Releasing the Past

7/30/2019 Releasing the Past

1/10

RELEASING THE PAST:

Chaplain Paul G. Durbin, Ph.D.

RELEASING THE PAST:

1. NO DUMPING ALLOWED:

2. RALPH'S CASE HISTORY:

3. "ST" or "SHEEP THIEF":

4. INVISIBLE BARRIERS:

5. GRANDMA, SNOOPING AND DANCING:

6. LOT'S WIFE:

7. BARNACLES ON THE SHIP:

RELEASING THE PAST

The past pays a tremendous part in what we do, feel, thinkand how we act. You cannot change the past for it has been

lived, but you can change your attitude toward the past sothat it can no longer control your present. The past willremain an influence, but you are in control.

When St. Paul wrote, "Forgetting those things which arebehind and reaching forth to those things which are before,"he was saying that life is for growth, for development, for

1


2/10

progress. If you are controlled by the past, life becomesstagnate, bitter, restricted. When I speak of "releasing thepast", let us understand that we don't want to get rid of thememory of the past. Many wonderful experiences of the pastare part of our memory. Many learning experiences are partof our memory. Using memory correctly helps us meet theneeds of today. The past we want to release are thoseexperiences which prevent us from fully living today.

Some people glory in the past as if it was some golden agewhich will never return. With such an attitude, we live in thefantasies of yesterday and refuse to move up to the realities

of today. Others have such an unhappy past that they arecontinually reacting to life in the here and now on the basis of past hurts.

"I am now what I am because of the past" is the mostcommonly used reason by which we deny ourselves andothers the luxury of growth and change." There is an oldsaying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." The

determinist in religion, philosophy, and psychology contentthat this statement is true, not only of dogs, but also people. The determinist in religion say that our lives arepredetermined by God to be what we are. We do not haveany say in the matter for we are simple puppets who areplayed by God's manipulation. The determinist in philosophyand psychology says that our environment, inheritance, andinstincts determine us to be what we will be.

Any of these schools of determination leaves a veryhopeless and dismal picture to complete. If we aredetermined to be as we are, then we have no responsibilityfor a better life. God, heredity, instinct and or environmentare the causes of our problems. We can say, "The devil mademe do it' or 'God made me do it' or 'my determinism made

2


3/10

me do it', I am not responsible.'"

So your past has left scars. Perhaps. you were physically,emotionally or sexually abused as a child and you have beenreacting out of that hurt of your life in the present. Perhapsyou failed at something in the past and you refuse to movebeyond that failure to newness of life. To continue to live inthe past is to allow the past to control your actions andattitude today. On the other hand, if we believe that peoplecan release the power of the past and make changes out of their free will then there is hope.

When we refuse to move on beyond the past, and worryabout yesterday, we waste the strength we need for today. Inhis autobiography, Milton Berle, once king of night time T.V.,shares with the public a portion of his life for the first time.Berle wrote, that 40 years before he wrote the book, that hefathered a child out of wedlock, but never talked about itbefore. Berle states, "That was one of the biggest hurts in mylife. I got sick over that for years. I had ulcers, sick enough to

die, maybe by holding it all in."

We are all confronted with the problem of pollution in oursociety. If the well documented evidence of pollution in ourenvironment causes you to feel indignation, then considerwhat is happening in our minds and bodies as a results of polluted thoughts and feelings. Mental pollution is basicallyfilling ones thoughts with the negative. We keep dumping

polluted thoughts from the past into our understanding of today. Every time we hold on to anger from the past or holdhateful thoughts or reinforce negative feelings, we arepolluting the waters of our mind. Emotional responses of hate, angers, envy, jealously, resentment, guilt, and fear arepollutants that disrupt our lives.

3


4/10

(1) No Dumping Allowed: I share with you an adaptationof a story by Charles Roth: Think of your thoughts as astream. A life-giving steam...that empties out into the fieldand orchards of life...You want to keep that stream pure andfresh...Just as nearly pure as when it emerged from itssource...Because you know you would reap the results of agood harvest in your field and orchards...

Your personal world depends on your steam of thought forits prosperity, its health, its beauty, and harmony... Just asthe farmer's field depends on pure unpolluted water for itsmaximum yield...Began now today...to stand watch over your

personal stream of thought. When you find yourself beginning to entertain negative thoughts or emotions bequick to say to yourself, "Sorry, no dumping allowed."(Author's note: Though I normally do not use negativestatements in my suggestions, I feel in this case, it ispermissible because it is a common sign in our society.)

Some of the techniques that I use to help people release

the past are prayer, hypnosis, relaxation, imagery andhealing stories. William James once wrote, "The greatestdiscovery of my generation is that human beings can altertheir lives by altering the attitude of their mind." A beautifulwoman lay in the hospital with a seriously painful injury. Afriend cam to visit her. As the friend came to the bedside of the young woman, she had a sorrowful expression on herface. She placed her hand on the young woman's hand and

said, "Honey, I'm so sorry for you for you are in so much pain.I don't know why you have to go though this, for sufferingcolors your life so much." The young woman smiled at herconcerned visitor and replied, "Yes, but I shall choose thecolor."

What the young woman tells each of us is that we can

4


5/10

choose the color, we can choose the bleak colors or we canchoose the brighter colors. We cannot always choose whathappens to us, but we can choose the attitude we taketoward what happens to us.

By the use of our mind, we can use visualization andimagine what we want to happen as if it has alreadyhappened and our subconscious mind will begin to work tobring it to reality. One of the great ministers of the century,Dr. Harry Emerson Fasedrick once wrote, "Picture yourself asdefeated and that alone will make victory impossible. Pictureyourself vividly as winning and that alone will contribute

immensely to success. Great living starts with a picture heldin your imagination of what you would like to do or be."

(2) Ralph's Case History: Ralph, a 50 year old male, wasunable to let go of an experience for his past. While he wasgrowing, up, Ralph went to a Catholic school. He said, "Theyput the fear of God in me and I resented them for it." Anotherboy wrote on the bath room wall, "God is no good." Ralph

said that when he read it he felt the same way. As he waswalking out of the bath room, he felt as if he had written thewords on the bath room wall.

Over the years, he developed a great fear of God. He madea proper living for his family, but could never stay in a job forlong. In one session, I told him the story of the little boy whorefused to eat prunes. I followed that by telling him that he

could look at his experience in the bath room from anotherpoint of view. He could also begin to change his view of God,but, of course, that was his decision to make. He respondedthat he would like to know a God of love. I said remember thewords from St. John (3:16), "For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son that whosoever belieth on himshould not perish, but have everlasting, life." Release those

5


6/10

old negative ideas about God and live in the present with anew understanding.

(3) Sheep Thief: Two young men stole some sheep. Theywere caught and brought to trial. The punishment for thecrime was the branding of the initials "S.T." (sheep thief) ontheir foreheads. One boy left the town and was never heardfrom but the other remained. As the years passed, hebecame a man of faith and gave his life to people in love andservice.

Many years later, a visitor came to the town and asked an

old man, "What does 'S.T.' stand for on the head of that mandown the street?" The old man knew the story, but answered,"It happened a long time ago, I have forgotten the details,but for those of use who know him now, it is the abbreviationfor the word 'Saint'".

Yes, change can take place. We do not have to stay theway we are. "I wish there were some wonderful place called

the 'Land Of Beginning Again', where all our mistakes and allof our heartaches and all of our selfish grief could be droppedlike a shabby coat at the door and never put on again." Faithsays that there is an opportunity to begin again, for throughfaith you can change as you accept a new vision of what lifecan be for you. Let the past go. Let old thought patterns bereleased. Move past the old barriers to a new life.

(4) Invisible Barriers: (Adopted from Havers and Walters)(Used for opening life to new experiences and understandingby moving beyond our invisible barriers.) I wonder if you arefamiliar with fences...especially the electric fences used withhorses...These fences have a few tiny strands of wire...andthrough that wire goes a current of electricity...The kind of electricity that is safe...just the kind that gives you a jolt...like

6


7/10

static electricity you get from walking on rugs...a sudden,sharp spark...These wires stretch all around the field...and asthe horses walk from place to place...they quickly learnwhere they can go...and where they don't want toventure...All it takes is a few brushes against the wire...a fewsudden, startling zaps...and being very smart animals...theylearn to look but not to touch...They learn so well, infact...that after a while...the farmer can turn off theelectricity...or even replace the wires with string...and thosehorses will stay put...fences in by nothing at all...stopped intheir tracks by a thought...by the feeling that some placesare off limits...that where they are is safe...as long as they

just stay put...satisfied to be where they are.

An invisible barrier or boundary can be created by themind...But once a horse goes through it...then he is free toroam as he wishes...You have been bound by the barrier of a10 year old boy's thoughts...Walk through that barrier tofreedom from the past...You are now an adult and you arebeginning to experience God' love for you.

(5) Grandma, Snoopy and dancing: My GrandmaSanders was one of the most reflective persons of the love of God that I have ever known, but Grandma had her hangups. Iremember spending the night with my grandparents manyyears ago. During that visit my grandpa played his frenchharp. It was a very special evening and it stands out in mymemory.

During the evening, my grandpa played a snappy little tunecalled, "Soldier's Joy." When he completed the song, mygrandma said, "I don't like that song!" I quickly asked, "Whygrandma? It is a beautiful song." Laughingly, she responded,"I have seen it danced to too often." I don't resent mygrandma for that statement, because she was joking and in a

7


8/10

way she was reflecting 65 years of her cultural history. Itdoes bring to mind how much some have missed becausethey could not dance.

We live in a world where there is hunger, war, crime,sickness, and alienation. Yet in spite of this, we believe thatlife is worth living and that life is meant to bring love,friendship, understanding, and joy. Contrary to popular belief,the life which God desires for us is not one of denyingworthwhile pleasure or of despising basic human satisfaction,but rather one of enjoying our earthly life.

We honor God not by renouncing life, but by joining ourspirits with God's Holy Spirit to know and live life at its best.

Then, we can give thanks in offering our faith to God, insharing of fellowship with people in work in play, in laughterand in tears, in health and in sickness, in everything. Throughfaith, we can dance the dance of joy. David wrote in Psalm30; "O Lord, Thou has turned my lament into dancing, thouhas stripped off my sack cloth and clothed me with joy."

The Snoopy of Peanuts is often leaping and dancing for joy.On one occasion, Snoopy beings to dance about and shouts,"To dance is to live." In the next frame, he says, "I feel sorryfor people who cannot dance." In the next frame, he goes ondancing joyfully and says to us, "If you can't dance, at leastbe able to do a happy hop." I would like to add one moreframe, which shows Snoopy continuing to dance and saying,

"If you can't dance with your feet, at least be able to dance inyour heart." That to me is a picture of wholesome living.

Though Ralph had gone to church all his life, he discoveredthat for the first time he was enjoying going to church. Heaccepted God's love for him and began to dance in his heart.

8


9/10

(6) Lot's Wife: Holding on to the past can be destructionto our present well being. In the Old Testament, there is astory about the problems created by holding onto the past(Genesis 19). In the early morning, an angel came to Lot andsaid, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who arehere, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."Some men lead Lot, his wife, and two daughters out of thecity. They told Lot, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stopanywhere in the valley. Flee to the hills, lest your die."

As the group was moving toward the hills, Lot's wife lookedback and she because a pillow of salt. The story of Lot's wife

is an extreme example of one who refused to let go of thepast. Because Lot's wife would not let go of the harmful partsof her past, even under the emergency of the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, she suffered not onlymentally but physically. Because she could not let go of thepast, she missed her opportunity to start a new life in thepresent.

(7) Barnacles On The Ship: Our holding on to the past iskind of like barnacles on a ship. Barnacles are a problem forall ocean-going vessels. Those small living creatures attachthemselves to the hull of the ship. As they accumulate andgrow larger, they not only add to the weight of the boat, theyincrease the amount of resistance as the boat moves throughthe water. They add weight to the ship and eventually slowsthe speed of the boat, decreasing its mobility, and increasing

its use of fuel.As the barnacles grow larger and larger and increases in

numbers, the speed of the ship is reduced until, if allowed toremain indefinitely, the barnacles will disable the shipcompletely. Because of this, the owner of the ship willperiodically remove the ship from the water and have the

9


10/10

barnacles scraped off the hull.

As we sail through life, we too collect barnacles. We acquirethem in our mind. These barnacles are negative attitudes,unfounded fears, feelings of limitations, and incorrectthought patterns. In short, they are anything which mentallyweights us down and interferes with our present well being.

The more barnacles of the past we acquire, the slower theunfolding of the full life. These barnacles significantly slowsus down and impede our progress: physically, mentally, andspiritually. It is up to us to periodically scrape off thebarnacles of unwanted beliefs, fears, and negative thinking

so we can move forward, unburdened by the extra weight of the past.

We are influenced by our past, but we are not bound by ourpast. We can change our thoughts about the past in order toexperience present growth. We can change the direction of our thoughts and by doing so change our life. Let go of adverse and negative conditioning from the past and refuse

their control over your life today. Live life abundantly.

10

Documents

Releasing the Past