Making Peace with Your Religious Past

Do you wish you could go back to that time when you were younger, deeply involved in religion, and do things differently with the information you now have? Do you cringe at the thought of the things you once believed?

If you answered yes, you wouldn’t be alone in this. It is so common among the majority of our clients to feel shame and regret around the:

• Years wasted
• Things you used to believe in
• Ways you gave up your autonomy 

Doesn't this sound familiar though? Remember what you used to think about your “worldly” self when you were a believer? It was *cringe* and *shudder.* And now that you are out of religion, looking back on your past religious self now looks the same. Cringe and shudder. What if the issue isn’t who you were/what you believed back then but rather the fact that your religion trained you to fight yourself and your very nature?

Maybe instead of wishing for a do-over (because the past is in the past now, there are no do-overs), here are 3 simple ways to start relating to that past self differently now:

1. Remember who you were at the time.
2. Identify the needs religion attempted to meet in you
3. Understand what you had to learn to get to where you are today. And that required that younger religious self to get here, too. 

And if you want a beautiful ritual for dealing with that anger and sadness over your past self, you will definitely want to check THIS out!