Hanging on to Old Relationships - Melody Beattie

[clean42day]

Hanging on to Old Relationships

Hanging on to Old Relationships
We want to travel baggage-free on this journey. It makes the trip
easier.

Some of the baggage we can let go of is lingering feelings and
unfinished business with past relationships: anger; resentments;
feelings of victimization, hurt, or longing.

If we have not put closure on a relationship, if we cannot walk away in
peace, we have not yet learned our lesson. That may mean we will have to
have another go-around with that lesson before we are ready to move on.

We may want to do a Fourth Step (a written inventory of our
relationships) and a Fifth Step (an admission of our wrongs). What
feeling did we leave with in a particular relationship? Are we still
carrying those feelings around? Do we want the heaviness and impact of
that baggage on our behavior today?

Are we still feeling victimized, rejected, or bitter about something
that happened two, five, ten, or even twenty years ago?

It may be time to let it go. It may be time to open ourselves to the
true lesson from that experience. It may be time to put past
relationships to rest, so we are free to go on to new, more rewarding
experiences.

We can choose to live in the past, or we can choose to finish our old
business from the past and open ourselves to the beauty of today.

Let go of your baggage from past relationships. ....M.B.

The Language of Letting Go - Melody Beattie