Do you remember a time when you were care-free?

When you didn’t have to worry about making ends meet, maintaining your relationships, or doing something meaningful in life?

These moments are now precious memories of easier times, but dwelling on them can keep you stuck in the past and prevent you from moving forward.

In this post, we’ll look at how nostalgia attracts negativity, keeps you stuck in life, and prevents you from enjoying the present moment.

What is Nostalgia?

Simply put, nostalgia is longing for the past and spending time indulging in memories that take you back.

Memories are not just images of the past; they generally engage more than one of the five senses and are associated with strong positive or negative emotions.

Memories that are not associated with strong emotions will not stay with you. If you were to think about what you had for breakfast on the first Monday of last month, you will not remember.

Memories associated with strong emotions or experiences create impressions on your consciousness called karma. These karmas affect every aspect of your being from your physical body, to your breath, your mind, and even your very identity.

Let’s take an example: being exposed to frightening or stressful experiences and not having the tools to release stress from your body-mind complex can leave you with trauma.

If left unattended, over time your ego will develop defense mechanisms such as self-limiting beliefs, anxiety and destructive thought patterns to protect yourself from further traumas. You may even develop physical ailments resulting from chronic stress conditions.

Why do you feel Nostalgia?

If you have ever had the opportunity to observe your mind (perhaps when trying to meditate), you may have noticed that there is a lot of noise in the mind.

All of this noise can be categorized into 5 vrittis or modulations of the mind. That’s to say: there are 5 things that your mind is always doing and smriti or memory is one of them.

When is this amplified?

If you haven’t learned how to let go, healed your traumas or accepted that everything is changing, your mind will spend a lot of time dwelling on the past.

How Nostalgia holds you back in Life

Allowing your mind to dwell on the past is like trying to drive with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake.

Strong aversion and strong craving are one in the same in the realm of the mind.

That means, negative memories where you’re strongly resisting something and positive memories where you’re strongly craving something are equally destructive. Allowing either to exist unaddressed in your system is an open invitation for pain and suffering.

In this conscious or unconscious turning to the past, you’re missing all the goodness that lies in the present moment, allowing your life to pass you by, and possibly making choices that do not support your growth and progress in life.

How to Let go of Nostalgia

Life is like a river.

You can never step in the same river twice because the water is always moving.

Like that, every moment in your life is fresh and new.

Trusting that everything that has happened in your life conspired to bring you to this moment where you’re ready to heal, break free of generational patterns, and reconnect with your authentic self will help you let go of the stagnant energy of the past.

Only then will you find yourself enjoying the present moment, making better decisions, and ultimately, finding fulfillment.

Let Go of the Past

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