brighter future you so richly deserve.