We often carry the past like a weight. Not the kind we notice consciously, but the kind that shapes our mood, reactions, and sense of identity—day after day. Osho speaks of returning to these moments—not to analyze or fix them—but to befriend them. To meet the past consciously is to free ourselves from its unconscious grip.

By consciously reliving the painful memories that shaped us, we begin to dissolve the emotional residue they leave behind—a kind of psychic hangover we may not even realize we’re reliving.

Osho’s approach isn’t intellectual or therapeutic in the conventional sense. It’s experiential. He invites us into a nightly practice of reliving the past in full awareness, so nothing remains stuck or incomplete.

Here is a passage from one of his discourses:

“Whatsoever you do consciously is lived through and is no longer a hangover.
Whatever you live unconsciously becomes a hangover, because you never live it totally.

If something has remained hanging, the only way is to relive it in the mind, move backwards…

Every night, make it a point to go backwards for one hour, fully alert, as if you are living the whole thing again.

Whatsoever comes, give total attention to it. Live it again.

When it is completed, suddenly you will feel your heart is less heavy; something has dropped.”
— Osho

This kind of healing doesn’t come through resistance. It comes through presence.
The parts of ourselves we haven’t fully lived are still waiting for our attention. Once seen clearly, they no longer need to pull us backward. They let go—because we finally have.

You might try this yourself: spend just ten quiet minutes tonight sitting with a past experience—not to judge it, but to let it unfold, as if for the first time. Stay present with it. See what happens.

Let me know what you notice.