Newsletter #6 Moving Forward: Letting Go & Embracing the Present

I have spent so many years looking back…pondering if this was different, if that was different…my life may be happy, if I could change something from my past I would have serenity and peace. 

I am happy to tell you that I wasted a lot of time! Not only time, but experiences, joy and happiness which are found in moments of a day.

History is very important to enjoy a successful life.. We learn from history. I look back and reflect on my past and see when times were good and times were bad and what I have come up with is that I wouldn’t change any of it. All of my experiences have made me who I am today. The good times and the bad. 

The real truth of it was I was afraid to feel sad and I was afraid to feel afraid! But, we all feel afraid at different times in our lives. Let's face it, fear is good in small doses. In my life I am still fearful of alcohol because it truly kicked my butt! It worked as a painkiller. It took away all feelings both good and bad. 

I spoke to a wise woman last week who said to me, “Drugs and Alcohol are just painkillers!” and she was so nonchalant about it and I have been thinking about that statement for a week and you know what she is right. 

We don’t want to hurt or feel badly so we pick up legal and illegal painkillers and the unfortunate thing is that they are not working! They are killing our society. 

When I was staring back at what had transpired in my childhood, my formative years, then the years I was raising children and living in different places I have concluded that I did my best at the time. Today, I give myself the grace of being kind to myself because at that time I didn't know what I know now. Would I have done life differently if I could have….probably not. 

We all get to Leave the Past in the Past. 

We get to live in the NOW in Today! 

I have a God box (it's an old shoebox) that I put names and situations that I cannot change into the box and give to God, (you can give it whatever you call your higher power) and let it go.

Our history is what makes life so interesting. You can glance and remember what a situation or feeling was like and then move forward in today. 

As my dear friend Lizzie says, “Have a happy, happy”

XO

Elizabeth