Releasing the Past

The past, it clings to us.

Like heat rising off the blacktop.

The past sticks to our bodies, 

a smoke we can’t shake off.

It cycles through our minds, 

obscuring our lens.

We see the word through our past. 

Traumas, beliefs, emotions. 

It live in our brains and our bodies,

hunched shoulders, locked jaws, tight hips.

We stretch.  We try not to think about it. We try to shake it off.

Yet it still clings, threatening our souls from ever being free.  

The pain is the way.  

The only way out is through.  

Stepping into the fog, the confusion, is entering the darkness of my mind. 

I scream in agony.  

I see the pain start to float past.

The groans and cries continue for a while longer.

Actually, what feels like an eternity,

but really, only a moment in time.  

My past is not yet behind me, 

though I feel it loosening its grip.

I breathe in.

A full, deep, belly breath.

I exhale.

Freer than I was before.

I nod to the past, no longer dragging its weight behind me,

but see beside me, like an old friend,

who’s history no longer matches the desires of my future.

But I thank that friend, all the same.

“Great suffering comes from great confusion.” -Robert McKee (on the Rich Roll podcast, episode 736).

So what happens when we let go of the confusion of our minds and let our hearts lead the way? …