Sometimes it can be nice to take a walk down memory
lane. We revisit the days of our youth,
call upon old friends, recall the “good times” before “life” happened. If we are not cautious, that stroll may be so
enticing and enjoyable that it turns into a vacation, a retreat. Once we stay longer in the past, we become
comfortable with the way things were.
After all, we know where we belong in the past. It is familiar, a known constant. At that point, taking up permanent residence
in the past is all too easy. We forget
about the problematic nature of the present, the unknown quantity of the
future. We take comfort in the things
we’ve known and done. Perhaps we have a
friend or two who share in our revelry and help to revive the feelings of
youth, daring, carefree living. That is
when we’ve struck the proverbial ice berg.
We know that our past is behind us, yet it still holds such
strong sway over us. Our past shaped us
into whom and what we are today. We
learn from and grow from the experiences in our past. However, Disney said it best when Timon and
Pumbaa instructed young Simba to leave his past behind him (or was it his
behind in the past?). Our past is over. It is done.
It cannot be changed, no matter how much we yearn to change the things
that didn’t turn out as planned. It is a
chapter in our lives that should be closed.
We can look through the windows and see glimpses of what our past was,
but we should never break the locks and force the door open to visit in or move
back to our past.
Occasionally a brief foray into the past is instrumental in
moving forward into the future. The
experiences we’ve had help us to understand how to deal with the events we will
encounter. The key to this is to keep
the trip brief. Each day that we live
our past waxes and our present and future wans.
This is the nature of life. We
are not given an infinite number of days; in such a scenario our past and
future would be given equal weight. As
it stands, our past can weigh us down and prevent us from enjoying our present
and from moving into our future. When we
spend too much time visiting (or move into) our past, we completely miss our
present and wake one day in the near (or distant, as it may be) future and
wonder where the days, weeks, months, or even years have gone. They will have gone the way of all our days –
to the past.
We sometimes feel that our past was halcyon compared to the
trials and tribulations we endure in the present. Sometimes we wish to seek closure from a
relationship or event that left us feeling raw, bitter perhaps. As difficult as it seems to move past those
things, the past should be left alone.
Breathing new life into old memories and friendships feels exciting,
fresh. They can quickly become monsters
consuming our energy and focus that would be better spent on the people and
things that are currently the most important pieces of our lives – our
present. Like our days on earth, our
focus and energy are finite. Staying too
long in the past causes us to neglect our present, which desperately needs the
devotion of our focus and energy.
This is especially true when you have children. As quickly as our own lives pass, the lives
of our children are in perpetual motion at Mach III. How sad to wake one day and realize that the
time we could have spent making memories and having meaningful experiences with
our children was wasted reliving a past that is long deceased. From this day forth, I pledge the greatest
gift I can give to my children (and myself).
I will no longer live in the past.
I will embrace my present and look forward to my future. I will not allow my past to drag me down, to
sully my present, to change my future. I
will stand bravely and face into the winds of this turbulent time in which we
live. I will live now rather than
then. My past is my past, and I will
limit my exposure to window shopping, a visit to a museum. I will not attempt to resurrect a part of my
past unless it will explicitly help me better my present or future. I will not allow my past to deconstruct what
I have painstakingly built based upon the foundation it laid.
Today is a gift, that is why it is called the present. The past is gone, it is where we Put Away
Sections of Time. The Bible calls for us
to put away the childish things of our pasts to claim our rightful positions as
adults. It is a difficult thing to do,
but it is necessary. In addition to the
things of our past, sometimes the people of our past should be detained
there. They need not travel with us
through life. It is acceptable,
necessary even, to keep them on an extended layover while you go on living. All you must do is refer to the poem about
friendships for Reasons, Seasons, or Lifetimes, and you will quickly see that
not all of our friendships are scripted for a Lifetime. There will come a day when our reminiscences
are all we have, and at that time it will be a wonderful thing to be able to call upon our
memories of days-gone-by. While there is
still a bountiful life to live in the present and future, our past should be like
the wind at our back – pushing us forward to bigger and better things.
