Reflection Questions
Welcome to the Wisdom of the World - Joan Chittister

Chapter 5 -  “How Can I Learn to Let Go of the Past?”

“We (too) create for ourselves what we think we need to make the perfect life.  We shape it and form it.  We pursue it and persist at it.  We fence ourselves around with what we believe are the only things that can ever really make us happy.  And we cling to them.”  (p. 36)
In what ways does this statement speak to me and the reality of my life today?  To what do I cling?

 Throughout life we all experience losses.
I make a list of losses I have experienced in my life, such as, but not limited to:

            Loss of persons significant to me through death
            Ending of relationships/friendships
            Loss of job/work
            Loss of health
            Loss of material possessions
            Loss of innocence
            Loss of hope
            Loss of faith

 How did I respond initially to each loss?

Have I been able to let go and move on?

            If so, what made this possible?  How is my life different today?
            If not, to what do I hold on to and why?

 “There is really no such thing as the past; there is only the present out of which to make a life.”  (p. 37) 
What does this statement mean to me?
 
Do I cling to the past?  In what ways?
What would be helpful for me to move on?