When You Believe Your Past is Affecting Current Day Manifestations

I have an impossible question to ask. How can one change the past in order to get a different present? There are things that have happened to me previously that affect major areas of my life, as well as potential opportunities, both relationship-wise and in my career. It is a reality I live with. How can I manifest change if it’s something that happened previously that is keeping current day things from me?

 

The Ego’s Erroneous Thinking

The egoic mind engages in all manner of erroneous thinking that has serious consequences for our day to day life, our emotional well-being, the choices we make, our self-image, how we relate to others and what we believe is possible. One of its most egregious ‘though errors’ is the past can affect our life in permanent ways, that if certain things happened back then, that unquestionably precludes certain things from ever happening in the present moment. 

It believes some unchangeable event we can’t ever undo, or do anything about now, has shaped our path, and that’s that. It has left a permanent black mark on our existence.  Because of how significantly it impacts our life, this particularly common and upsetting belief, really needs to be unwound and released . 

But this is simply not true. When we attribute the nature of our current circumstances to something that happened previously, we are mistakenly attributing ‘cause’ to something in the external, when the true cause is in the mind. It isn’t what happened in the past, it is what we believe about what happened and what we believe that experience means. We have created all sorts of stories, and drawn all sorts of conclusions with great conviction. 

And anything that happens in our life that appears to validate these stories and conclusions is not proof that these beliefs are inherently true–which is what ego, human mind would say–, but merely proof of the power of our minds, the power of belief. We strongly believe the past affects the present, so our experience is simply reflecting that belief back to us. 

We simply need to correct our thinking about the past, we need to embrace a thought system that would tell us what happened will have no bearing on your present circumstances, because it isn’t what happened that matters, it is what we believe about what happened. 

Just because certain people react a particular way to you, doesn’t mean all people will share that same reaction. Just because some people treat you a certain way, doesn’t mean all people will treat you that way. Just because some people aren’t willing to take a chance on you doesn’t mean all people will reject you. Just because one opportunity doesn’t work out, doesn’t mean all future opportunities are a non-starter. 

 

Understanding What You Truly Want

The person who asked this question did so because she believes a past experience precludes her from getting certain types of jobs and pursuing certain types of opportunities. So many things just don’t seem to be possible because of what happened previously. This scenario is one of the most common reasons we believe that the past does in fact have the potential to leave some indelible mark on our lives. 

Through the filter of the egoic mind thought system, this thinking makes perfect sense; this is a totally reasonable conclusion. For example, a person convicted of a certain type of crime cannot work certain types of jobs, so of course the past has created a permanent present moment effect–he will not be hired no matter what. 

But again, its thinking is erroneous, and this isn’t actually true because the ego mind doesn’t actually know what we want. 

Understanding what we truly want is far more than a particular circumstance to be a different than it is now, is absolutely crucial. 

Understanding that even if a past circumstance potentially makes certain paths, opportunities and outcomes less likely in the present, there are other ways to experience what we want, because what we ultimately want are certain feelings, is imperative. 

When we understand we want certain feelings rather than very specific ‘forms’ in the world– which we only want because we think they will give us said feelings– we open ourselves up to infinite possibilities. 

We feel less attached to specific representations of these feelings our ego mind has latched onto. We warm up to the idea of what we truly want being possibly different than what we envision, everything working out eventually , being open to how it all unfolds and not being so insistent we know best. 

 

So What’s The Story

If the problem is only ever in the realm of the mind–beliefs, perceptions, stories, etc…–that is the first place we need to turn our attention. If it isn’t the circumstance, but we believe about the circumstance, then what do we believe? 

When you experience outcomes that seem to validate the egoic belief that the past does in fact have this all-powerful effect on the present, what are you specifically thinking? What is being proven ‘true’ to you? 

When things go a certain way for a long time, we see everything through that filter of  past experience, expecting things will unfold the same exact way this time around as well. This is one of the ‘core’ stories that is always present no matter the particular circumstance. This is one of our ‘core’ ego beliefs that has pervasive, far-reaching implications.

Looking at the story can be very uncomfortable, which is why we do our damndest to avoid it. We have become very skilled at avoiding the mind, and convincing ourselves the problem is external.

As painful as that belief is, and as much suffering as it causes, we must believe the pain of going within is far worse, or we would do it. Remember the ego mind strictly operates from pain–minimizing mode, which is very different from ‘maximizing well-being’ mode. 

Pain-minimizing mode never has us acting in our own best interest because avoiding pain creates endless problems in our lives, on an individual and collective level. It keeps us locked into all sorts of harmful beliefs–like believing unchangeable past events will forever have negative consequences we can never escape–that simply aren’t true. 

Don’t be afraid to look directly at these stories and beliefs. Don’t judge them. Don’t intellectually analyze them to determine if they are ‘valid’ or not. Don’t look at them through the lens of ‘spiritual teaching’ and conclude that you ‘shouldn’t’ feel that way because these sorts of teachings tell you that you don’t need to feel that way. Whatever is there is there.  Don’t shut it down.

Don’t use spiritual teachings as an excuse not to deal with what is happening inside. It is a trap that is very easy to fall into. It is a trap we are all too happy to fall into. 

Once you get a better sense of what is happening in your mind, you are faced with doing the only thing that is truly required of you in this journey of spirituality, personal growth, energetic transformation or whatever you call this ‘work’ you are doing…

 

Making a Choice

Like I have said many times, the crux of all our ‘work’ is changing our belief system–that is really, truly it. We were abiding by the ‘ego thought system’ for much of our lives, and we get introduced to all these spiritual teachings that are based on a completely different way of thinking, and we are being asked to release the former in favor of the latter. I have always called the latter the ‘spirit thought system.’

That is really the only thing we are being asked to do, the only thing required of us. The various things we engage in to help us make that shift in thinking vary among us as different things resonate with different people. But again, at the end of the day, this is the only thing we are looking to do.

We are being asked to change our minds and nothing more. That is the only thing Spirit needs from us to help us heal our erroneous thinking and the painful feelings that have sprouted from it.

‘Spirit thought system’ offers a better-feeling alternative to every egoic thought, and I believe that emotional, intuitive resonance we feel with the former thought system indicates the truth of those ideas. I trust my emotional responses to these ideas is a way to evaluate what is true and not true. Ego thoughts always, without exception, feel badly. Spirit thoughts always, without exception, feel good.

This willingness to trust our feelings as some sort of guidance system is the first choice we are called to make; it gets the ball rolling and we can’t do very much at all if we decide against this idea.

We must remember no situation has any true, inherent, indisputable meaning to it that applies to everyone, all the time, without exception. We decide.  

You can decide the past will affect your future–and it will appear to– or you can decide it doesn’t, and it won’t. 

 The ego mind is really good at convincing us its beliefs and interpretations of everything that happens is unquestionably true, without a doubt. There is only one way to look at this situation, it has handed down its judgment, and that’s that. And we don’t put up much of a fight do we? 

An important part of making this choice between the two thought systems will undoubtedly involve getting in touch with the negative feelings that have amassed based on the ego beliefs, and all the various experiences that we attribute to what happened in our past–the missed opportunities, the rejections, the unmet expectations, the conflicts,etc…

We can only choose the ‘spirit thought’ system consistently, meaningfully and genuinely when we have made the space within ourselves to let it take root more deeply. Feeling our feelings creates this space. It breaks the vicious cycle between the feelings reinforcing the beliefs creating them that then feed the feelings. 

Just like the rain distorts our vision when driving, and we need to push it away to see clearly,  we need to purge the negative feelings that distort our thinking. 

 

A Little Willingness Will Take You a Long Way

When you have spent a long time believing something, when you have amassed a lot of ‘proof’ this belief appears to be true, doing a 180 and letting that all go immediately probably won’t happen. And the good news is, that doesn’t need to happen; we don’t need to completely change our mind, and remove every shred of the old belief to start seeing changes, to start manifesting a different reality. 

 We simply need a willingness to have our minds changed. We simply need a willingness to consider that maybe we have been wrong. We need to be willing to let go of the old thinking. That is all. 

That willingness alone can create a shift in our energy that will likely start being reflected back to you in your life in some way. Things will start happening–and they may be little things on the surface but significant in their meaning–that show you that perhaps the past doesn’t have to dictate your whole life. 

Sometimes you won’t be so willing and that’s okay. Just be willing to be willing. Be willing to do a course correction. Don’t  force yourself to think or feel a certain way; but simply decide since you don’t like what you are thinking and feeling now, you are willing to do what needs to be done to change it, to let it go. 

If you are sincere about wanting to change your mind, you will. It is simply a choice we must recommit to over and over again. If you are willing to do that, you will be just fine. 

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