Because I'm moving on, letting go, forget the past
And giving up the ghost
All we are is fading stars, life's too short to stay where we are.
~Mat Kearney 'Moving On'

We've all got ghost. Those things from our past that we just can't seem to release from our memories, our hearts and our minds. They haunt us with fear and regret, they hold us back from new beginnings, new perspectives and new opportunities, they fill us with fear and with lies that the past is where we belong, and the future is tainted by failures and disappointments of our past.

These ghost keep us stagnant, they keep us neutral and they keep us mediocre. They keep us from reaching our potential, from discovering our futures, and embracing our present. We become single minded under the cloud of our past set backs, and in light of past failures, we fail to realize the current opportunities surrounding us.

These ghost reserve a place in our minds and lives that is no longer meant for them, preventing God from using us in new ways, and showing us new things.

So how do we leave our ghost behind, even if just symbolically and not physically? How to we let go of past hopes that faded, attempts that failed, people that left and circumstances that hurt? We stop running from them, and we face them. We face them in light of their current reality, not their former reality.

We have to stop running from the past in the hopes that healing will come through avoidance. We have to come face to face with the past. We have to come face to face with the very things that fill us with fear, disappointment and doubt. This is how we heal. And in this, we realize we don't always have to let them go or forget them in their entirety, sometimes we just have to redefine them. We have to learn what they mean to us now, in light of what they meant to us in the then. We can learn from failures to improve our futures, we can change directions to guide our present, redefine relationships to find healing, and develop new perspectives to find our purposes.

Don't be afraid to come face to face with what ever it is you're running from. Face it in your mind, your heart and in the physical realm if you must. Face it, and realize your circumstance has no power over you.