How to know yourself-16: The Past is good

Today, we will think about the good things from our past, which will be the last post about the past.

What makes you happy about the past when you think about it? Are there some nice memories that motivate you?

Are you often stuck in past or can you accept the past as it is and motivate yourself for today?

What is the biggest lesson you take from the past that makes your present better?

Is it possible to balance the past and present?

Does your past enlighten your present and future? If yes, how can you get the maximum from it?

What are the moments in the past when I took responsibility and even if the outcome was bad, I was proud of myself, even if it was exhausting, at least I did my best, and my conscience is clear?

Does ‘not running away from the past’ (understanding, analyzing and confronting it) contribute to me, do I benefit from it?

It is as important to analyze the moments that make you feel good and proud as it is to face the bad moments of the past. Our brain is constantly making new connections. These connections are actually like muscles. They develop and get stronger as we use them. Therefore, when we constantly focus on the negative, those memories and the associated emotions become even stronger in our brains. Both as memories and as consequences.

Also, our brains are more prone to remember negative memories and news. When you think about it, you will see that the whole modern media is based on this. More negative news, more interaction. But let me give you one more piece of information, a lot of what we remember is shaped by our thoughts and emotions. So it is inaccurate, incomplete, or wrong (see False Memory).

So why not transform our emotions from the past into positivity? Why not strengthen our neuron connections for positive things?

Another advantage of positive memories is that they can be a motivation for today, they can help us evaluate today better, and they can be lessons for our next steps. When we analyze our positive memories, we can see which steps we took in the right direction. We can see which of our steps today are proving to be the right ones.

We can learn from our past successes to find the way forward and create motivation for today with what we have achieved in the past and what we feel at that moment. Success is not a chance, but a product of work. There is no reason why what has been achieved once cannot be achieved again.

Of course, we call success here not ambitions, wannabes, or the desire to always be at the top, but more abstract outcomes such as being at peace with ourselves, good relationships, good feelings, and feeling complete. Otherwise, past achievements can turn into negativity and a barrier to personal growth. For example, expecting rewards after achievements, expecting praise, fear of losing what has been achieved, and being under the illusion that the only way to success is the only way. What we want and aim for is the opposite.

The only purpose of doing so much past analysis is to create new opportunities for ourselves, keep our heads up, and adaptquickly to changing conditions. To be able to set success and failure criteria for ourselves, and to turn failure into an advantage by accepting it as it is. When you achieve this, you will realize that many things in your life are going well and many doors will open.

Note: Surely, some things are easy to say and hard to do. It is normal to feel overwhelmed. In this series of articles, I am explaining the questions in the book I referenced from my perspective. Your perception may be different.

Also, I only write explanations about the questions, but I don’t give any information about what I am doing about it because it is more personal. Nevertheless, if you have any questions for reference, if you have any questions such as, okay, brother, how will all this happen, what are you doing; you can ask as a comment. I will gladly answer. If you want to look at it from a more personal perspective, you can reach me through different channels. If there is such a request, I can share my social media accounts. Thank you for reading.