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Today's
Meditation:
If we were to gauge the importance of different things
in our lives based on how much we think about them, how
much we fret about them, how much time and effort we spend
wishing they were different, then most of us probably
would find our past way up there on the list. We do
spend tons of time in the past, from talking about
yesterday's football game to wishing we hadn't said what
we said three days ago, to thinking about some sort of
glory days when we had tons of friends and lots to do and
life was good. But like Rebecca says here, there
really is nothing to be gained by looking back at our
pasts, except perhaps learning the lessons that we need to
learn from our mistakes.
Right here and right now, I have a life to live. I
have lots of choices about things to do and places to be
and people to help. The here and now is the most
important part of my life, for only right now can I
affect my life in positive ways, and even affect my future
by choosing to do something positive in the now. But
if I squander the moments I have in my now by focusing on
regret about something I did or didn't do in the past, I'm
definitely losing many opportunities, moment by moment, of
improving myself and improving my life.
It's important that we recognize and acknowledge mistakes
that we've made. But once we've done that, it's time
to move on and continue with our lives. Continuing to
dwell on those mistakes in the form of regret doesn't help
us a bit.
Let the past be. No, you didn't tell that other
person what you felt before he or she left or passed on,
but you can tell people today what you feel about
them. Yes, you did make a huge mistake, but now it's
time to make amends for it and focus on not making more
such mistakes in your present. Regret does nothing
for us, and living in the past sabotages our present;
right now is the only time we have to do good, so let's do
all the good we can.
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