So when you think about your past, are there things you don’t like about it?  Are there maybe some good parts that you have forgotten or ignored?  Let me show you how you can change your past….or at least how you think about it!       Show Summary   When I begin working with my clients I ask them to name 10 things that have happened in their life.  I ask them to do this because it gives me an idea of what they are focused on.  Sometimes they give me a list of big moments, sometimes its chronological, sometimes its all positive, sometimes it all negative.  Sometimes its a mix.  Sometimes its just the facts and sometimes there’s a lot of feelings involved.  But its really about HOW they see their life.  It’s HOW they THINK about their life.   If I were to ask you about your past, you’ll tell me a story.  You’ll tell me about how YOU think about your past.  But what most people don’t really understand is that because its in the past the ONLY thing that effects you today is how you THINK about it.  The only place the past exists is in your mind.  It’s a story.  Sure, there may be some facts mixed in there, but most of it is just a story you tell yourself and others.  And guess what….because of that, you can change it!   I know, I know…you are thinking that I’m totally nuts.  You can’t change your past.  The past is the past and there is no changing it.  And that is where you are wrong!  You can absolutely change it.  You may not be able to change the facts, but you can absolutely change how you think about it.  How do you do that?  You tell a different story.   So let me give you an example -    Growing up, I had a great childhood.  I was the oldest child with two loving parents.  I lived in an amazing neighborhood where everyone looked out for each other and I had tons of friends.  I grew up 10 minutes away from both sets of grandparents and was constantly surrounded by aunt, uncles, and cousins.  When I was 14, my dad got a new job and I was ripped away from everything that I knew and moved across the country to the East Coast.  We no longer had friends and family around.  I had grown up in the Mormon bubble of Utah and was horrified by the outside world.  I struggled to make friends because very few had the same standards as I did.  It was an awful experience.  I could not wait to get back to Utah and back to my comfort zone.   Ok - that is version one.  And everything in it is true.  But here is the same thing, told differently….   Growing up, I had a great childhood.  I was the oldest child with two loving parents.  We lived in a very close knit neighborhood where everyone looked out for each other and I had a lot of friends.  My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all lived close and I loved being around them all the time.  When I was 14, my dad got a new job and we were going to move across the country.  I was so excited for this new opportunity.  I love change and I couldn’t wait to experience something knew.  But while I was excited for the experience, it definitely wasn’t easy.  I struggled making friends because most had different beliefs and standards that I did.  But I found that it really made me figure out who I was and cemented my testimony in the gospel.  But living back east gave me some new experiences that I never would have had in Utah.  I was surrounded by history with Washington DC, Gettysburg, and Philadelphia just hours away.  We had tons of visitors and we loved showing them all the sites.  When my dad got relocated back to Utah, I was really happy to get back to being around lots of family, because I had missed that.  But I was really grateful for the experiences that I had had and how it had made me grow.   Do you see the difference?  Both stories are completely true.  But in the first one I focused on the negative.  I did struggle.  But as I stated in the second one, it really made me who I am today.  It’s all about how you look at it.   So when you think about your past, are