Stories We Tell Ourselves: The Past Will Always Negatively Influence My Future pt 1

Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way,

ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.

Deepak Chopra

In the last set of blogs, we talked about how our failures do not make the determination that we will fail now or in the future. In fact, failures have the potential to bring us closer to success! This post is tied closely to the same idea – that what happened in our past cannot accurately predict our future. That is, of course, unless we give up and allow it to.

If we think that our past predicts our future, this limiting threshold can become particularly pernicious. It has us assume that past events will influence future events only in negative ways. That our past actions have dominance over our present and future actions. That our past holds us hostage for eternity!

Maybe, like me, you have made mistakes in the past and have convinced yourself that those mistakes are going to keep you from achieving the success you desire. Maybe you have tried some things in the past that simply haven’t worked out. Maybe you don’t have a good track record in a particular area.

We can begin to believe that our past actions restrict our options for the future, or that past efforts will interfere with or derail our future efforts.

This kind of thinking gives too much power to our past, keeps us in its grips, and arrests our ability to grow, learn and change!

That means that we don’t feel like we can try anything new. We feel like your past is holding us back. Keeping us from your true potential. Standing in the way of your success.

Rewriting Our Limited Belief

Let’s revise the limiting belief into a set of more empowering beliefs.

Limiting Belief:

● “My past will always keep me from creating a brighter future.”

Empowering Beliefs:

● “My past cannot determine what I achieve in the future.”
● “My past is one of my greatest assets.”
● “Lessons from the past make me stronger, wiser.”
● “I can avoid making the same mistakes in the future by looking to the past.”
● “I can learn from my past and adapt and change.”

To rewrite this limiting belief, it is essential that we understand that our past actions have little bearing on our future. This is not to say that the past does not matter. But our past cannot determine what we can or cannot achieve in the future.

We will chat more next week about how to change our thinking.