Ever read one of those novels where in the last chapter everything is turned around. The ending is so surprising that after finishing the book you want to read the whole book over in light of what you now know. Or maybe you’ve seen a movie like that, the end scene changes the entire context of the movie story, and all of a sudden everything is different.

I was sitting in a coffee shop today, and a complete stranger, an older lady, 68 years old, started to tell me her woes. She has spent her whole life under the control of a pretty weird situation. She has tried all kinds of ways of breaking free, but seemed totally desperate. After pointing her to the only person I know who can help her we continued to chat. She told me she is old now and it’s all too late, I disagreed and told her that the final chapter has not yet been written. I said that when it is it can change the whole of the story preceding it, her face lit up. She said she’d never thought of it like that before.

Whatever age you are, the final chapters of the book that tells the story of your life have not yet been written. Just about anything can happen! It is not important how we start, but how we finish. Most of all we always remember endings.  Sometimes we spend too much time thinking about the past, and because so much time has gone by we think we are stuck where our past has bought us to.

Take this quick test now, to see whether you are negatively linked to your past.

Think: what are the biggest regrets of your life? Okay, how many do you have? Do you have more than 2 or 3? If you do you are spending too much time dwelling on the past.

Next test, think about the last month, what percentage of your thoughts would you say are about past negative experiences? Okay, so the ideal percentage here would be 0%. How close were you?

Now, what would it look like to imagine your past, as the first half of the novel of your life, waiting for you to write the final chapters?

Here’s a life coaching exercise to help you.

Stand up; draw a metaphorical line in the sand in front of you.  Imagine all that is past is behind you; the present is the spot you are standing on now and the future is over the line you have just drawn. What does the future look like? What things are you going to choose to leave behind? Regrets? Mistakes? Relationships that damaged you? Bad ideas that failed? Financial difficulties? Limiting thoughts and beliefs?

Now imagine you are at your 80^th birthday party. You are looking back on your life with close friends and family. What are the things that you are most proud of? What impact did you have on your closest friends and family? What situations did you turn around and overcome? What surprised you and turned out way better than you imagined?

What positive things happened in the final chapters of the book of your life?

Take some time to imagine these things.

Now, take a step over the metaphorical line in the sand towards the future you just imagined. Imagine all that is past is behind you and the line you have just drawn.

The truth is that the end chapters of your life have not been written yet and you are the author. You can decide to add the twists and turns at the end of the story that turns everything else around.

So get creative now. Your life story awaits the most interesting ending of all.