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The Past. The Present. The Future.

8/17/2015

2 Comments

 
Soul scars are potent tells of your strength against adversity. You may have been wounded deeply, but you had to the power and the fortitude to heal yourself, and it wasn't by forgetting what happened. 
It was from taking your power back and taking control of your life.
~J.V. Manning

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You will never forget the past. Stop trying. 

What you will do is come to accept it, learn from it and draw strength from it. It's talons that are dug into your soul will loosen their grip the more you stop trying to fight it. Once you make the conscious decision to embrace the fact that you can't go back and change history, but you can change your tomorrows - the freedom you will begin to feel will be life changing.

Well-meaning people will tell you to; "Just forget it and move on." Others will tell you to; “Let it go already.” You will read books in the hopes that the lessons within the pages will teach you how to forget. How to erase the memories. You will finish each one hopeful, only to come crashing back to reality when the memories and hurt invade your thoughts again.

You will never forget. Your past is woven into your soul. Some of it has left wounds that over time have healed or are still in the process of healing. Soul scars are potent tells of your strength against adversity. You may have been wounded deeply, but you had to the power and the fortitude to heal yourself, and it wasn't by forgetting what happened. It was from taking your power back and taking control of your life.

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I made a new friend a few months ago. We couldn't be more different, from how we grew up to how we handle reality today. After a while I knew she was going to become more than a passing acquaintance because of the way our conversations flowed. Where she is trusting and soft, I am a realist and hard. Her childhood was happy and full of adventure; her family ties are strong, and they like each other. Mine was anything but happy, my adventures were more of surviving and I learned at an early age that family can hurt more than even the bitterest of enemies. We come from different stories, different upbringings and arrive at the present moment in completely different spots in life. From the outside looking in, we have nothing in common. We balance each other. Where I am hard, she is soft. Where she is open and trusting, I am a cynical optimist and not as quick to trust. She is quiet and soft-spoken, rarely standing up for herself. I talk like a trucker and command respect.

We arrived at this friendship as the culmination of our pasts. Me, arriving weary and jaded, struggling to let the light back in. Her, open and trusting, faced with learning how to handle the harshness of reality. Both of us learning something new each day. I joke about popping the bubble she lives in, and she gives me a hard time about expecting the worst.

She told me one day that she felt sorry for everything I had been through and was completely taken aback when I told her not to be, I wasn't. I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for how I grew up. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn't made the mistakes I did or trusted people I shouldn't have. I wouldn't be where I am today if none of it had happened.

I wouldn't be able to help people if I'd never had to help myself.

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Had I forgotten about my past, had I completely and utterly wiped it from my mind, I would have also forgotten all the lessons it taught me. I would have lost the strength I gained from living it, from making it work for me, instead of against me. I don't want ever to forget where I came from because it made me a better person. I may need to soften my edges a bit. Open myself up a bit more. Maybe lose my inner cynic and be a bit more trusting. Work on being more confident in my ability to reach for my dreams. But, I fully appreciate that life is always a work in progress and from experience I know I will get to a better version of me more and more each day because I’ve already come so far.  

I'd be lost if I had forgotten. I wouldn't have the wisdom to pull from, the been there - done that attitude that serves me well today. Had I forgot the pain, I wouldn't have the ability to appreciate the feeling of healing. I wouldn't know what it takes to survive and what I must do to let the light back in. I wouldn't know what I was capable of. I wouldn't have an arsenal full of knowledge to pull from when something happens today, tomorrow or next year.  I wouldn’t have the empathy I do for others. I wouldn’t see the world with eyes wide open. I would fear the future because of the unknown things that could happen. Because of my history, I’ve learned just to go with the flow and not get worked up over things that haven’t happened yet, may never happen and trust myself to handle whatever happens. I know bad things are bound to happen, it’s life. I am a realist. I just trust myself to see my way through them now.

All because I didn’t forget.

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Your past is your story. Your past may be something you need to heal from. It may be something that you draw strength from. Regardless, it is something you need to get you to where you want to be. It only has the power to continue to hurt you, if you allow it to. It's called the past because it's over. Though the after effects can last long into your future, you now have the ability to take control of it and have it work for you, instead of against you. You can use your past to to propel you forward or to chain you in place. Both require work. Hard work. Maintaining a stranglehold on the past, not facing it and visiting with it every day takes commitment. Commitment to fear. Commitment to a known entity. Commitment to being stubborn.  Commitment to be being closed off from anything new that could hurt you. All of this takes an incredible amount of work. Imagine what would happen if you stopped fighting it, stopped wrestling with it and just one day decided that it is what it is, and make the decision to take what it taught you to move on.

I used to wish for a delete button inside of my mind so that I could selectively erase memories that made me sad or fearful. Now I wish for the ability to draw the lessons from my memories so that I can be happy, more optimistic and use what they have taught me to help others. One of the biggest things I have learned – you will never forget but once you change your perspective, see things a little differently, feel a little differently – a whole new world opens up. You settle into yourself and stop fighting within your soul. The light finds its way back in and one day you just know you are stronger for your story. You have power because of your story.

You are ready for more of your story to unfold. The past. The present. The future.  Your life. 

2 Comments
Shirley Manring Fann
8/16/2015 08:55:51 pm

Rare that you find a person that is willing to pull open the curtains that stand between them and their real life story..because they say..if I let them know this or that then they won't like me or think of me as a bad person,yet you yourself wants to cry out and say LISTEN TO ME REALLY LISTEN or LEAVE THE ROOM NOW!!! And to my surprise, these people continued to jibber jabber among them selves.Did not even hear what I had said. I picked up my paint brushes and proceeded to create a painting of feelings....All of a sudden you could hear a pin drop, They were all silent watching to see what the out come would be. At first my colors were flowing smooth ripples...then comes the storm of thoughts and colors in the painting were sharp edged and everything in the picture was broken.The conversation in the room was now loud enough to disturb your thoughts. I picked up my brushes and paints , put them in their cases, used a heat gun to dry my watercolor enough to roll it.But then as I was leaving the room I hung my painting on the bulletin board with a title strip above it...your assignment for tomorrow ...Color your world........................MAKE YOUR TALENT SPEAK FOR YOU. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON IT, JUST INITIAL THE BACK IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER. BRING IT IN ROLLED UP.The next day I collected all of the water colors.
AND WENT ON WITH A DISCUSSION....AT THE END ONE PERSON ASKED WHAT ABOUT OUR PAINTINGS, YOU WILL VIEW THEM TOMORROW WHEN YOU COME IN AND I DEMAND RESPECT FOR EACH ONE THAT YOU CHOOSE TO VIEW.IF YOU CANNOT GIVE RESPECT THEN I WILL HAVE YOU LEAVE THE ROOM, What a great assignment that was...One person turned in a completely blank paper canvas I gave them time to look over the renderings I had hung....Then chose a different person for each painting and ask them to tell us what it says to him / her. wow what an emotional day for those in class...they learned alot about each other with that there was new found respect for each person and new friendships made..never judge because you don't know if you have the strength to walk their path and be able to stand tall...

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Bianca
8/20/2015 06:44:39 am

How does one let go or even forget? Question is...when and how to begin? When you gave half of your life to someone .. And yet you know that the relationship you have won't even last. Its just living for the moment...and see how it goes. Its been 4 years now since we started. Its just living in a dream everyday...not knowing when this will end .. We are both happy thats for sure, but there are no formalities ... No commitments and yet we are your typical couple. We do everything together!! Sometimes i think other couples envy us even, but then we dont really tell each other that we love each other. But i can feel that he does love me and i guess he feels the same too. We both show in actions...! I am so confused right now....should i start letting go? If so how? I am getting hurt emotionally everytime we have petry fights amd most of the time i want to let go....not for anything but bec of how he treats me when he is upset.

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