Sometimes when we experience difficult situations we want to just forget about them and move on. If only that idea was possible. Now of course we have all tried to forget our past especially the negatives we don’t want to remember and it can work for weeks or months or even years. What this does though is takes away our ability to gain hindsight. Looking back to see what has gone on so we can better predict how we should make decisions in the future (foresight). Another part of the journey which may get lost if we avoid objectively observing the past is insight. I named my private practice Insightful Release because of the importance insight has to releasing the chains which bound us.
And isn’t that we are searching for... the idea we can attain some level of freedom from our past? It is possible- I see it happen in therapy with my clients and have experienced it in my own life. The joy which is felt when we break our old patterns and no longer feel like a prisoner. I should mention that you do not have to dig up every last event and look at every detail of them to utilize hindsight. That would be overwhelming. It is done much more by objectively seeing your patterns, how they were formed, and then having foresight to see if you may be starting to fall into an old pattern. That is the work- that is awareness- that is how you will find healing.
I offer a gentle reminder that even though the past may be something we want to forget, that very act of forgetting may keep us bound. Be kind to yourself and look to hindsight as a helper which will honor you by offering insight (wisdom) and then you will have the foresight to live the future truly free.
