They say even if memory may fade, the brain never forgets. This is because the brain, as part of our nervous system, stores events it deems important in order to keep us safe, should those same events happen again in the future. So really, the nervous system never forgets.

This serves us well under happy, healthy circumstances with positive outcomes. But, it can become a problematic double edge sword for anything negative, which the nervous system then wants to avoid at all costs. In these cases, what the subconscious and unconscious mind considers important may not actually be beneficial to us moving forward towards happier, healthier lives.

Why is this?

Because the longer we live, the more this “event sorting” adds up. If events in our lives are sifted and stored from a place of fear, which the nervous system will recognize as an attempt to keep us safe, the stack of fear driven “memories” keeps building higher and higher in our unconscious.

And as this stored stack of events builds higher and higher, the nervous system must exert more electrical energy to keep sorting and storing and managing more “life lessons”. This process increases exponentially the longer we live, causing us to spend more and more energy sorting through everything that happens, which in turn robs us of our ability to live and and enjoy the present moment.

The energy of emotionally charged, unreconciled events from our past – and that we are still holding onto – impacts the energy that we need to live and be present in our daily lives.

Spring Clean Your “House”

At Pathwaves, we refer to the mind and body as the “house”. And we have all been taught that in order to help others, we must first help ourselves – our own “house” must be clean.

But what does that mean? And how does one do it?

Cleaning your “house” means freeing yourself from the emotional connections that your memories are causing you in the present day. Essentially, neutralizing that stack of events your nervous system has stored up over time. This is especially important if you have a stack of resentments and other “bad” memories that are affecting how you live and function in the present moment.

Now how to clean… that is actually quite simple, yet not easy to successfully do.

Cleaning the “house” of your mind and body requires two things: acceptance and forgiveness. Accept what has happened to you in the past, and all those who were involved, and then forgive. Acceptance and forgiveness are the keys to reconciling your past, and stopping it from infringing on your present.

Acceptance involves knowing that everything in this worlds happens as it happens, and your preferences for how you think it should have happened or plans for things to happen have little influence, except to cause you pain when it doesn’t work out like the picture in your head. Accepting past events means no longer fighting with your past, and letting the cards lie where they fell, so to speak.

Once you can reach acceptance, it’s time to move towards forgiveness for the people or things behind these events (which may include yourself ). Forgiveness may seem difficult, even impossible, yet holding onto any negative emotions associated with an event does nothing directly affect others involved. Your emotions affect only YOU… so why not choose to forgive, and release that negative energy so it no longer harms you?

Here is a simple exercise to aid with forgiveness:

First, close your eyes. Then take two to three deep breaths… inhaling and exhaling slowly. Acknowledge how you feel in your body, and then say (either in your head or out loud), “I forgive____” or “I forgive ____ for ____”. Notice how you feel.

Keep repeating this exercise until you no longer feel triggered by the object of your forgiveness, and practice daily, weekly, and monthly until past events no longer have an involuntary emotional effect on your present.

Then, once you have reconciled all harmful past events, your “house” will be clean.

NeuroEmpowerment™ For Cleaning Your “House”

Reconciling all of the past events that have caused us harm can be a long process, since we literally need to bring the subconscious and unconscious to the conscious mind. Then, in order to keep our “house” clean, we must intentionally reprogram our nervous system to function how we choose, rather than on default mode. Proactively, instead of reactively.

The Pathwaves “Full NeuroEmpowerment™” journey is designed to support our clients in this process.

If you’d like to learn how you can support your personal growth through our methodology, we are here to help. Schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.

To help those who cannot afford the services of Pathwaves, consider donating to the Pathwaves Foundation. Please call (305) 858-6616 for more information.