The ninth pattern of distorted thought consists on believing that because a traumatic experience happened in the past, it should influence or determine our present behavior. This is something completely false.

Although often it becomes difficult to break up with habits or the influence of negative memories, this is not really impossible. The essence of life is the growth and development. The human being is in a continuous process of change. The reality is that today we are not the same ones that ten or twenty years behind. We go evolving with time. And the same thing happens to the other ones and to the external circumstances. People change, we change, and the world evolves.

The essence of life is always growth and development. The human being and the whole universe are in a continuous process of changes. We should always learn from the experiences of the past, have been these positive or negative, but we cannot live tied up by memories. What was appropriate and beneficial in the past, not necessarily has to be applied presently and what harmed us in the past, doesn't have to continue pursuing us today.

We are referring to the psychological and traumatic type experiences. None of us has to be tied to their emotional past. Each one has the capacity to face the circumstances and his present life, breaking up with those emotional ties of the past. We are not prisoners of the past, we are owners of our present life and although it is sometimes difficult to eradicate negative habits or the influence of the last experience, however, it is not impossible.