Recently, news outlets have been debating scientists’ attempt at recreating and resurrecting the wooly mammoth from DNA strands found in frozen specimens. Some challenge whether scientists are too focused on the past and are failing to offer real-world benefits.
This thought-provoking debate inspires us to similarly challenge our own focus. Are we too engaged in the past to move into a better future? Does our present revolve around remembering things rather than enjoying the moment?
The baggage we bring with us weighs down our present lives so that not only can we not enjoy the moment, but we also bar the way to future happiness. When the burdens from past years accumulate, they overwhelm our emotional lives. Hanging on to old hurts makes them worse and harms our emotional wellness. It is time to finally let go.
Letting go feels difficult, if not impossible. It seems dangerous to allow ourselves to forget something so painful. But what is worse: not giving ourselves freedom from pain or forcing ourselves to live in it and thus compromise our health and happiness?
Letting go is as simple as it sounds: just let go and focus on the present moment. When that is just not possible, residential treatment programs can help women explore past traumas and move through pain into lives of joy and fulfillment.
When we release pain to our past and allow ourselves to forgive and forget, we free ourselves to live in a present of happiness and productivity.
