Childhood suffering is common to most of us. Intentional or unintentional, the effects are pretty much the same. With pain comes the tendency to ask, "Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?" These kinds of questions are all engineered to provide some reasoning or explanation for the turmoil we have going on inside of us. We are desperate to know why situations happened. And unfortunately as we grow from childhood into adulthood, we invest and waste a lot of time frantically trying to explain the agony we've suffered.

But the reason for pain is often not as important as our response to it. In reality, all we can do is accept what has happened and make a choice to rise despite what we've had to walk through. It's up to us to make a conscious decision to leave the past where it belongs. We can choose to leave all the old stories we constantly relive and rehearse in the recesses of our minds in the past where they belong so that they don't pollute the bright future we truly deserve. We can do our best not to add emotions like anger, shame and guilt to the weight already on our shoulders.

To fully release the past, start with the truth that the old is over and everything could become new. We must make a decision to let go of all the old stories that can no longer serve us well. This is not about denying what occurred. What happened is true and cannot be renegotiated but what we must accept is that the old story is done and it's time to write a brand new one.

It's time to forgive your parents, your siblings, your childhood friends or whoever you hold responsible for your childhood pain. To have courage to let go of the ones who hurt you is to abandon the identity and victim-hood of the one who was hurt and broken; you. Forgive yourself so you can be free lest you become a prisoner of your own pain and suffering.