One of my favorite (and, for me, one of the most profound) lessons from A Course In Miracles is Lesson 289, which reads: The past is over. It can touch me not. 

The lesson goes on to say, “Unless the past is over in my mind, the real world must escape my sight. For I am really looking nowhere; seeing but what is not there. How can I then perceive the world forgiveness offers? This the past was made to hide, for this the world that can be looked on only now. It has no past. For what can be forgiven but the past, and if it is forgiven it is gone.”

I love so much about this!

Spiritually speaking, in every moment (truthfully, in every second of every moment) we are reborn. We are free to make new choices, to take new action, to become anyone or anything we choose to be and to move in any direction our heart chooses.

However, most of us live our lives bound by the experiences of our past.

When we allow ourselves to be guided by our past, we become imprisoned by it. We create a false identity of ourselves within our mind and then (whether we’re consciously aware of it or not) we allow this identity to dictate our present reality. The real world literally escapes our sight and we become immersed in a world of illusion.

As a result, we replay past events and circumstances over and over in the present, and we wonder why it seems like nothing ever changes. For example, we may believe the idea that, “So-and-so didn’t love me, therefore I must not be worthy,” so we allow that scenario to play out again in our next relationship.

In reality, the past is simply an illusion. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Only the present moment ever really exists. When we insist on holding onto the past, we carry it with us into the present moment. Therefore, we look upon the present moment, never seeing what is truly there.

So what is the key to letting go of the past? In a word, and as the lesson states above, forgiveness.

When you choose to forgive the past, all it really means is that you wipe the slate clean so that you can become free in the present. Forgiveness is not about forgetting the past or failing to honor what has happened to you in the past (and it certainly doesn’t condone things that others have done that may have been harmful to you). It is simply recognizing that, at your core, you are not your past. And you don’t have to carry it into the present or allow it to become part of your identity.

No matter what happened yesterday, or last week or ten or twenty years ago —- you can choose to let go of the past and set yourself free.

Repeat this prayer to yourself: The past is over. It can touch me not. I forgive myself for any mistakes I have made in the past, perceived or real, and I forgive those who I feel have wronged me in any way. I forgive myself for this false identity I have been carrying around with me. I recognize that my true self is changeless, eternal and free.

The past is over, my friend. Allow yourself to be reborn.