You can look backwards with: (1) Fondness, wishing you were there, (2) Regret, tormenting yourself about what could have been or (3) As lessons that you can learn from in your present day.

You can look forwards with: (1) Hope, seeing that someday things will work themselves out, (2) Despair, Seeing that there is no point in continuing or (3) As a goal for what you can accomplish through the present day.

Looking to the past or future for their own sake, for the good or bad, produces stagnation. Don't LIVE in the past or future. Don't say 'I used to live' or 'Someday I'll live'. LIVE in the present. Use the past and the future, however, to fuel your present. Don't forget the mistakes you've made or you'll be doomed to repeat them. Keep a vision in your mind of where you want to take your life. That's how you keep on your path and that's how you make your life in the present worthwhile.