Once, I was very unhappy and did not understand my childhood. I therefore went and learned all about my childhood, expending a lot of time and money in the process. The result of this was that I was unhappy and I understood my childhood. Understanding it had zero impact on my unhappiness.
I then learned to reframe every negative reaction, again and again and again, until the reframed version because my instinctive reaction.
I'm never affected by the past. I'm only ever affected by what I'm thinking and doing now.