Retrace re·trace v. - To go back over a path once traveled.

Time is a series of poetic slices meshed together to form a flowing story. A rhythmic tempo of unbroken beats pulsating relentlessly, important meaning all throughout. Words forming sentences into paragraphs. Minutes and seconds that continuously turn the pages to your book called life. This book is wonderfully unique. A story that can only be pulled from within you. As you layer each breath on top of one another take a moment to breathe life into some of your earlier breaths before they vanish into thin air.

You are submerged in endless moments of NOW.

Time accurately joins us on a trip through movement. A forward moving trajectory alongside the past, present and future. Think about how at this very moment the future is becoming the past almost instantaneously. That sentence you just read is now in the past. As you think of right now, right now is reorganizing itself into an accomplished past moment. A very big idea that can easily not be given a second thought. Most importantly time is incredibly unique to you. All your past, present and future slices of time make up your journey, your identity and yourself. You are essentially time and you can go anywhere you want to go.

Time spent thinking about the past can move you farther into the future.

Physically traveling back in time is an idea we all have imagined. A chance to do or say something differently. One more conversation with a loved one. The possibility to change the course of our lives. Although all those wishes sound worthy and meaningful they would not ultimately create the opportunities you need to evolve. Failure to participate in brutal mistakes severs the connection to a better future. Each experience, good or bad, plays an important role in our concept of how we proceed forward. A setback is a standforward.

An opportunity to find deeper meaning.

We all have retraced our steps to find our car keys, a wallet or our phone. When we lose those items it’s easy to become frantic! They pretty much rule us and grant us access to our ENTIRE life! Ha! Consider for a moment putting forth that idea toward some of life’s biggest challenges: Career pressure, a health challenge, losing focus in life, sorrow, unfair treatment and financial turmoil. These are just a few of the many problems we all deal with. You are not alone. Everyone has problems on some level. If people appear to not have problems then they are superb at hiding them. Your past has lived a long life, but how long has your future lived? It only makes sense to flip back a few or many pages in your book to reread and retrace your actions.

5 Ways To Retrace Your Steps Back To Yourself

1. Retrace The Fight

Return to a time when you fought, defended and claimed a passion! A moment where you fell to your feet in complete and drowning love with a thing, not a person. It absorbed your entire life so much that it fully hijacked your thoughts and energy. Remember that BIG DREAM? The vision that could never be unseen. Why did the fight end? Revive the challenge that was worth every single struggle. It was during your fighting days you realized the meaning of losing track of time. Time you didn’t mind losing as you defended yourself.

2. Retrace A Friend From The Past

Connecting with a friend from the past is THE MOST underrated experience on the planet. I believe deeply, the heart of our character is evident right from the beginning. In some cases, no one knows you better than a childhood friend. Do not underestimate their ability to pull you back in order for you to see the bigger picture. They represent a time when your only goal was to understand yourself. They hold memories seen through different eyes, allowing you to scan the landscape through a wider scope.

This can include retracing yourself back to your hometown. Those friendships and experiences prepared you for a deeper, more intimate relationships down the road. Have you ever found an old note from when you were a child? Finding old letters or pictures can jump start the excitement! Could there possibly be something brand new you never knew about yourself? That’s the same feeling as rediscovering yourself with an old friend.

3. Retrace Your Edge

Audaciously open to express your style, opinions and mind. Remember back to a time when your fears were only calls to be free. No arbitrary goals. You invented you!! You lived by a set of truths that allowed you to be funny, confident and fearless. Where did that sauciness come from? What made you stand up for your dignity and declare a large space for your respect? This is a power traced back to an inner spirit that still exists! Think about your secret-self for a moment and who you are. Retrace and comb through your curiosities as a child, your braveness as a youth. Lastly, fasten yourself to your backbone as an adult. Explore the action packed unconventional truth inside of only you.

4. Retrace Yourself Back To Art

There has never been a society without some variety of music, some level of art, some visual expression of creative energy. When is the last time you expressed yourself artistically? Every single person has art within them. It’s a part of our soul like language. It delivers the value of knowledge about ourselves to ourselves! What were the forms of art that interested you as a child?

If lately you have felt shielded and protected I encourage you to find a form of art that calls to you. Retrace yourself back to any creative side you have expressed in the past. Have you ever heard a song on the radio that just really moved you? That is art reminding you it is dying to escape and to be expressed! Especially in times of heavy burdens, art can make problems weightless and that can mean everything.

5. Retrace Yourself Back To Your Generosity

Showing acts of kindness make us feel better. It requires bravery at times, but forces us to learn to be satisfied with what we have. It is extremely empowering to give a part of yourself away. Inside a voice boils up encouraging you to, “Go ahead do it! It’s the right thing to do.” The act of changing the course of time feels fulfilling.

Retrace your steps back to when your sense of happiness was connected to an act of generosity. What inside of you prompted that occurrence? What were you trying to achieve? Most likely you witnessed a vulnerability in a person that needed to be resolved. How were your values and beliefs connected to these experiences? Retrace the roots of your generosity back to specific people, books or circumstances. Generosity holds many answers to how you feel about your own humanity. It is the compassionate link to yourself.

Staying On The Forward Edge Of The Line

A mind that follows through on tasks is prone to continue on that forward edge. Have you ever invested heavily in projects or challenges only to tell yourself it’s ok to leave it be? Retrace your steps back to events which resulted in unresolved endings. Although in the moment you felt fine with your decision, your mind is wiring itself to gear up for another push back when commitment presents itself. Retracing the line backwards is always available to you, but it’s an amazing feeling when you are fully prepared to be at the front of the line.

Thank you!!