Dealing With A Bad Past

The best way to deal with a bad past is to TAKE ACTION toward improving upon yourself and then move on without looking back.

If you must 'visit' the past, do so with the intention of learning from the mistakes lurking forever in your past - but remember - it's gone and cannot be changed.

What can be changed is your FUTURE!

Re-Create who you want to be. It's YOUR choice. It's also your choice to continue to allow your perspective to drag you down where your past is concerned. You can CHOOSE not to keep allowing yourself to dwell in the memories of past wrongs you've done, past mistakes, and bad behaviors you wish you could forget. You get to choose, either way. Let your past be simply a marker of what you no longer want to be or how you no longer want to act. With this perspective, a bad past can actually be useful to you.

Even if those familiar with your past have negative things to say about your past don't worry. If you change for the better, there will come a point and time when those who criticize will have to EAT THEIR WORDS about the 'new you.' At some point, when the negative things they keep saying are no longer applicable to the newly improved person you're becoming, these people will even loose credibility with other who might be listening to their words, People will start to wonder why these criticizing individuals keep on re-hashing the same old, long-past ideas.

They may always continue to be critical of the past, but soon, with a concerted effort launched at positive change, you will be able to say "Yes, I have had a bad past, but this is me NOW, and the person I have become is not like the person from the past."

The above statement will be true if you have, indeed, changed, and soon the negative comments will lose their power and you'll be able to enjoy the progress you've made with creating the person you really want to be.

The best way to convince others, if not yourself, about the fact that you're a better person than you were during a past time period is to simply LIVE. Live your life better and keep looking to the future. This is the action part that will solidify the decision you've made to become a better person and leave the past behind.

You can deliberate and think about - even talk about changing and getting out of the past - but until you actually take steps to BECOME the better person that you want to be, you probably won't be able to distance yourself too far from the past and 'change' will be difficult for you.

It's really nobody's business but yours, so if you're feeling like you want to distance yourself from a bad past, take action and start living like you're the person you want to be.

The idea of 'being a better person' probably isn't enough to help propel you along while you feel like the past is pulling you backward. You may need to sit down and write out some characteristics and qualities that you admire most in other people. Decide if these are reasonably attainable for you or if they are really, truly the things that you want to incorporate into a newly improved YOU. Once you find a half-dozen or so reasonable qualities to aspire to, TAKE ACTION and start living like you are that better person.

All improvements start with a thought. "A main idea." What we think about ourselves is very powerful nourishment for our spirits, so make sure your thoughts are positive. Take out all the 'but' and 'if only' and 'if other people would only' and 'maybe' and 'can't' and 'not' and 'won't' and all those kind of half-hearted words or self-limiting words from your vocabulary.

Create a visual image of you at your best, most confident state...then take action and start to fill the shoes of the re-creation of you - your future you - that no longer gets trampled by things from your past.

If you show others that you have a different perspective on life, that your behaviors are no longer what they used to be, then you will become the kind of person that you have visualized. More than this, once you show yourself that you are no longer that person from the past, you will enjoy a new freedom.

If you make a mistake or slip along the way, the future can still change for you. Just re-assert the positive changes that you want in your life. You can always go forward. Only your mind can go backward.

The future is about action and creation.

The past is about powerlessness and futility.