Meditation. How to Find Freedom from Your Past and Let Go of Past Hurts.

Meditation is an ancient practice and an effective tool to heal your mind and body. Practicing meditation can help reduce stress and stress-induced health problems. By sitting in a relaxed posture and focusing on your breathing you can experience calmness, enhanced psychological balance, physical relaxation, and overall well-being. Various forms of meditation have been practiced for hundreds of years as a means of finding inner peace. Now research has revealed that meditation can actually be good for our health & well-being.

The past can often bring up painful memories and difficult emotions that can affect our future and our entire lives. Letting go of the past can be very challenging mostly because of unresolved issues. However, remembering the past is not what causes us pain and suffering and ties us to different negative thoughts & emotions.
It is our inability to detach from attachment to that past which keeps us from finding freedom and happiness. Mindfulness can help us learn how to let go of the past hurts, the past and the attachments related to it by bringing our focus to the present moment and appreciating what we have right now.
Many of us have painful memories that we would rather forget — a difficult childhood, painful relationship, or traumatic event. We usually find ways to avoid thinking about them, so we relive the painful emotions.

The reason they continue to cause us pain and suffering is that they remain unresolved. They feast in our subconscious mind, and manifest themselves daily in our attitudes and actions, and therefore, our relationships.

At the same time, we want to live happy and fulfilling lives. However, as long as these issues remain unresolved, we will never find freedom from our suffering, or realize the peace and happiness of searching for.

Here you are going to look at how mindfulness practice can help you overcome your painful past. But first we discuss some of the sources of our painful memories, things we do to avoid them, and their cost.
There are various sources of painful memories. The main ones are our relationships with our parents, romantic relationships, and traumatic events.

Many of us have strained relationships with our parents. We often feel like they are giving us some of the things we need, such as love, attention, or financial support. Maybe they were neglectful, or even abusive. Whatever the case, we carry many of these painful childhood memories through much of our lives.

If we have good relationships with our parents, then chances are that our romantic relationships will go much better. If our parents teach us how to have healthy relationships, then we simply bring our lack of coping skills into all of our subsequent relationships.

When we get what we feel we need from our parents, we tend to expect those things from our partner. Sometimes we place unreasonable expectations on our partner, which are difficult for him / her to meet. This is where the power struggle begins.
Some of us may have experienced a traumatic event that we never fully dealt with. Some examples are verbal and physical abuse, sexual abuse, or even an accident. These can have long-lasting effects, especially if we seek professional help or developed good coping skills.
It is natural for us to want to avoid painful memories, especially if we have yet to learn how to deal with them. In such cases, we may feel powerless to do anything about them.

If someone else is the cause of our pain and suffering, then we may expect them to rectify the situation. But this is usually unrealistic. The person responsible may be removed from our lives by time, distance, or their passing. They may also be unwilling.

When we do not know how to deal with painful memories, we develop defense mechanisms to help us avoid the feelings associated with them. This usually involves trying to avoid thinking about those memories.

We may avoid situations that trigger painful memories. For example, if we had a particularly unhappy childhood, we might avoid family reunions. Or, if we had a bad experience with a person, we may avoid similar people.

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