Letting go in a spiritual and emotional sense is one of the hardest things to do. Every moment something is happening in our lives. And every moment we make interpretations or judgments about what happens.

By choosing to become more conscious of how we react to what happens, we can shift towards what we really want in our lives. Rather than following habitual, reactive patterns which lead to more of the same, we can recognize and transform our old habits to move powerfully in the direction of creating the life we really want.

There are many practices used to learn to let go. A person must find the one that is right for them; and no one can choose that for them.

Letting go will free your heart and soul and it will expand your visions. Experiences, whether good or bad, are sometimes all we have, and most of them reside in the past.

So you may ask, why should I let go of my past when much of it is filled with memories ?

At times you will look back and realize that you let yourself be the victim again. Even when you fail at making the shift from victim to creator, you can be gentle with yourself. Judging and blaming yourself is just as disempowering as directing it towards others.

You can accept and forgive yourself for not following your intention, and then do your best to learn from what happened. And there may even be times when, for whatever reason, you feel a need to play the role of victim for a while. If so, get into it and play the role fully.

But remember while doing so that you are choosing this, and that you can just as easily choose to be a creator again as soon as you are ready. There's a time and place for everything.

How do I know if my past is hurting my future?

A hurtful past surfaces subconsciously, if not properly let go. Moreover, consciously you are the only person who can detect and determine what pain you carry with you, so that becomes your antidote.

When appropriately analyzing your current mental condition, you need to set all pride aside and begin to delve into your past. False pride can mask what a more lucid-thinking individual could obviously see as painful.

Therefore, a lucid and logical mindset is of the utmost importance. Identification of particular events that are painful and then indexing them in their level of importance, is also important in knowing to what degree certain memories are hindering your progression.

In the indexing phase, one should identify and compare or look for the memories that cast the longest shadow. When this is completed, the arduous task of letting go must proceed.

Ask yourself truthfully, is this memory worth keeping this close, or would letting it go to its grave make my life easier?

This cost benefit analysis should be done with all the toxic memories, in order to understand their role in suppressing your life. Although letting go of a broken past is extremely helpful in ones future, it cannot be overstated that this process is just that, a process and cannot be done overnight.

Working on these memories and coming to terms with them by not accepting them anymore, can take years. As each one diminishes from your memory, you will not only be able to feel the backpack become lighter, but you will be able to start moving more freely into your future.