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Step out of the history that is holding you back, step into the new story you are willing to create

Oprah Winfrey

History is a rather weird friend to have. It can be very supportive if you have memories of success, achievements, running ahead of the competition and literally making a mark for yourself.

On the other hand, if you have had some harsh memories, the mind can easily become a prisoner of the past with a rather unusual conclusion of – “This has never worked in the past, no wonder it is going to fail again”

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Step out of the history that is holding you back

We all have our pasts and the ghosts which haunt us at times. We also have experiences which have shaped the way we are constantly enable us.

The suggestion here is to apply a conscious filter or a subjective filter to make sure that the circumstances work in your favor. Any time we want to start something new, the mind is trained to look back at connect to something similar that has happened in the past.

If that something is a memory of energy, enthusiasm, excitement and joy – it fills us with an incredible amount of optimism and belief to create a world of magic around us, regardless of an external influence.

The story that is holding you back

If on the other hand, the memory is a bitter one – of multiple failures that debilitated you; Guess what? It very soon changes into a rather depressing situation with a huge mountain ahead of us.

What do we do in such a circumstance?

I have always thoroughly enjoyed a challenge – it has made me more capable of taking up tougher ones. But there is a fine print here though – if the size of a challenge is too big to chew, then we are running into known troubles.

The natural tendency in a such a situation would be to give up. It might not be the physical action of giving something up, but the mental act of not nurturing it with adequate emotions.

Step into the story you are willing to create

As Oprah winfrey suggests -step out of the story that is holding you back! – These stories have a way of haunting us, making us suspicious and making us question our possibilities. This is an awful emotion to go through on a consistent basis, we are better off getting rid of these that hold us back.

But, is it as simple as it is being made out here? The answer, at-least from me is NO. It is very difficult and that is exactly why, so few people do it.

What is the true value of past?

The past is nothing but a data point. Things did not work for a certain set of reasons, there is a lot of value in an investigative attempt to identify

• What went wrong?
• How can I prevent this from happening again?
• What can I learn from this and apply so that I need not face this again?

The three questions start driving a thought process extremely valuable for the journey we want to create.

After all, if it was just about the past – our lives would have been over already without much hope. That is not the case, we are looking at another chance here.

THINGS ARE NEVER EVER THE SAME!

Some circumstances can be, but timing has changed, situation, market and people around you have changed. And if nothing – you have changed and have a new thought process which can impact a change.

In the end – Actions Matter

I am an engineer by practice – so a constant training is – you must treat the data objectively. If we look at the situation as well, our single biggest victory here is in reaching an end goal. What happened in the past is a feedback, an outcome which was not desired.

But that is literally the end of its value. It should not be more than that! It was what it was – had a terrible impact, but the matter now is not about feeling bad or sorry for ourselves. The matter is to step into the new story you are willing to create!

We can either wallow in the glories of our past or sadness that came with it. If you want to make the change and get the result you want, the only way is the way ahead.

On that note:

Step out of the history that is holding you back, step into the new story you are willing to create

Oprah Winfrey