Your Path to Dealing With Your Past and Future

Dealing with what was in your past may only be slightly better than dealing with what the future might bring. Both of these can be wonderful memories or expectations, or traps that destroy your efforts on the one thing you really control, the present. If you’re in severe psychological angst, get help now. But, if you’re just stuck, not being the best person you could be being, sabotaged by memories or future dread, then read on. This might just be the way you stray from remaining stuck to becoming the soaring individual you are meant to be.

What About Your Past?

Made a few mistakes back there in your past? Just want a do-over so it doesn’t hurt so much? Unless you’ve got a time machine, that’s not going to happen. So what do you do? Esteemed psychologist Martin Seligman gives you a potential different path. His claim is that we live in a “ventilationist society,” trained to be honest to a fault and express our anger about the past at the drop of a hat. His studies reveal that the East Asian culture of quietly dealing with issues, problems, and challenges may be the key to dealing with negative past experiences. Does that mean ignoring them and pretending that they never happened? No, it means not dwelling on them by always expressing our “honest anger.” He cites studies that show that people who refrain from expressing negative emotions…