We often cling to our problems, and our past because it gives us a sense of identity, holding onto pain far behind its ability to serve us. There is a natural inclination to cling to lost love, to brood, to avenge, to revisit the hurt from which you should have been protected, to right wrongs that can never be erased.

As we see the leaves falling from the trees at this beautiful time of year where we experience such extraordinary beauty in decay, let it also be a time of year to let it go. Let the problems that you are needlessly clinging to fall to the Earth just like the lovely leaves fluttering to the ground.

Often psychology will advise us that in order to move forward we must look back. However, there comes a point where appreciation of your past locks you in place and impedes any forward motion. Not to discount what has come before, but that is the very point it is over, done, past. The power to move forward requires some mental fortitude in order to push away some of the emotional debris. To become unstuck we do need to remember an injury, but what if you reconsidered it from a more empathetic perspective. Reconfigure your viewpoint don’t amputate it. Be truthful with yourself about how you are still feeling about the past – – angry, sad, or anxious.

We never really get over these injuries, but we can find a different place to hold them where they no longer intrude in daily life. We don’t ever get over things; we get past them, move forward and heal into growth. Notice who you are right this moment and just like the beauty found in the decay of the falling leaves, take notice of the beauty that is to be found in your shadow for it brought you here to this very moment, which is all there is.