A former client and reader of Harness the POWER of Personal Branding and Executive Presence, Mona Andrei sent me an email today. She asked me to share this with you. She wrote, “I LOVED your analogy on scars (Page 12). I bookmarked it.  🙂 I think this little nugget of wisdom will help a lot of people.”

I hope she’s right. Here it is. Enjoy!

When I was three years old, my mother and I were visiting a neighbor. They had a blind dog. At the time, I was afraid of dogs. As the dog approached me, I ran. Sensing my fear, the dog ran after me and attempted to bite me in the face. My mother held up her arm to protect me. The dog bit her wrist instead. She was taken to the hospital, and a doctor closed the gash with stitches.

My mother still has a faded scar on her wrist as a reminder of the lesson we both learned, but the scar doesn’t hurt. Scars are reminders that you can make it through anything.

I want to make this information applicable to your challenges by differentiating between pain and a scar. When you conjure up your past feelings from some painful memory, you’re pulling yourself into the pain of the past; this behavior blurs the lines of truth, and you fail to see the facts.

When you can look back on a situation without emotion, you’re able to see that it’s a fading scar and you’re able to process the current challenge better. For example, my mother being bitten by the dog didn’t intensify my fear of dogs. Instead, my parents gave me the information I needed to interact with dogs more successfully, and the incident helped me better manage my fears.

What experiences of the past are you allowing to run and ruin your life, relationships, and career opportunities? Whatever they are, they don’t have to.

This is an excerpt from Harness the POWER of Personal Branding and Executive Presence: Elevate Your Life and Career NOW! Visit Amazon today to purchase your copy.

S. Renee Smith is an expert, speaker, trainer and certified professional coach. You can learn more about her work at srenee.com.