JD LeJeune

Passage from Friendship with God by Neale Donald Walsch

Timely: As of late (like others I am sure) I have found myself sucked into my past “Why did I do that? How could I have avoided this? Why did this happen?”…etc. As of late more and more things point to becoming present and simply observing what is. Allow it to be. Be grateful for this moment. Why stress? Why resist? Why hurt myself any longer?

Neale: How can I forget my past? Other people’s ideas about me are based, in part at least, on their experience of me-on my behaviors-in the past. What do I do, just forget that I did those things? Pretend they don’t matter?

God: Neither. Do not seek to forget your past, seek to change your future.The worst thing you could do is forget your past. Forget your past and you forget all that it has to show you, all that it gave you as its gift.

Neither pretend that it doesn’t matter. Rather, acknowledge that it does matter-and that, precisely because it does, you have decided not to repeat certain behaviors ever again.

Yet, once you have made that decision, let go of your past. Letting go of it does not mean forgetting it. It means stopping the holding on, ending the clinging to your past as if you are going to drown without it. You are drowning because of it.

Stop using your past to keep you afloat in your ideas of Who You Are. Let go of these old logs and swim to a new shore.

Even people with a wonderful past are not served by holding onto it as if that is Who They Are. This is called “resting on your laurels,” and nothing stops growth faster.

Neither rest on your laurels nor dwell on your failures. Rather, start over; begin anew in each golden moment of Now.

But how can I change behaviors that have become habitual, or character traits that have become ingrained?

By asking yourself one simple question: Is this Who I Am?

It’s the most important question you will ever ask yourself. You may ask it profitably before and after every decision in your life, from what clothes to wear, to what job to take, from whom to marry, to whether to marry at all. And certainly it is a key question to ask when you catch yourself in behaviors you say you want to discontinue.

And this will change long-held character traits or behaviors?

Try it.

Okay, I will.

Good.