OVERSHADOWING YOUR PAST OR LETTING THE PAST BECOME YOUR SHADOW ?

Over time, we learn to accept, adjust and move on. Some learn from their past, some cling on to it, and some just see it as an old, done and dusted chapter. But in reality, do you actually let the past not affect you? Involuntarily, we all go through a ‘judgmental-equating phase’ in our lives. Maybe not once, maybe many times. All due to our past imprints. New relationships, new friendships, new jobs…we tend to equate them with our past experience. Why? Its human nature! We are either hesitant, or unsure of how to proceed without judging situations from our pre conceived notions. We all do it. And to an extent, it is fine. One does become cautious in life from previous ‘not-so-positive’ experiences. But does that mean we impose our past on everything new? Do we really need to equate and judge things on what might happen because a ‘similar’ happening occurred in the past? Giving a fresh new chance to life happenings and having a new take on things is what makes up our ‘Lifebook’. Overshadowing your past by giving unprecedented chances to new things in life is what leads to unbiased and fair outlooks on life. Walking hand in hand with ended chapters takes us nowhere. With this, we only dent our potential happiness and new beginnings.

By this, I don’t mean that all past is wholly negative. But we as humans tend to focus more on the negatives than on the positives. We tend to carry this baggage of judgments, misrepresentations and biasedness. “This is the exact same way my previous relationship directed towards, because I did this. So I am not gonna repeat it”—this line inevitably comes to our minds when taking a shot at a new relationship. Why? Because somewhere deep down in our hearts and minds, we don’t let go fully of the things we have witnessed or experienced. We all have a tendency to cling on to things from the past and maybe, bury it in some corner of our brains or let it sway in our hearts for it to be reflected on our faces. This hesitant and cautious approach, though does save us from a lot of mishaps, but in some cases, it just pushes away the very beginning of what maybe a life altering experience.
Our shadow is our part. We feel that only when surrounded by light will we be able to see our shadow. But in reality, our shadow is always with us. It is us! When there is light, our shadow only reminds us that there is a dark side to life too, which we all need to embrace… which maybe… the wrongs in our past? Maybe some wrong decisions we made? The grudges and hatred we might hold towards someone? The so-called ‘dark’ things could be anything. But do we need to hold on to them? Even if they will be imprinted in our subconscious being, we need to unfocus on them in our present. But the real motive of ‘our shadow’ is not to show us the dark side. It is just a subconscious reminder that some things need to be dealt with differently or maybe, that ‘dark side’ is just an old experience, which made us who we are today.... Or maybe, it’s just a memory, which stays with us no matter what.

Overshadowing the shadows of our past by embracing life as it comes moulds us into the person we are today. A person who lives in the past cannot fully explore the realms of life...

Your past is past for a reason. Walk on with it as a memory, reminder or as a stepping-stone which made you what you are today. Like ‘each drop makes an ocean’, every moment experienced makes us an enriched individual. Now grabbing on to the positives or negatives?—that’s up to us!