8 Ways To Make Peace With Your Past

Make Peace With Your Past: 8 Ways to Accept It and Move On Each one of us has experienced upsetting situations at one time or another. You might cope with these events and the feelings they trigger by simply putting them out of your mind. But somehow, those negative occurrences just keep wiggling their way back into your thoughts and feelings. How can you deal with past negative events so you can move forward? Consider these tips to make peace with your past: 1. Tell yourself, “It is what it is.” Whatever the disturbing experience, it happened to you. Acknowledge it. At least, accept the fact that it happened. 2. Identify your own emotions regarding the situation. Ponder the variety of feeling “labels.” Disappointment, anger, fear, and resentment are some examples. How did it make you feel then? What goes on with you emotionally when you think about the event now? 3. Embrace all of your feelings. It’s okay to feel whatever it is you feel. You’re human. You have the right to be scared, angry, frustrated, or any other feelings you have. Give yourself permission to embrace the emotions you experience related to your past. With insight into your emotions, you can begin to understand how something from the past could be impacting you now. 4. Recognize you can protect yourself now. You can ensure that event doesn’t ever have to happen to you again. Seek and find comfort and grace in your current position. 5. Determine if you’re truly ready to let go of this part of your past. Can you release it into the wind and say, “It happened but it no longer has to define me”? Only you can make the decision to release this negativity from your life for good. Of course, the memory will remain, but all the negativity will dissipate when you recognize and understand what happened. Think of a symbolic way to release your personal distress so you can start fresh from this day forward. Write down your trauma. Tear it up in tiny...