I am a firm believer in our ability to change our circumstances in life. Prayer, goal setting, dream building, meditation, focused effort; These are all tools that allow us to determine through our own volition how we live our lives. But, no amount of prayer, goal setting, dream building, meditation or focused effort will allow you to change your past.
We cannot determine our past. It’s too late. It’s happened. But we can determine our future. Starting right this moment, you can make a decision that will affect your future. But trying to live in the past will always hurt you.
Maybe your past was awesome. Glory day after glory day. Each day of your present that you spend reminiscing, doesn’t add any additional glory to those days. If you have one entire year of awesomeness, but ten years later, the only thing you have to talk about is that past awesome year… Well, suddenly you’ll realize that the past wasn’t so awesome now that it’s been spread out over eleven years (I’m pretty sure it can be explained by the physics property of diffusion).
Or perhaps your past was terrible. Constantly dwelling on it out of a sense of guilt will sabotage your present happiness and keep you from recovering from past tragedies.
While you are living your today, which direction are your focusing on? Each day, our thoughts and works are either being invested in our future, or wasted on our past. Each day, concentrate on adding to your future value and worth; because you cannot add to your past value and worth.
Now, I am not advocating memory wipes for everyone. The past does serve a purpose. Your past experiences teach you. It will give you one of two lessons: Do something different next time. Or do more of the same. But you must do.
Live your today,
using your past as a guide,
to benefit your future.