Accept the Past to Hold Tight to Hope for Tomorrow

Accept the past. Acceptance doesn’t mean you are settled with the past. It doesn’t mean you aren’t making better choices for tomorrow. Accepting the past simply means you understand there is nothing you can say or do to make the past different from what it was.

The past is gone. Let go of any negative feelings it tries to stir up.

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My afternoon walk took a different turn, literally and figuratively. Normally, I make a loop to loop around the complex where we are staying. It keeps me close to home in case my hubby wants to join the walk when he gets in from school.

Today was different because school went to an early (and longer) Thanksgiving holiday unexpectedly last night. He knew where I was going and made the choice not to join me. I felt free to change my direction.

I walked into another developing neighborhood. I haven’t walked over there since the leaves changed and began to fall. It had a different look and a different feel – in part because of the season and partly because our personal season has made a shift.

The house we are renting while we work through the tornado/insurance situation sold to a new owner. It may seem like a little thing, but it had a chain reaction. In the back of my mind (and maybe hidden in my heart) was the possibility of staying here. With the snap of a finger or more like the whip of a pen, that option vanished.

I walked through the fallen leaves and faded colors, and realized I might not belong there. “Do I belong anywhere?”

And then I heard the words, “this is not my home,” and I started singing the song that goes with that theme. We are not where we are going to be. This is temporary.

The past is part of that temporary. When things aren’t going the way we wanted or expected, it’s easy to dredge up the past and blame stuff we have no power over. If it was something here and now, then we’d have to make a choice for change.

Accept the Past

• Confront the past. Look at what you have done and be honest about your part in the situation. If you don’t look at it and be honest about it, then you will never be able to accept it.
• Make the connection. Determine how your past is connecting with your present. When you see the connections, then you can begin to make the plan for adjustments.
• Make the choice for different. Once you look at the past and see what got you there, then you have to determine to change. As long as you keep doing what you were doing, then you will stay where you are (or end up in a darker place). Use the experience to do better moving forward.

You fell. You messed up. You wrecked. Whatever happened, happened. You can’t change it. You can’t unwreck it. You can’t take the words back.

I’ve tried.

What you can do is accept it and move on.

I stood, holding my son, trying to help him learn to swim. He could float. We had been practicing in the tub. He just had to trust himself in the “more water” situation. Instead of floating in the pool, he gripped my arm like a vice. “You can’t float if you don’t let go, and you can’t swim if you won’t float.”

The past holds us back from doing all we are designed to do. Yet, we grip it like my son was gripping my arm. Maybe we are afraid of what we don’t know. Perhaps it’s more comfortable in our uncomfortable place because at least it’s familiar.

Whatever the reason, the only way into your possibility life is by letting go.

Accept the past and set a course for your purpose-filled life.

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More #GrowingHOPE

Did you miss yesterdays’s Growing HOPE?

11-16-2020 How to Become Crystal Clear on Your Want

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