The past has a pushy habit of occupying a lot of space in my mind. It pays no rent, so it’s pretty much a freeloader.

Like yours, my past had highlights and low points.

At times I’ve felt invincible, and incredibly blessed. Other times I’ve been hurt, disappointed, and frustrated. I’ve played it too safe. I’ve acted like a jerk.

The low points are particularly good at creeping into my thought. It’s like candy for the brain to chew on opportunities not taken, words not said, and the sinister trio, ‘what it”, “if only” and “why…..”

The key to moving past my past and enjoying life now was to see value and a grand plan in it all.

There’s plenty of wisdom I could bestow upon my younger self, but I wasn’t ready for it back then.

Sure, I know things today that would’ve made my path easier, but is an easy path really a noble goal?

Birth and growth in our physical experience can take efforts that aren’t easy. Think of the butterfly struggling out of its cocoon, or a chick breaking free of its shell.

Any struggles I went through helped me build a stronger and healthier version of myself. The wisdom existed to avoid those struggles, but would that have been a good thing?

All the wisdom of the ages was available to me at all phases and stages of my life. The catch is, I couldn’t see it.

That same wisdom is there for all of us. It’s there for us right now, but if we’re not ready for it, it’s out of reach. We don’t even know we don’t know if you get what I mean.

Any wisdom I have today that I wish I could share with my younger self was available to me back then too, but I wasn’t in a state that could take it in.

Instead, I trust every step along my way was vital, even the steps that didn’t feel good.

At times I only had a hammer when life required a screwdriver.

Looking at the metaphoric tool box I had as my younger self makes acceptance and forgiveness a lot easier.

People make the best choices they can at the time. Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources they have available.

There’s not a lot I would do differently, but I know I wish I could have been a better communicator, taken more risks, and just known in my heart that everything is good enough. But I was doing the best I could with the skills and resources I had at the time.

If you only had a hammer, do you need to be forgiven for using it instead of a screwdriver?

In essence, there’s no forgiveness needed, but as a healing exercise, yes, forgive your younger self.

Forgiveness frees you to move forward.

Unconditionally love your younger self and all its experiences. They all brought you to where you are today.

If you’re not satisfied with where you are today, forgiveness is all the more important.

Negative feelings toward your past or your younger self only tether you to that past.

Practice loving forgiveness every day and give yourself permission to release the past.

Accept it. Embrace it. Be thankful for it. Recognize it all as perfectly okay.

Everything is perfectly okay right now.

(Read more about dissolving fear with the awareness of “okay”)

I don’t mean “okay” as a term of settling, or just squeaking by with the bare minimum.

I mean “perfectly okay” as in divinely balanced, harmonious, enough, and loved.

I mean okay in a spiritual sense, not a man-made material sense.

In this state is a wisdom that diffuses all anxiety and worry. It puts an end to not feeling good enough. It leads to experiencing extreme gratitude.

Isn’t it great ou know what you know now? You know more than you did in the past. That’s the natural progression of life, so forgive yourself for doing things differently back then.