All the things we have done.

When a belief that once served you begins to hurt you, it’s time to abandon that belief. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Old beliefs and thought patterns aren’t easily discarded with the wave of a wand from Harry Potter or a nose twitch from Samantha in Bewitched. No, those thought patterns require something more akin to Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe—they need to be dragged out from deep inside us, where they’ve been buried, and reshaped into something new.

All the things we’ve done, all the thoughts we’ve carried, they’ve created the patterns that drive our actions. But beliefs and thought patterns that once served us are like clothes we wore as children. At eight years old, the shoes, shirts, and pants fit comfortably and served a purpose. But now, in my mid-fifties, those clothes wouldn’t fit—they’d actually cause pain. That’s the point: old thought patterns are like old clothes. They had their time, but now it’s time to move past them and try on some new ones.

What old “clothes” are you still trying to squeeze into, and what new patterns might you need to put on instead?