The Past Isn’t Holding You Back - You Are.


Hey friend,

You keep saying you want to move on from the pattern, the pain, the person, the past.

You’ve processed it.
Therapied it.
Breathworked, journaled, and saged the hell out of it.

But it still lives somewhere in your nervous system.
Still hijacks your reactions.
Still whispers when it should be silent.

You’re not crazy.
You’re just remembering too efficiently.

Because here’s the thing:
The past doesn’t live in time.
It lives in you.

Memory Is Not a File. It’s a Feedback Loop.

You think of memory like a library - a collection of neatly labeled folders you can visit and close at will.

But that’s not how your brain works.

Every time you recall a memory, your brain recreates it - firing the same circuits, releasing the same chemistry, activating the same sensations.

In other words:

Remembering is reliving.

Neuroscience calls this reconsolidation.
The moment you recall an event, the memory becomes fluid - malleable and whatever emotion you attach to it now gets “saved” as the new version.

So if every time you revisit that old wound, you do it with the same emotion…
You’re not remembering the past.
You’re reinstalling it.

The Loop of Self

That’s why personal growth can feel like Groundhog Day.

Because every time you tell the story of your past, you reinforce the character who was wounded by it.

And the more you identify with that character, the more you unknowingly recreate the same conditions that match their identity.

So you keep dating versions of the same person.
Keep sabotaging in the same way.
Keep hitting the same ceilings - not because you’re broken,
but because you’re predictably remembering yourself into being.

The Awareness Shift: Nothing Happened to Awareness

Let’s zoom out.

From awareness, nothing ever happened.
The “past” exists only as thought arising now.

That’s not philosophy. It’s physics.

There is no time “back there.”
Only mental replays showing up in the present field of consciousness.

And when you see this directly - really see it - the emotional charge collapses.
Not because you forgave it.
But because you realized it was never happening now.

Freedom isn’t in fixing the past.
It’s in seeing that the past is just thought, masquerading as memory, appearing in awareness.

The Practice: Rewrite Without Words

Try this the next time an old story resurfaces:

  1. Pause before labeling it.
    Don’t call it “trauma,” “regret,” or “my past.” Just feel it.
  2. Notice where it lives in your body.
    Tight chest? Jaw? Gut? That’s your nervous system’s version of the file.
  3. Breathe and soften into that space.
    Don’t analyze. Don’t solve. Just stay present until the charge shifts — even slightly.
  4. Whisper to yourself:
    “This is just energy moving through awareness.”
    “Nothing from the past exists here.”

That’s not bypassing.
That’s deprogramming.

Final Thought

You can’t escape the past by thinking about it differently.
You escape it by realizing you’re the screen it’s playing on - not the footage itself.

Because healing isn’t about rewriting your story.
It’s about remembering that the storyteller was never real.

And once you see that?

You stop running.
Because there’s nothing chasing you.

Just thought.
Just memory.
Just awareness - endlessly free.

Nic

PS. Want a script to install this program? Join the Neuroscience of Change - an online program rewiring what’s really running you. Name your own price (Pay What You Can) to get your hands on this powerful program.























Nicholas Kusmich

REWired What if everything you knew about self-help and personal development was not only wrong but was the very thing keeping you stuck? REWired reveals the keys at the cross-section of ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience that bring about easy and permanent transformation.

Read more from Nicholas Kusmich

Hey friend, Let’s imagine for a moment that your life is a company. Your body? The workforce.Your heart? The mission.Your awareness? The board of directors.And your mind?Oh... your mind is the overpaid, anxiety-riddled CEO in a cheap suit who's been running the company into the ground. Micromanaging every move.Obsessing over worst-case scenarios.Running fake fire drills at 3am. And worst of all? It genuinely thinks it's helping. The Illusion of a Competent Mind If your mind were a real...

Hey friend, Most high performers believe they’re driven by purpose. But often, what looks like motivation is just well-dressed fear. You wake up early.You attack your to-do list.You chase optimization, results, outcomes. And everyone applauds your “discipline.”But underneath that productivity? A quiet voice whispering: “If I slow down, it’ll all fall apart.” The truth is, what most people call motivation is just anxiety with better PR. Driven people often confuse tension for focus.They live...

Hey friend, The deeper you get into self-help, the more seductive the idea of “progress” becomes. But chasing it keeps you blind to what’s already here. Most high performers don’t just want to succeed, they want to take it to the next level - they want to transcend. So when they discover meditation, psychedelics, ospiritual teachings, they bring the same energy: “How do I go further?”“How do I stay in that state?”“What’s the next level of “awakening” or “enlightenment?” It’s no longer about...