Healing and hurt are both locked into the passage of time. The longer we live, the more we will experience. The more we experience, the greater will be its impact on the life we are living.
We remember the good. We remember the bad. Our ability to recall with clarity can vary. A lot depends on whether we want to keep the past close or leave it at a distance in time and space. To a greater or lesser degree, the choice is ours.
The most difficult and, at the same time, rewarding thing about the past is that it is final. It may be possible to re-imagine but it is not possible to rewrite. It remains what it was.
Too many of us carry the pain of the past and that burden can seriously downgrade the pleasure of the present.
Reminders of who we have been and the paths we have followed are all around us. We see them and feel them when so many others have either forgotten or forgiven.
We can become our own worst enemy by refusing to release our emotional grip on the things we have found the most disturbing. At the same time, however, we can draw comfort from the warmth and security generated by positive experiences that we have lived through.
It’s the way we live today that points the way towards how we will be living tomorrow. We are only defined by our past should be choose to allow that to happen.
Life is short and we are surrounded by opportunity. There is always room for improvement. There are changes that can be made but will and wish are not enough.
Action is needed if we are to ensure that we have learned from past mistakes and misjudgments. First there must be a determination and a focus…but that focus must be on the here and now not the when and then.