You have a past and whether you are proud or unhappy about parts of it every part of your personal history is permanently engraved like carving in rock. You can't erase what is recorded, and certainly you can't go back and live your life over again with the idea of making a revision in your history.

Your past has great value

I am about to ask you to display all of your past history completely and objectively, but I assure you that it will be a private session, and a rewarding one.

Just what has happened in the past?

Facing the past, decide upon a sizable span of time. Make this period about a third of your present birthday total. Thus a person of 40 would consider the immediate past 13 or 14 years of his life. Considering the time span you choose, I want you to paint a word picture of everything of consequence that happened to you. This is not going to be too easy to do, and it will have no value as a practical resource if you try to do it as a mental exercise. There is a simple device that will serve most effectively.

Get a piece of paper and a pencil. Now, draw a line down the middle of the paper, from top to bottom. At the top, and to the left of the line, write "Negative." On the right of the line write "Positive." Take your pencil and paint that word picture of those past years by making two lists. Letting your memory have free reign, list everything of consequence that happened under either the "negative" heading (as being undesirable, unwanted), or under the "positive" heading (as being desirable, approved).

The "zeros" in your past are important

Now go back over the lists and classify them, item by item. Put a check mark in front of every item that you believe you controlled the influences which made it real in your life. In front of every item that you believe you did not control, because of overpowering outside influences, place a zero (0). If you are in doubt about an item, pass it by for the moment. Eventually you will get them all classified. In fact, I predict that you will go back and change the classification of some, after a bit. You may go back and change some tomorrow, or even next week.

Why your past is recorded as it is

Before you make any changes, and to complete the analysis, let your subconscious memory serve you again. Go back over both lists and mark each item with the reason it carries a check mark or a zero. To save you time, since you would eventually come to this conclusion yourself, let me suggest that one of four terms will describe the reason in each case. These are "planning," "decision," "judgment," and "action" (or "lack of action").

Use your pencil and write the reason after each item. Now take a look at the lists. The same reasons appear on both the left and right columns. "Decision," for example, appears in the negative column for items marked with zeros and check marks, and it appears in the positive column in the same way. Likewise the other three reasons are indiscriminately scattered through both columns, covering both zeros and check marks. There is great significance in this scattering of the same reasons. It means that there was a definite pattern to your past.

Now you know the whys and wherefores

Now you know specifically where negative tendencies shaped your life, and you know what specific self-influence factors to apply to overpower such tendencies in the future. You know where positive tendencies did their good work, and you know that you will increase these tendencies by the deliberate use of more of the same self-influence factors.

So accept the responsibility for the past as being yours, and thus make it an invaluable tool for deliberate self-influence in the future. This acceptance will make a "noteworthy" impression in your subconscious mind. It establishes a positive attitude, one which lays the groundwork for continued responsibility for your own life.