I was watching one of my favorite shows the other day, called "Top Chef," where participants face-off in different culinary challenges each week. In one of the challenges, chefs were asked to think back ten years and design a meal that inspired them from that time in their life. 

Up until this point in the challenge, one chef stood out among the rest and ranked top in the competition. His dishes were inspiring and had impressed the judges week after week. The way this chef envisioned and created each dish with such confidence and know-how was also inspirational to watch! 

Though something changed in this challenge. When asked to think back ten years, those memories clearly triggered a reaction in him. It was not a happy time. In fact, it threw this chef for such a loop that he nearly lost this round. It was almost as if you could see the wind leave his sails of success. 

The judges informed him that his latest creation was one of the worst dishes they had ever tasted. But they could also see how affected he was by this challenge. It set the chef back so far that it was almost as if he’d completely lost his culinary abilities and talent. 

I’ve continued to watch the struggles he’s had on the show since then. Here was an amazingly talented chef who had proven himself and had created fabulous dishes that had repeatedly impressed the judges. 

How many of us fall into a similar pattern, allowing past circumstances to shadow our efforts and our greatness – to take the wind out of our own sails? 

I believe that if we all could embrace our greatness, rather than pay mind to the circumstances or memories that bring us down, then we’d regain our strength and stand in our true power. Realize that memories are just memories and let them go! Stop allowing the past to define who you truly are in life. 

Give yourself permission to embrace the forever evolving, leading-edge version of who you are because when you do, you’ll excel beyond your wildest dreams. I have worked with many clients, assisted them in letting go of the past and in moving onto the next chapter of their life, without the baggage from the past. 

I am reminded of the message I recently received in meditation: "We need to get rid of corrupted files. Defragment our hardrive and reboot the system." Love this, for when we do this, we can focus on the present. 

Listen to how things resonate in the moment and pay attention to our inner guidance. So at present, let’s set our sails on new horizons and choose to allow the winds of greatness to power us forward…and let go of all the rest!