Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about changing your relationship to your past. Many of us have a full past, all of us have a full past things. That we think are really good and joyful and things that we remember as really painful and confusing. It's the things that are more painful though, that, that tend to stick with us and many would argue, continue to create a lot of distress, even in the present moment.

Unfortunately, we can't change our past, but we can change how we remember it. What do I mean by this? Well, one exercise you can do is trying to review a painful memory through the lens of your future transformed self. So uh imagine who you might be five years from now, the healing you've done, the growth you've experienced and the version of yourself that you've become that you so deeply appreciate. And then imagine that version of yourself, thinking back to a past painful memory. How would your future transformed self view that event in the larger scope of your life? How did that event perhaps create the impetus for your growth? How, even if it was deeply painful, did it laid the ground for you to experience your future transformation? You don't have to deny the pain that happens, but this reflection is something that can give the pain new meaning.

So if you've had a difficult event in your past that you're still struggling with, this is a reflection you can try. In fact, you can even pause this video before we go into our meditation or after to try it out, or you can try it out in the future when you feel the past event coming back up in the present. Either way, thanks for doing the big work of being human. This stuff is hard and complex, and it's not always as simple as just being in the present. Sometimes we can actually transform how we relate to the past by doing all of this sort of psychological jujitsu, but that eventually allows us to feel more grounded and at ease in the present moment.

So you're doing big work. Thank you for your practice and let's settle in for today's meditation.