"The Celebrating Life Project Challenges" are here to shake you to your core. To get you to start living the "YOU" you were meant to be. Produce the confidence and motivation you need to fulfill your life purpose, and live happy, healthy, successful and free. Every month a new challenge will be posted. Take the challenge today!
Challenge 1: Letting Go
On numerous occasions, we have all found ourselves stuck in the past, forgetting how to live in the present and blanking out that we have a future: unedited, unscripted, journey-bound!
We have all suffered from negative experiences in our life, whether it was the death of someone we love, the cheating of a partner or a broken friendship. Future avoidance of the hurt and pain cannot be accomplished, and it is futile to even try. What's important, however, is how you face these challenges, heal yourself where necessary, learn the life lesson and move on. It's about finding your center again. Finding that wonderful, happy, and desirable person you were before all the pain, hurt, disappointments and resentment came into your world. But getting to that better you and life is where many get stuck, including myself on countless occasions.
So here are several things you can do to get unstuck:
(1) Acknowledge the negative: As adults we need to take our own "time-out" to identify what negative experiences from the past still affects our life today. Make an honest assessment of this, regardless of how you've behaved or reacted. Identification of particular painful events is important in knowing to what degree certain memories are hindering your progress. Many times, we don't like looking at the cracks but you cannot change what you don't acknowledge.
(2) Ink it: We all make mistakes. What's important is the lessons we've learned through those many mistakes. Some psychologists suggest writing a letter to yourself, setting boundaries on the past pains in your current life. You may write of a cheating partner, "I made the choice to let in someone who wasn't honourable and disrespected me. I am allowed to make mistakes. I have learned from this experience to honour myself, trust my instincts and never let anyone treat me like that again. I have suffered greatly from his/her actions and continued to allow myself to feel this pain. From today [date and time here], I will no longer let his/her behaviour affect my life negatively." Remind yourself of this letter whenever you feel you're sinking into the dark abyss of hurt again. This will remind you that you are ENTITLED to move forward.
(3) Visualize the "new you": Ask any teacher and they'll tell you that many students learn better with visual aids. See yourself as you are now. Oftentimes, this picture is lackluster, dull and grey. Now see yourself as the person you want to be - the new you. Most times the picture that comes to mind is filled with energy, spirit and happiness. Recall the "new you" when you face a setback in your healing process.
(4) Learn to Forgive: We often see people who have hurt us as being "wrong", not taking responsibility for what they've done to us. While you're still holding to the cancer of being "right", they're having a perfect night's sleep. Learning to forgive isn't about them. It's about YOU. It's empowering yourself and taking back the control of your life in your own hands, and not letting someone else dictate what you can do.
Letting go of past hurt isn't easy. It cannot be done overnight. There will be progress and setbacks. This is a process, not a race. Continuing to live in the past, ultimately means that you fail to recognise your future and the endless possibilities it may bring.
