Thoughts of Past in the Present..

You can push things as far back into your mind as you can in an attempt to erase them from your thoughts. However there are memories made in the past that never fade, stories engraved in your mind, scars on your skin.
Ignoring the feelings until they die is the easy part as their demise is inevitable but what do you do with the memories? The nightmares? The dreaded thoughts of what was once your reality? How do you abort those from your mind? Can you ever really get rid of these things?
In my opinion we hold on to all of the horrific things in our lives in the hope that at some point we will learn from these past experiences and grow. Many of us do use the past as a stepping stone into the future.Throughout this process, however, of digging up the past and using our mistakes as learning tools we evoke memories,usually the darkest ones, the most horrific. The looks of disappointment, the pain, the sheer agony of things which once consumed our life.
Do we hold onto all of these things as a reminder that once things were at the lowest point? That now in happiness these things are the worst fear? I think so, we thrive on the fact that now in happiness we can breathe a sigh of relief that that horrific period of life is over that only memories remain, dreams and nightmares.
Memories can be supressed somewhat and nightmares and dreams can be forgotten.