Six Steps to Stop Dwelling on the Past

Whether you are an academic coaching client or a life coaching client, you just might have limiting beliefs tied to your past that are keeping you from stepping out into a greater future. Sometimes these limiting beliefs are predicated on your inability to stop dwelling on the past.  I know this used to be a problem for me. Thankfully, I realized and got help so I could better determine what to let go of, how to stop dwelling on past mistakes, how to stop feeling guilty, and how to let go of the things I cannot control.  In this article, I provide 10 steps I went through to stop dwelling on my past.

Step 1:  DECIDE to stop sabotaging yourself by dwelling on the past. A simple decision is the first step in changing self-sabotaging behaviors.

Step 2:  DECLARE (and this involves writing down the declaration) that you are no longer going to dwell on the past and instead learn to live in the present.

Step 3:  VISUALIZE the thought you are dwelling on as a piece of paper that you then throw into a fire and watch it burn.

Step 4: IDENTIFY a new thought to put in place of the old one.  This new thought should counter the guilt or whatever it is you are holding onto from the past.

Step 5:  PLEDGE to replace the old thought with the new one every time the old thought comes to mind. As you continue to replace old thoughts with the new one, you will begin to alter your thinking about the past and it will lose its hold on you.

Step 6:  JOURNAL about how you are feeling as you experience the old thought and replace it with the new.  There is a mind-body connection between writing down a negative thought and being able to release that negative thought.

Above all, give yourself grace.  We all have done things we are ashamed of, feel guilty about, or simply cannot forgive. Realize we are all humans and all we can do is the best we can do.  Accept what happened in the past, rewrite your response to past thoughts, and move forward into a better life. If you find yourself dwelling on the past and need someone to help you move forward, please contact abdcoachingsolutions.com.