All of us make mistakes. That's part of a learning process and learning is a life-long experience. As long as we live and breathe, we are bound to keep on learning something new and we are likely to make some mistakes along the way. Mistakes are not so much of a problem in themselves. They become a problem when we hold onto them, when we get fixated onto them, when we become attached to them as if they were great treasures, until they become so deeply embedded in our minds, emotions, and bodies that they prevent us from fully enjoying the present moment.

Perhaps you can think of some experiences in your life that you wish never happened - experiences from the past to which you still feel in some way mentally and emotionally attached, and even though they may be long gone, they are unsettling you or even causing you some pain when you think about them. The pain may be mental, emotional or physical (it may have even expressed in a form of physical illness). It's nice to know that you have the power to erase it - from your mind, emotions and body, from your energy field as a matter of fact, as if it never happened, allowing you to more fully enjoy the present moment.

The technique which I like to call "it never happened" or "magic eraser" is the essence of all spiritual practices and plays a major role in shamanic and esoteric practices. Sometimes it is labeled as the "practice of forgiveness", sometimes as the "practice of emptiness". After all it's much easier to build something new, something you would desire to experience now, starting with a clean slate, than upon undesirable leftovers from the past.

There are varying degrees to the practice of this technique. They depend upon your purpose for using this technique, upon your perception of the world and therefore upon what you may feel is safe for you to let go of.

At the very basic level of application, what you are doing is letting go of emotional attachment to some specific experience, which seems to be the source of greatest pain and obstacle in your life. Some of the applications may deal with healing some pain from broken relationships, or from any other kind of loss, getting rid of addictions, and even recovering completely from illnesses which are believed to be "incurable". "It never happened" technique is the essence of "instant healing".

On a higher spiritual level of practice, for example, you would practice letting go of emotional attachment to everything that is "manifested", everything that is not the "Source" itself. The feeling of safety in letting go of everything in the material world comes from being aware (experientially, not just intellectually) of the Source and shifting your sense of identity from your physical body to your spiritual self, to the Source itself.

Forgiveness is not about encouraging or condoning hurtful behavior, nor is it about shoving it under the carpet and forgetting about it. Forgiveness is about letting go of the emotional attachment to the situation, behavior or person that has caused you pain. If something or someone is causing you repeated pain and you don't know how to deal with the specific situation, you may completely remove yourself from it. Forgiveness is not about letting yourself getting hurt over and over again. It is about letting go of the ties that bind you to the past, about freeing the energy that is stuck in the past, so that you can more fully enjoy your life now.

And in the same way, "it never happened" technique is not about shoving unresolved issues under the carpet. It is about resolving them. It is about clearing them, washing them away, dissolving them into nothingness, so that you can use the freed energy to build the life you would enjoy living now. The resolution is ultimately about liberating your emotional energy.

If you just attempt to forget about the painful event, to hide it from your awareness, to shove it deep inside you where you won't be aware of the pain it's causing you, sooner or later it will seek to be expressed in some way - and one of the most likely ways may be through some form of physical illness. That's why when people suffer from some chronic health problems, the moment they let go of past hurts and resentments, they often experience spontaneous recovery. It is useful to know that any hurtful feelings you hold onto are not doing damage to anyone else as much as they are dragging you down. That's why it's important to let them go.

You may have learned from your past experiences what you like to experience in life, what you would rather do without, what makes you feel more alive, what drains your energy, who and what contributes to your sense of well-being and happiness and who doesn't and you can arrange your present life in accord with all that which you believe contributes to your greatest sense of well-being. And as you do, you can just let go of your emotional attachment to everything and everyone that doesn't contribute to your sense of well-being. Fill your mind and heart, and surround yourself as much as possible with that which makes you feel good, and let go of the past.

The ways of practicing "it never happened" technique are as varied as your imagination may allow. You may imagine a brilliant white light or a violet fire blazing through the situation you desire to dissolve. White or violet light will dissolve all dis-harmonies from the situation, leaving only that which is lovely, beautiful and harmonious. You can use them to heal any condition. You will know when you are done because your feelings toward that situation will change, the pain will be gone, sometimes even within just a few minutes of practice.

You can also imagine having a "magic eraser" and erasing the problem - this has worked well for some people working with addictions.

You can scan your body, by moving your awareness through your body from the top of your head all the way down to your feet and noticing any tense areas where blocked energy may be and imagine them dissolving into nothingness. You may also just breathe through those parts of your body, until the tension (or the pain) is gone.

This technique is sometimes used with physical injuries due to accidents in a way that you repeat the motions that lead to the injury, but with an alternative - desired ending. For example, if you accidentally cut your finger with a knife while chopping vegetables, you may repeat the motion with the knife, but where it was intended to go in the first place, without touching your finger. This will re-imprint the event in your subconscious mind and may instantly stop bleeding.

If you desire to change some life-long condition, you can go back in your memory all the way to the time before that condition happened for the first time (even to the time of your birth or before) and re-live your entire life in your mind as if that condition never existed in your life. You can at the same time replace it with desired experience and re-live your life as if you had the desired condition throughout your life. You should repeat this process as many times as necessary until the desired condition has been firmly impressed upon your subconscious mind and the effect is obvious in your outer experience.

For example, if you are using this technique for healing of "incurable" illness, you should keep repeating it for half-an hour, few times a day, every day, until the problem is gone. If you really get wholeheartedly involved in this process, you should notice visible improvement after each half-an-hour session.

Remember that the secret of the rapid success with self-hypnosis is in your willingness and ability to experience your desired condition as if it were real for you now, in your inner world, in your subjective experience. Your outer experience merely reflects your subjective experience.