Every night I lie in bedThe brightest colours fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
A million dreams for the world we're gonna make
~Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, "A Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman
I wanted to remind you of a few things about your yesterdays. This isn't to get you off the hook of the work of acknowledging, releasing, and letting go of the old stories that are cluttering your consciousness and getting in the way of manifesting your dreams. Our past experiences, stories, yesterdays can have a significant impact on our beliefs, and many times we don't even realize it's happening. Sometimes we have to dive deep to even realize they are there just so we can acknowledge them, even before we face them, forgive them, neutralize them, release them, and replace them.
I've talked about radical self-forgiveness that has nothing to do with the other party. And even if it does have something to do with another person - as Oscar Wilde said:
Always forgive your enemies—nothing annoys them so much.
I've given you the tool called PLACE (see "What's Your Response?"): Pause, Label, Ask, Choose, Express. So you respond vs. react to situations because reactions come from yesterday's stories.
There's the 4-step shame and regret process I shared (see "What Are You Looking At?")to get squeaky clean with our ethics and integrity and neutralize the power yesterday's story has a hold on us.
Or you could follow Tony Robbins' (and others) advice to:
1. Turn "letting go" of the past into a “must”
Gaining a clear sense of purpose to move beyond the hold of yesterday and serve as your emotional drive when you feel like raging, hiding, etc.
2. Identify your emotional habits
Emotions are like a muscle. The trauma or challenging incident can train us to feel frustrated, sad, stressed, untrusting. However, you can train yourself to stay passionate, joyful, and strong, even when something bad happens in your life or reminds you of your yesterdays. When you catch yourself falling into a negative emotional habit, try to cut off the thought and switch gears immediately. This new conditioning will re-wire those emotions to have less or no effect as a trigger.
3. Condition your mind and work on personal growth
Feed your mind and soul with empowering stories instead of limiting ones. Surround yourself with people who make you better and put yourself in a peak state of mind and action. Focus on learning and improving your mind and heart, and thus your self-respect and perception.
4. Create empowering rituals
Build momentum by practicing gratitude, meditation, affirmative prayer, journaling, etc. All the spiritual practices we talk about and work.
5. Focus on what you can control
You can’t take back an unhealthy relationship, but you can learn from it. You can’t go back in time and fix a bad childhood, but you can realize that “Your past does not equal your future.” From the minute you wake up, you make choices. In fact, that could be your greatest birthrights - volition and choice. Learning how to let go of the past means breaking the pattern and focusing on creating the life you deserve, not dwelling on the one you used to have.
7. Give back
No matter how broke you may be or how broken you feel, you have something to offer others – even if it’s something as common as a smile or a listening ear. Realize that the secret to living is giving.
Not a Tony Robbins or NLP fan? Alice Morse Earle put it very plainly in the early 1900s:
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.
Here is the most important thing happening in the present that I want you to grasp onto, awaken to and allow Its transformative abilities to take hold:
If God is all there is, then EVERYTHING in our life is God speaking.
Doubt, pain, resistance, and misery are a calling for reconnecting our humanness with our spiritual essence. It holds no judgment or opinion of the experience! When you begin to see yesterdays that pop up in our 'todays' as a blessing, you tap into an opportunity to remember the fundamental truth that God is all-in in your life and ready to wave the flag and hold your hand, if need be, and point us to the Truth to:
REALIZE ACCEPT KNOW
- Realize your feelings are valid
- Accept that God has given you all that is needed to step through yesterday's junk
- Know you have the power of choosing and then choosing again and again and again
I would like to conclude with a poem I heard about and found on this subject.
She Let Go
by Safire Rose
She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear.
She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice.
She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word.
She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort.
There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…
You will probably face setbacks and challenges, I have. But with conviction and a purpose that drives you, you will stay focused and dedicated when those yesterdays show up. Then you can acknowledge, release, and let go. Don’t beat yourself up for what has happened in the past - all god's children's got stuff. Beyond your own self-work, please seek out spiritual counseling - I do, cognitive therapy - I have, and know that you can and will let go of your yesterdays and manifest your million dreams.
I know you can!
Affirmative Incantation
I welcome my new stories.
My todays are filled with wonderment, excitement, imagination, and the best of infinite possibilities. I am moving forward with everything in my life. I am energized, authorized, crystallized, concretized, exercised, harmonized, and recognized as the Divine Light that I Am born to be.
I now forgive, release, and neutralize the blocks, triggers, and walls of indecision, victimhood, and strife. And I welcome the new stories of strength, wisdom, plenty, and love. I am rockin' it from this day forward.
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