the past and present

[RedEmbers]

And making peace with them.

Maybe this could be a common feeling, I'm not sure.

The "where I am going" and "where I am right now" often feeling incompatible.

Often I remedy this by focusing on the where I am going aspect... yet...
The past keeps me somewhat anchored.

And so I ask myself if I am subconsciously holding onto something or if it's just that my past cannot be outrun...

I often find myself urging self to gently detach from my past... yet... I am not completely sure what this would achieve exactly.

Can we learn to live with past decisions? Especially if they feel that they have set the future in stone? How can i/we successfully live and communicate with our past if our current self feels the need to strongly distance itself/ break free from it?

[naturesflow]

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, so they say.

For what you can ask yourself?

Can we learn to live with past decisions? You can live with them any way you manage too, but if your process is avoiding in detachment it often sneaks up on you to revisit it to clear out more. But if your *processing* is clear about the past decisions, meaning brought them more into peace and they feel lighter and less restrictive in you,rather than heavy and weighing on you then I find personally I can let go more deeply and move forward in that peace of the past.

The set in stone principal is that yes we have to live with those decisions, but how we learn to live with them in the many ways we can is really a personal choice, dependent upon how you can let go and be ok with them.

Distancing works I notice in others. I personally cant distance myself when it comes to processing, I usually naturally unfold in everyway of it. But I do know people who shelve stuff as part of their processing needs only to find they come back later on to take it down and check it out some. I have heard the myer briggs infj personality type does this a lot, according to many of them in sharing with me.

The other aspect of shelving or detachment can be when overwhelm occurs in the moment walking through so shelving tends to be a way to survive and get through the situation as best as we can. But my feeling is you cant let go fully if their are attachments one with the detachment still inside you.

[Thunder Bow]

Your past makes up who you are, thus you feel anchored by it. You can learn from your past, but you can not break free of it.

[naturesflow]

Your past makes up who you are, thus you feel anchored by it. You can learn from your past, but you can not break free of it.

When you say not break free from it, what do you mean exactly?
what part of it can you not break free from?


I mean you cant change what was, but you can certainly change the present moment and future from the past and how much of that past you embrace fully and open to let it go fully.

[RedEmbers]

I was also wondering what you meant by that Thunder bow.

In the context of... say as an example a teenager breaking free of certain generational patterns, I have witnessed it happen in numerous cases. Of course it doesn't tend to occur as much without total acceptance of ones past.

Some things would be more concrete...perhaps a poor decision in one's past could have caused an accident with life time consequences. I'd imagine in a case like that it would be about acceptance as well a decision or continuous decisions on how you then choose to let your past define you... learning to work within new perimetres... determining if you want and how you might challenge these bounds...

[WabiSabi]

The past is not real in the sense that it is only concept, abstract, not physical. The future is not real for the same reason. All that exists for you is the present moment. The past radiates from the present. The future is derived from the present. There is no past to outrun. When you run from the past, always looking back, you are running from nothing and going nowhere.

Why would you want to live in memories of experience when you could live in experience itself? That's like watching a t.v. monitor through a t.v. monitor. T.v. monitorception. Don't get so caught in the future or past that you forget to live in the present. There's nothing to worry about. Enjoy the ride.

“Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” - James J. Lachard

[naturesflow]

How you deal and let go, open to peace is probably the greatest gift you can model to mankind than anything else.

Human ideas and conditioning really sets us up for how things should be and might be, but often not about how they can be in everyway of dealing and letting go.

[RedEmbers]

I agree WabiSabi... it is important to live in the present. Sometimes though, the present asks us to make peace with our past :)

[WabiSabi]

I agree WabiSabi... it is important to live in the present. Sometimes though, the present asks us to make peace with our past :)

But you seem stressed by it. If peace is what you want, then why not make peace? :confused: Since there's no changing the past, isn't acceptance the natural course of action? Do you want to forget what got you where you are? You are here, now. Not back there.

[Greenslade]

I agree WabiSabi... it is important to live in the present. Sometimes though, the present asks us to make peace with our past :)Or make peace with our perceptions of the past. "You won't know where you're going if you don't know where you're coming from."
Some things would be more concrete...perhaps a poor decision in one's past could have caused an accident with life time consequences. What makes it a 'poor decision'? It's human nature to think that it could have been different but everything is different in retrospect. But if we are here to evolve Spiritually, learn the lessons or whatever other term you want to use then surely we need something to evolve or learn from? In the present our perceptions of the past help create our future reality. The past hasn't defined you but you have defined the past, that was a 'poor decision' but you could have defined it as an experience to evolve from.

Our reality is defined by our beliefs, our beliefs are defined by our perceptions and our perceptions are defined by our definitions.

[Baile]

Can we learn to live with past decisions?Of course, the ability to let go of past decisions, issues and hurts is a sign of positive inner self-development. Being mired in the past and past regrets is a sign one has not progressed inwardly and still has work to do in that regard. How to learn to live with past decisions... now that's the relevant question and the answer is different for everyone individual. Self-exploration, therapy, complete change in life direction and scenery... there are many ways.

[Jyotir]

Hi RedEmbers:



...‘Here and Now’...

It is the quality of consciousness in the present moment that is the only thing of real consequence in the spiritual life.

All other preoccupations regarding past and future are essentially irrelevant from a spiritual pov - distractions at best, misleading at worst.

The present moment contains all the opportunity to create, transform and perfect.


~ J

[RedEmbers]

Hey Greenslade, there are alot of useful comments in your reply.

I guess for myself currently is that while I am currently quite content with my present... and grateful for my current reality but my life is noticably transitioning.

I made decisions in the past when I was in a sense, still a kid with a whole array of different beliefs to what I have now...and those decisions naturally shaped my current reality... I am okay with all of this.

I am not one to dwell on my past... but currently due to how my life is unfolding in the present I am seeking to UNDERSTAND it... I guess that I must believe that if I gain a better understanding of who I was in the past I gain a greater understanding of who I am right now... and there... it feels lies the transformation that I currently seem to need.

So yes, I guess I could say that I do believe that sometimes it can be useful to reflect and learn from ones past... and currently awareness of my past is acting as a very useful tool to help me create transformation.

The cocoon is my reflective state... ahhh metaporhisis.

[naturesflow]

Hey Greenslade, there are alot of useful comments in your reply.

I guess for myself currently is that while I am currently quite content with my present... and grateful for my current reality but my life is noticably transitioning.

I made decisions in the past when I was in a sense, still a kid with a whole array of different beliefs to what I have now...and those decisions naturally shaped my current reality... I am okay with all of this.

I am not one to dwell on my past... but currently due to how my life is unfolding in the present I am seeking to UNDERSTAND it... I guess that I must believe that if I gain a better understanding of who I was in the past I gain a greater understanding of who I am right now... and there... it feels lies the transformation that I currently seem to need.

So yes, I guess I could say that I do believe that sometimes it can be useful to reflect and learn from ones past... and currently awareness of my past is acting as a very useful tool to help me create transformation.

The cocoon is my reflective state... ahhh metaporhisis.


I call this putting things into a greater perspective.

This is part of integrating deeper into self as I learned, meaning merging your awareness into deeper understanding of you as a more whole being.

Everything of us is where we deepen both ourselves and all life in us as one source of being.

[Greenslade]

Hey Greenslade, there are alot of useful comments in your reply.

I guess for myself currently is that while I am currently quite content with my present... and grateful for my current reality but my life is noticably transitioning.

I made decisions in the past when I was in a sense, still a kid with a whole array of different beliefs to what I have now...and those decisions naturally shaped my current reality... I am okay with all of this.

I am not one to dwell on my past... but currently due to how my life is unfolding in the present I am seeking to UNDERSTAND it... I guess that I must believe that if I gain a better understanding of who I was in the past I gain a greater understanding of who I am right now... and there... it feels lies the transformation that I currently seem to need.

So yes, I guess I could say that I do believe that sometimes it can be useful to reflect and learn from ones past... and currently awareness of my past is acting as a very useful tool to help me create transformation.

The cocoon is my reflective state... ahhh metaporhisis.Hi Embers

It sounds as though you're in a pretty good place. It's good to let go of what doesn't serve you any more and be OK with where you are now, that's one of the best places to start your future from. Very often the understanding of who you are will be reflected in the Universe as it unfolds itself around you, it is reflected in your post - you are at ease. And we can't see what isn't there to look at, the future will talk care of itself if you create it now. It's OK for the glass to be half-full, the other half isn't empty it's full of potential and the Universe will bring you what you need when you need it. True understanding of ourselves comes with the fullness of time. Transformation is inevitable just like that butterfly and the most important thing you have to think about is how you will meet it, and that's your choice.

Understanding who you were in the past is up to you I'm afraid, only you really know where you've been so it's only your own understanding that matters. Whatever shape or form it took it led you to where you are now so if you take it from that perspective it makes more sense. What you were then, what you perceive of that now is all you and that is your Journey to Self. Sit yourself down quietly and ask yourself one question. If I didn't exist, how would the Lives of the people around me be? What you were doing in the past is gaining the 'tools' to make that happen.

Here's some science fact to ponder. Every time the heart beats it sends out a 360-degree electromagnetic pulse into the Universe that is measurable. The human body is an antennae that receives those pulses - think of a radio that is tuned better when you hold it. That is the difference you make - we all make - to the Universe.

[Perry J]

You can't compare "the past" and "the present". It's the same thing as comparing the real with the unreal. All that is, is now. The present does not exist, more that a thought.
That thought can be very strong and captivating. But it is nevertheless unreal. It is a false identification.