The connection between our present and our past is a fascinating mystery and worth exploring if you struggle with self-sabotaging behaviours where you know what you should do but don’t do it, or know what you shouldn’t do but continue to do it anyway.
Our childhood, upbringing, schooling, family dynamics, random bits of conversations we overheard and then remembered (or misremembered), all can shape us into thinking and believing certain things about ourselves and others.
Eg I am adopted = I don’t belong.
Eg My mum did not remarry because of me = I am responsible for other people’s happiness and future.
Eg I did not have a good relationship with my mum = I cannot be a good mother.
Some of these stories, when re-examined with the guidance of a skilled, sensitive and non-judgmental professional, may well turn out to be a narrative that the younger version of you created to protect yourself, to stay safe — to feel loved — to be seen and heard.
Those were your needs at the time.
You did your best with what you knew, to make it through a difficult and stressful time.
Fast forward 30, 40 years later to now.
You are successful and thriving and life is good, but there are one or two areas where you continue to play out the same debilitating stories and patterns. As a result, you are experiencing disharmony and imbalance, perhaps in your relationships, career, or health.
It’s time to allow yourself to be healed from the long shadow of the past, so you can uncover the truth of what actually happened, and safely and compassionately release your old stories and memories to where they belong – in the past – and make room for new and wonderful chapters of your life to be written.