One thing that we often forget is that the past is over.  For too many of us we relive the past constantly day after day and therefore re-experience the wounds that were inflicted upon us in our history.  By definition the past no longer exists but when we relive it, we reinsert it into the present and re-feel all the pain and hurt all over again.  Instead, we must take the learnings from those events to move forward, but then leave the past in our history so that the wounds can heal and we can live the present without the specter of the past re-inserting itself into each present moment.  I realize that this is hard to do but is as simple as making a choice to leave our history in the past and not allow it to appear in our present or define our future.  It is difficult to do because the wounds are familiar to us and allows us to behave in a pattern that we recognize and that others recognize too.  But to do so robs us of our present and definitely of our future.  We mustn't need to pay for our past wounds with our present or future happiness, that debt is already paid.  To learn to let go of our past is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves and is the source of our freedom and our future.

You can only lose what you cling to. Buddha

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.  Albert Einstein

In the process of letting go you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself. Deepak Chopra