“Letting go means to come to the realization that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.”
― Steve Maraboli

We all have those hidden thoughts, the antiques of the mind. They’re the flickers of an old movie that plays, thoughts that arise at random or when spurred by memory. Some ache and throb the mind, while others deliver us to that place of peace within.

Thoughts of places, of times long gone, of people and of challenges that we once faced, fell short of climbing or of those we overcame. These are our ghosts, and they ride along often as the silent passengers of our lives.

We must understand that these ghosts do help us.

They serve as the whisper of reason, to remind us of experience, and to tell us when it’s time to move on and leave things behind. They cast their translucent shadow upon the picture of life and mark the days, the things, and the people who have come and gone.

They serve us well, these silent wayfarers who bless us with the knowledge of our past seasons. Only speaking when we need to hear them.

It is only through this reminder, through the gnosis of experience, through strong will and resolute intention that we may move forward, away from that which no longer serves us.

It is true, some people only grace our lives for a short while. Others may stay until our last breath.

But some do linger.

They come in and out of our lives often causing rapid upheaval or extreme bliss, sometimes both. And it is up to us to recognize when these people are making a cyclical revolution through our lives. We must come to know when they disrupt us and also when they help us.

We must also know when it is time to let them go and move on without them.

Sometimes it is us. We must move forward because our intentions toward these people are nothing more than carnal desire, or of need and necessity. We mean them no harm, yet we harm them by staying.

So it is then our duty to part ways.

Sometimes it is them, their intentions may seem benevolent but they keep us stagnant; impeding our next steps and our growth.

Yet still, it is us who must move on because their presence no longer serves our lives..

We change, and so do the people in our lives. Sometimes, the change is so deeply profound, whether spiritual or otherwise, which makes it clear when we must sever our ties and tread forward without hindering ourselves or anyone else.

The same can be said about places.

When the winds blow that familiar scent along our path. When we stand in a place that we once lived and smell that nostalgic reminder of good days and bad, we may be enlightened as we look about yesterday’s home.

We may be reminded of the people that we once shared a place with, and where we had our best and worst of times. But these reminders only serve as blessings, they contain a hand of grace that nudges us forward and onto the next chapter of our lives.

I was recently home on the gulf coast over the holiday weekend. And though my time there was very brief, I instantly felt the burning familiarity of the place where I once belonged.

Upon seeing the brackish waters and smelling the slit-laden air, that aroma of an all but forgotten place flooded my mind with memories of nearly two decades that I spent there.

But something else was aloft the wind that day.

It was the scent of no longer belonging. It was the knowing that I need only move on from that place and keep it in memory; to move forward toward new places, to the new home front of my dreams.

Where this place is, I still do not know. But it will be found just as they all have been.

And we all must find these places. We must find these new parts of our lives. New people, new landscapes and new ambitions and dreams. For what we have today we will never have again.

But, something awaits us tomorrow.

It is up to us to let go, and find it.

Pay attention to your ghosts. They ride with you your entire life. When they speak we must not simply hear them.

We must truly listen.