How do I stop dwelling on past mistakes without just ignoring them?

There's a difference between the weight you carry and the wisdom you gather. When I think about this, I return to the principle of wu wei—not forcing, not resisting. Most of us oscillate: we either replay the mistake obsessively, hoping repetition will solve it, or we push it away and pretend it didn't happen. Both are forms of force. Instead, consider this: sit with what happened once, fully. Not to punish yourself, but to notice what it teaches. What did you learn about yourself? What would you do differently? Then—and this matters—let it move through you like water moves through a valley. Don't dam it up. Don't chase it downstream. The past becomes a burden only when you treat it as unfinished business. But finished business, properly digested, becomes part of your ground. You don't forget it. You stand on it differently. Try this: write down one mistake and one specific thing it taught you. Not why you're terrible. What it revealed. Then notice: are you lighter?