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exFamily.org > chatboards > genX > archives > post #109

Rewriting the past

Posted by Time Traveler on March 04, 2002 at 22:35:32:

In Reply to: The Past posted by Mike W. on March 04, 2002 at 20:29:20:

Some venture to say that you can actually change the past, by rewriting the way you look at it. By changing the angle, the perspective, you rewrite your present and your future. If we look at our past as one of unhappiness and victimization, we remain victims, or continue living today as a child of past misery. If we look at our past as a valuable time of lessons, and show ourselves lots of understanding for whatever we did, with no regrets because we did the absolute best we could for the time, and we think of the past as very necessary for forming us into what we are today, we empower ourselves to live today and we look to the future with new strength.

This freedom in our minds to rewrite our own history, to choose to view it as we please, is something nobody can take from us. We have a right to empower ourselves.

Of course I am not suggesting that we live in denial about our past, or actually rewrite our history the way the Family is trying to hide their sins, in order to run away from accountability to people they have hurt. I am only talking about the part that is yours, your own life, the part that YOU have a right to look at differently. I am just saying that you have a right to forgive yourself, and find it in you to look at the past in a positive constructive way. And of course, you still have a right to keep the details of your private life private from your neighbor.