It’s a question many of us ask ourselves each time we experience heartache or emotional pain: how do you let go of past hurts and move on?

Holding on to the past can be a conscious decision just like letting go and moving forward can be a conscious decision.

One thing that connects us as human beings is our ability to feel pain. Whether that pain is physical or emotional, we all have experiences of being hurt. What separates us though, is how we deal with that pain.

One of the best ways to heal from hurts is to learn lessons from the situation and use those to focus on growth and forward momentum. If we get stuck in thinking about what “should have been,” we can become immobilized in painful feelings and memories.