We Are Not Our Past

We live linearly, most of us. We use calendars, clocks, and other time measurement devices to separate things as they occur. Something happens, then something else happens, then another thing, and another thing and we say, “oh, this happened then, that happened at that particular time, this is happening now, that is taking place tomorrow” and so forth. It’s quite an invention, time. It keeps us on schedule and moving in a direction of which we can track. The thing about time is that it moves forward. Watches do not go backwards, nor are they 360 degree orbs, and calendars have names of months which are always in order. April follows March, always. So what we have, then, is a continual assortment of past moments which are at our disposal to think about, judge, and make assessments as to their impact on us. “Yesterday was awful.” “I had a good year last year.” “My childhood was rotten.” “I’m glad the month is over.” “Man, the morning was awesome.” ….and so on. It also helps us determine how old we are, and, for many, when to go to bed and when to get up. It surely keeps the greeting card business thriving. Where would they be if there were no calendars to indicate important dates throughout the year?

So this past is ever-present in our lives. We cannot help but have one. Even the infant born just now has a past, which now is 2 seconds old. But it, this past, is not reality…not anymore. It was real when it happened. Now it’s just something that happened that is not happening now. What’s happening now is now. But here is where the tricky business of time comes in. Because the past is made up of moments we lived and now have memories of, we can use them as guides in how we will live now. In other words, this trail we leave behind becomes an energizing force for our present moment decision-making. But just as the wake of a boat – the trail left behind – cannot drive the boat (only the present moment energy of the engine or wind can move the boat), so too is it not possible for past events to drive our present moments. But I believe that that is exactly what many of us do, myself surely included. That is, allow “yesterday” to determine how we live today.

In reaching back (mentally and emotionally), we might think about what we have done, how things turned out, the decisions we made that caused us to think and feel in a particular manner, and what our mind, body and spirit went through at a particular time. We can look back at all the joy, pain, heartache, unfulfilled promises, ecstasy, grief, loneliness, unconditional love and conditional love, death of loved ones, divorce, disease, addiction, moments of heavenly bliss and the innumerable thoughts and feelings personal to only us and use that, if we wish, to decide how today will go.

I’ve had many clients tell me “this is just how I am,” “it’s always been this way with me,” and “I’ve never been able to do that.” All of these statements indicate a reliance on what happened in their past which subsequently influences what they believe will occur today.

Now, the events of yesterday occurred. I am not suggesting we discard them and pretend they did not happen. We can honor them for all they did and were. In fact, everything in our past has gotten us to this very moment. Everything. That is important. We are only here now because the past happened. But it needed to go. If it stayed, there’d be no now. Ok, just a bit more.

In asking you to believe that you are not your past, I am really asking you – and me – to find the strength to overcome whatever happened to us yesterday and move to a place where NOW is the energizing force for change, acceptance, love and growth. Just put all my eggs in now’s basket, eh Jerry? Uh, yes. There is no basket for anything else. The basket of a moment ago has been used, you used it. And tomorrow’s basket is not ready yet; you’ll fill that then, which will really, then, be now...hmmm.

My own evidence in our ability to move past the past lies in my own story and the stories of those I’ve been privileged to hear. You have your own evidence as well; your own story. People do stop drinking and using drugs, though their past was ridden with it. Real love is found, even if eluded in earlier years. Passions are found daily, from individuals who had never thought it possible to love something as much as they do today. Weight is lost, marathons are run, sicknesses are cast out, and the infinite nature of our being are uncovered in our darkest hours because we made a decision to not allow what happened “before” to happen “now.”

So, do you have a tendency to emphasize the “then” more than the “now?” If so, try succumbing to the belief that all of our energy for change and whatever we wish to be and do, exists only in the moment. That’s the fascinating thing about energy – it fills only the now, not the past or the future. In our neglect of the moment, we pass up the opportunity to tap into this present moment energy, which I believe is God. But you call it what you wish.

I write this today only because I have known myself to dwell on the past and think that things will always be the same. Then, something happens. I focus on the moment, where all of my living actually occurs. And I get a glimpse into the wonder and miracle of being open to whatever this energizing force has to offer, here and now. Only here and now…

Jerry Nehr
www.creativediscoveries.net