My sister came rushing into the room. “Where are the things in the garage that I was going to give to my friend’s husband?” She was agitated and upset.

“I thought they were garbage so I threw them out,” I said.

She shook her head. “I’m working on cleaning out the garage. That’s my project. See? I have everything organized, so I know what to give away and where everything goes.”

“Tell him I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” I said.

After she left, I re-lived that event over and over in my mind, feeling defeated. I felt as if I had done something wrong. What I was actually doing was experiencing the event as real through my perception.

Because you determine what is real through your perceptions, you may also hold onto the past by re-living experiences in your life. As if they were purple hearts won on the battle field with your suffering, you pledge allegiance to memories of hurts, identifying with them, and building your life around them. You may think that the past is who you are. Yet, the past is only what you remember and is subjective based on your perception. The past is filtered through your thoughts and feelings when the event occurred and becomes real when you re-live it over and over again. Doesn’t it wrench your heart out when you tell people about something so meaningful that happened in the past, but they don’t even remember or acknowledge it? Time is an idea held in the human mind, so when you allow a shift in perception to change your experience, the past changes, too, which allows you to let go of your need to hold on to the past. Playing with your inner child—recreation (re-creation)—allows you to heal that place of hurt in your soul. By re-living the event the way you would want it to happen, you can re-create new energy that you carry and perceive as real.

If I re-lived the event the way I had wanted it to happen, my experience would be different and my feelings would change. That I felt defensive when my sister scolded me showed me that I had metaphorically handed my power over to her. When I perceived myself as powerless, she treated me as such because she was mirroring my energy. Whether my sister was upset or not was irrelevant to how I perceived the event. I was acting as if I had been scolded, so the experience of being scolded became a reality for me. She could be upset based on her perception of the event, but how did I want to re-live the experience? I decided to act as if she had no power over me and I hadn’t been scolded. I immediately felt better as the new reality became my experience.

When I saw my sister later in the kitchen, I said, “You’re doing a great job with the garage.”

She looked grateful for the encouragement. “Thanks,” she said. She gave me a hug. “I moved some things against the wall, so it’s coming along.”

We were bonding once again on a more aligned level.

Recipe for Success: Changing Perception and Recreating the Past

Think of a situation you would like to re-create. List in order the events that occurred. Then answer the following questions in your journal.

1. How are you feeling?
2. What was your perception of the events?
3. How did you hand over your power? What was happening before the situation occurred?
4. What do you want to experience now? What is your power, your truth?
5. What thoughts can help you shift your perception? What can you say to yourself to help you perceive the situation differently? What is the truth of the event?
6. What is your next action to reclaim your power? What guidance are you receiving?
7. What intention can you set before the next event?

You may have learned to hold on to your past and identify with your experiences, even feeling shame or sadness which brings on suffering. You may have not learned to forgive yourself very well. However, through forgiveness, you can release yourself from your perceived images and realize your true nature, which creates itself as “new” in every moment. To learn something, you must teach it; as you hear yourself speak your truth, you become the truth, because you are what you think. The more you speak your truth, the more you grow closer and closer to your true nature. Every action and thought focused on the absolute source brings you back in alignment with universal truth. This is one very powerful way to achieve balance, to avoid suffering, and to become centered and eternally at peace.