You need to let it go!!

I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but it's okay to forgive yourself. For mistakes made, for things not working out, or for the things you wish you could do over.

It's okay. You can let it go. You can forgive yourself.

You might be surprised to learn you're not alone in holding the past against yourself. I've had clients who kept replaying mistakes made years earlier only to develop a deep fear of the past repeating. Not surprisingly, that fear became debilitating performance anxiety.

At the root, we wish we had a do-over. We long to go back to that moment and make a different choice or have things play out "better."

I've told the story before of giving myself a migraine before a national competition - I held that one against myself for YEARS! Years! I berated myself that I knew better, and by not controlling my excitement, I wasted my dog's one chance to show off how great he was. There was no do-over, but I still plotted what I should have done differently.

Of course, objectively, this wasn't true. Eventually, I alchemized my experience to recommit to mindset work, and ... well, here we are! So I suppose that migraine was good for something!

Without forgiveness, we replay the event and keep it alive and well in our minds. This is not helpful. When we replay "negative" events, we make them stronger and more vivid in our memories. This is really not helpful. Remember, what we give our attention to strengthens. Just last week, we talked about the necessary alignment between our attention and our intention, and when we replay negative events, we are misaligned with our goals.

In short, we are working against ourselves.

Forgiveness and letting go are critical to moving forward and recommitting to our goals. We need to be open to the possibilities and potential of the future - what we want, and what we desire. Sometimes, the future is a powerful motivator that allows us to finally release the past. Yet, each of us must come to terms with the past in our own very personal ways.

What do you need to release? What do you need to forgive yourself for? What do you wish you could do over? Start with these questions and be prepared for some powerful emotions to bubble up - that's a great place to start.