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The Power of Your Past: The Art of Recalling, Reclaiming, and Recasting
Most of us don’t use our yesterdays very well. With our cultural obsession with “living in the moment,” we neglect to engage in creative reflection on our personal histories. In The Power Of Your Past, John Schuster systematically demonstrates that our pasts are the biggest, most accessible, and most under-utilized of resources for anyone wanting to make positive changes. In contrast to other more technical, spiritual, or therapeutic guides that address working with one’s past, he offers a balanced, practical and accessible approach through an actionable three-phase model: Recalling, Reclaiming, and Recasting. He provides exercises that link past events to achieving sounder interpretations and illustrates the process with inspiring histories of those who have experienced transformative results through embracing their own professional and personal pasts. Schuster provides insight, encouragement, and steps for essential professional and personal development. Readers who follow this model will make progress in careers short on heart and meaning, overcome obstacles that other methods can’t address, and make decisions based on their truth, not the “versions” of truth they have inherited and not fully examined. They will enjoy the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that all they need to grow—insight, courage and persistence are the ingredients—is already within.
232 pages, Paperback
First published April 4, 2011
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25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 24, 2016
The author of “The Power of Your Past”, John Schuster, seems to be a step ahead of me. Recently, I was thinking deep thoughts about the concept of finding your “calling”, realizing that I don’t believe I have a calling, but my daughter thinks she has a calling to be a nurse. Ends up, Schuster has a book on that, and I found that book an excellent way for me to think through the concept. I’ve also been having deep thoughts on what it means to pass on wisdom to the next generation, my daughters, who probably aren’t interested and certainly haven’t asked, but I believe they’re gonna get lots of earfuls from me over the next few years as they enter college and their careers. In thinking about the past, there are certainly those moments you celebrate, and I suspect for most there are those episodes that make you cringe. Schuster, in this book, suggests reflecting on all your pasts with the goal of understanding. He provides a very simple framework into reviewing your past, three steps really. One of those steps is to look at those negative events that you could wallow in, and instead to recast them based on what you know now. So instead of re-feeling the misery of getting rejected by that girl in college, I can recast the story to relate how much I had to learn. It’s more palatable, and it’s true, and it’s something akin to wisdom that might come in valuable some day in some way. I appreciated Schuster’s simple method to rethink episodes in my past to glean learnings from, and I see myself diving into my past with more confidence, exploring to see what I can make of the episodes I (and my friends) can recall. I found the book dropped a few times into terminology that was probably unnecessary and could have been clearer, the overall package was well done. I found the concepts presented here valuable.
January 19, 2026
My expectations were not met; perhaps they were set too high. I appreciate the personal stories and well-constructed examples from clients, friends, and family. The framework was overly complicated, and the writing style did not resonate with me. I am familiar with the techniques demonstrated; I know them as reframing and flashbacking. In coaching terms, reframing is seeing the other side of a belief or story for the first time. Flashbacking is recalling a win from your past that you can use to inform how you see your present. This work is well-intentioned but too long-winded in its messaging, making the powerful lessons unmemorable.
May 30, 2019
It is the best book I've read and continually go back to read to (a) undert the power of my past (b) explore my personal history (c) recall, reclaim and recast my past.
This book is for the serious ones. Those who want to take the bulls by the horns and say enough is enough! I am ready for change - my change!
This book is for the serious ones. Those who want to take the bulls by the horns and say enough is enough! I am ready for change - my change!
March 3, 2023
A helpful framework for accessing our experiences and digging deeper to find meaning/a path forward. Many of Schuster's sources are literary--I would have liked to see more of his arguments based in psychology--but I found value in his approach.
This book requires the reader to make time for reflection. Simply reading it will yield little, so make time to thoughtfully engage.
This book requires the reader to make time for reflection. Simply reading it will yield little, so make time to thoughtfully engage.
September 8, 2020
beautiful, heartfelt work on the mysteries of our past and loss.
August 8, 2011
The past never goes anywhere. It is with us always. In the culture of the "now" we risk losing out on the transformative power of recollecting that which has passed away. Reflecting upon personal gains and losses through the lenses of accumulated experience and knowledge guides one towards a more meaningful life. Ignoring the past is folly.
Know where you've been to get where you're going. A new book by John P. Schuster, author of Answering Your Call, offers readers a guide to discovering how your past can be an asset not a liability. The Power of Your Past: The Art of Recalling, Reclaiming, and Recasting is published by Barrett Koehler, a leader in the industry dedicated to creating a world that works for all.
John P. Schuster is a principal of the Schuster Kane Alliance, Inc. He serves on the faculty for the coaching programs at Columbia University and the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. With real-world examples, anecdotes, and empirical evidence, Schuster shows readers how to reclaim positive past experiences to guide our future and to reinterpret and recast negative memories in light of life's lessons.
Contemporary culture places emphasis on the now at the expense of the past and the future. The failure to learn from our mistakes and extend the lessons from our successes is how and why we get "stuck" in our lives. Living in the moment becomes cliché if one merely becomes detached from the past and the future. The danger is a pervasive form of amnesia where we lose sight of who we are and our purpose in this life.
Schuster's model of self-examination requires a reflection upon those influences which evoked or compressed your identity and life story. What things in your experiences brought out more of who you really are as a person? Who or what forces compelled you to diminish aspects of who you are? The answers lead one to rethink one's current status and act in accordance with such revelations.
It is the last chapter of this very deep book that I found most compelling. "Using Suffering to Grow," is a means of honoring the past and requires hard work in processing loss and grief.
"When absorbing the sadness of the loss, we must concentrate on bad guys to demonize, or black holes of sympathy in which we get to play the cosmic victim of terrible circumstances. Demonizing and victimizing are the sources of those stories in which we can get so woefully stuck," (p. 182). Schuster's writing for leaders in business and management, policy and finance, education and law draws upon the readers' hearts as much as their minds.
"The suffering that started off challenging our being and our ideas of what life is and should be ends up opening our heart, expanding our identity, and connecting us forever to the human family and life" (p. 184). The power of the past is the redemption found in reconciling previous experiences with how and why it brought one to the present, to the "now."
History never goes anywhere. We can always look back for the answers to our future.
Know where you've been to get where you're going. A new book by John P. Schuster, author of Answering Your Call, offers readers a guide to discovering how your past can be an asset not a liability. The Power of Your Past: The Art of Recalling, Reclaiming, and Recasting is published by Barrett Koehler, a leader in the industry dedicated to creating a world that works for all.
John P. Schuster is a principal of the Schuster Kane Alliance, Inc. He serves on the faculty for the coaching programs at Columbia University and the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. With real-world examples, anecdotes, and empirical evidence, Schuster shows readers how to reclaim positive past experiences to guide our future and to reinterpret and recast negative memories in light of life's lessons.
Contemporary culture places emphasis on the now at the expense of the past and the future. The failure to learn from our mistakes and extend the lessons from our successes is how and why we get "stuck" in our lives. Living in the moment becomes cliché if one merely becomes detached from the past and the future. The danger is a pervasive form of amnesia where we lose sight of who we are and our purpose in this life.
Schuster's model of self-examination requires a reflection upon those influences which evoked or compressed your identity and life story. What things in your experiences brought out more of who you really are as a person? Who or what forces compelled you to diminish aspects of who you are? The answers lead one to rethink one's current status and act in accordance with such revelations.
It is the last chapter of this very deep book that I found most compelling. "Using Suffering to Grow," is a means of honoring the past and requires hard work in processing loss and grief.
"When absorbing the sadness of the loss, we must concentrate on bad guys to demonize, or black holes of sympathy in which we get to play the cosmic victim of terrible circumstances. Demonizing and victimizing are the sources of those stories in which we can get so woefully stuck," (p. 182). Schuster's writing for leaders in business and management, policy and finance, education and law draws upon the readers' hearts as much as their minds.
"The suffering that started off challenging our being and our ideas of what life is and should be ends up opening our heart, expanding our identity, and connecting us forever to the human family and life" (p. 184). The power of the past is the redemption found in reconciling previous experiences with how and why it brought one to the present, to the "now."
History never goes anywhere. We can always look back for the answers to our future.
May 7, 2021
It is always interesting to learn how different people view our past experiences and what they mean for us today, and John Schuster’s book The Power of Your Past, presents a framework for looking at events and people honestly and using that to empower how you move forward in the world.
The three steps of the remembrance framework are recalling (“mapping your unique past”), reclaiming (“amplifying lessons from the positives”), and recasting (“reinterpreting lessons from the negatives”). Each step had relatable stories and action steps that allow the reader to start considering and working within this framework immediately.
The three main takeaways I got from this book were:
1. “Compression is forceful containment; the squelching, muting, and stunting of these gifts and inner possibilities.” It was interesting to explore the areas where I was compressing past experiences and memories, and not allowing them to be something different and protecting so aggressively what I wanted and needed them to mean to me. This work really allowed me to use the remembrance framework to explore these areas and recast in a new way that was not only mentally healthier, but also made me feel emotionally lighter.
2. The stories that we tell ourselves about who we are any why we are that way. John says “We are all two characters. We have forgotten why we are pulled toward and pushed away from certain people and events.” There were countless tools and stories throughout the entire book that really encourage you to look at your stories and why they have such an impact on who you are and the way that you interact in the world.
3.The importance and value of reflection. We are often told that we need to reflect, but John reframes it in a way that not only stresses its importance, but also, its validity for how we develop in our personal and professional lives. He says, “This lack of reflection – the tendency that makes the power of yesterday a well-kept secret and a damaging cultural blind spot – leads us to the mediocre middle that we must release if we want to harness our core and create work sizzling with soul.”
I genuinely got something valuable out of every page of this book, and John has a way of describing intellectual and scientific theory with a narrative that makes it easy to visualize and enjoyable to read. The writing is a style that makes you feel as though you are talking with a friend, while getting big concepts and a deeper internal understanding along the way.
The three steps of the remembrance framework are recalling (“mapping your unique past”), reclaiming (“amplifying lessons from the positives”), and recasting (“reinterpreting lessons from the negatives”). Each step had relatable stories and action steps that allow the reader to start considering and working within this framework immediately.
The three main takeaways I got from this book were:
1. “Compression is forceful containment; the squelching, muting, and stunting of these gifts and inner possibilities.” It was interesting to explore the areas where I was compressing past experiences and memories, and not allowing them to be something different and protecting so aggressively what I wanted and needed them to mean to me. This work really allowed me to use the remembrance framework to explore these areas and recast in a new way that was not only mentally healthier, but also made me feel emotionally lighter.
2. The stories that we tell ourselves about who we are any why we are that way. John says “We are all two characters. We have forgotten why we are pulled toward and pushed away from certain people and events.” There were countless tools and stories throughout the entire book that really encourage you to look at your stories and why they have such an impact on who you are and the way that you interact in the world.
3.The importance and value of reflection. We are often told that we need to reflect, but John reframes it in a way that not only stresses its importance, but also, its validity for how we develop in our personal and professional lives. He says, “This lack of reflection – the tendency that makes the power of yesterday a well-kept secret and a damaging cultural blind spot – leads us to the mediocre middle that we must release if we want to harness our core and create work sizzling with soul.”
I genuinely got something valuable out of every page of this book, and John has a way of describing intellectual and scientific theory with a narrative that makes it easy to visualize and enjoyable to read. The writing is a style that makes you feel as though you are talking with a friend, while getting big concepts and a deeper internal understanding along the way.
April 5, 2011
So many books today teach that you have to live in the now. Sometimes you can’t live in the now until you deal with the past. It is the past who has shaped who we are today.
John Schuster teaches us how to come to terms with our past and to use it to our best advantage.
The steps that Schuster suggests are very easy to follow. The difficult part is taking the time to actually confront your past. However, once you do, you will feel a major sense of relief. I know that I did. I still have some more work to do, but what I have done so far has made a vast improvement on my outlook.
In conjunction with the Wakela's World Disclosure Statement, I received a product in order to enable my review. No other compensation has been received. My statements are an honest account of my experience with the brand. The opinions stated here are mine alone.
John Schuster teaches us how to come to terms with our past and to use it to our best advantage.
The steps that Schuster suggests are very easy to follow. The difficult part is taking the time to actually confront your past. However, once you do, you will feel a major sense of relief. I know that I did. I still have some more work to do, but what I have done so far has made a vast improvement on my outlook.
In conjunction with the Wakela's World Disclosure Statement, I received a product in order to enable my review. No other compensation has been received. My statements are an honest account of my experience with the brand. The opinions stated here are mine alone.
January 30, 2012
Good book- about using past memories to extract the positive and negative impacts that they hold to tell you more about what inspires and powers you, and what holds you back.
This is not a self-therapy book. The thinking it encourages is more applicable to you career choice/direction pushing you to overcome false personal characteristics and achieving a fulfilling professional life most suited to your passions and drive, which he says, are all rooted in the past.
This is not a self-therapy book. The thinking it encourages is more applicable to you career choice/direction pushing you to overcome false personal characteristics and achieving a fulfilling professional life most suited to your passions and drive, which he says, are all rooted in the past.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews