Letting Go Of the Past

"Letting go, it’s so hard…" — Peter Gabriel, "Washing of the Water"

Oh, I feel your pain, Peter. The past has quite a hold of our heads in the present, which often raises our stress levels even when nothing dangerous is happening to us. Because of our survival instincts, we tend to go over and over bad memories instead of good ones, perhaps to try and recognize how to avoid getting into a similar mess in the future. However, if you’re like me, once the Great Mistakes Of My Past movie begins to play in my head, it’s hard to switch it off. Learning to let go of your past takes a long time to get a hang of, but worth the effort.

How Do You Let Go?

Perhaps you’ve been told many times to let the past go. In the song quoted above, "Washing of the Water", Peter Gabriel talks very candidly about looking back on his past failed relationships. In it, he opens his heart to a river and finds some way to at least relax enough to get some sleep. The lyrics also suggest that he takes a baptismal swim in the river to clean his present of the pain of his past.

For some of us, just singing this song helps us let go of our past — at least for another day.

The Power of Rituals

"Ritual" is heavy word, isn’t it? But any repetitious set of motions we do is, technically, a ritual. Making a wish before blowing out your birthday candles — that’s an example of a ritual. Perhaps you have a coffee or tea at the same time every day — that’s another example of a ritual. The power of a ritual is in the associations it makes inside of our subconscious that can help our physical bodies relax.

A small, uncomplicated ritual you make for yourself can be a powerful aid in helping you let go of the past. For example, you could write down the memory that’s bugging you and then burn the paper (outside, of course). You could also take your piece of paper to a free-moving body of water like a river or a stream, drop the paper in, and watch it float away or sink to the bottom.

These letting go of the past rituals may sound silly, but they do help break the cycle of bad memories that can keep you awake at nights. They help to remind you that you have power over your memories — they do not have power over you.

Hope this helps.

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