You might think this is a strange topic, but I think there is a relationship between what's in our refrigerators and how we filter past experiences. In order to truly look forward to future, we need a clean starting point, and that point is now. In order to truly live in 'now', we need to be free of past beliefs, past hurts, past situations.. If we are hanging on to old hurts, or to negative beliefs about ourselves because of past situations, it is very difficult to put all of our energy into creating life as we want it to be.

So, when you look in your refrigerator, if everything you see isn't vital and fresh, it's very possible that you're hanging on to old stuff in your consciousness as well. The problem is that, like bit of cheese that gets lost way in back and when you find it you have trouble remembering it was cheese, these memories go deeper and deeper. The deeper they go, more likely they are to influence your life today, and harder it is to remember that that's why you do what you do.

It's a lot easier to clean out your refrigerator than to clean out these old hurts. But it is possible. Here is a 4-step strategy to release yourself from these limiting memories. Doing any one of these steps will go a long way towards liberating you from past. I've also included a 5th method, a shortcut for those of you who, like me, prefer doing things easy way!

(1) Identify areas of your life where you do things that are designed to protect you.

Some examples of this might be not trying something new (so you won't fail), not initiating communication with others (so you won't be rejected), having trouble trusting people for a long time (because they might hurt you in some way), not committing to a relationship (because they might leave you). You may need to think about this for a while. Because we don't like to think of ourselves as living defensively, we usually come up with other reasons for our behavior. Seeing connection between what and 'true' why may take some time.

(2) Remember when you first felt that way.

Are You Stuck?

(c) Copyright 2003 by Murdo Macleod

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You know feeling.

There's something you want to do. You've thought about it, you've made your decision, and now it's time to act.

Except... you don't.

You want to take next step, but "something" stops you. Do you know what that "something" is?

It's all down to our ancient ancestors...

Backtrack 100,000 years ago when we all lived in caves and ferocious animals lurked nearby.

Decision making in those days was literally a matter of life and death. If you took a wrong turn, or made yourself too visible, you would attract predators who would eat you for dinner. You and entire group.

Whatever action you took, you had to be 100% certain before taking it. One mistake meant death.

Fast forward to today.

100,000 years on, and human brain has evolved into a marvel of sophisticated intelligence. Unfortunately, it still contains primitive thinking layer used by our ancestors.

And there lies problem.

Because even today, we still have this overriding need for elusive quality that enabled our primitive forebears to survive:

Certainty.

And so although decisions we face nowadays are seldom a matter of life and death, they can often feel that way thanks to our genetic inheritance.

That's why first step is always hardest to take.

Anytime you decide to do something new, you are stepping outside "the cave of familiar" into unknown territory where you are likely to experience some form of fear.

And this sense of discomfort is so strong, you'll do anything to avoid it.

Typical tricks include avoidance, delay, or "over- thinking"...

"Over-thinking" is when you continue to think about making a decision, long after you've actually decided! What you're really doing is creating a safe mental environment for yourself. By constantly thinking about something, it becomes familiar, and so you start to feel comfortable around it.