The Past is OVER: Deal with today!

The world would be so much better if we would stop worrying about the past and deal with what’s in front of us.

Let me try to help you out

No: You did not ask that girl out in High School (and in college too), you chickened out
Damn! Dad did not let you buy that hot rod red Camaro and instead made you get a (yuck) Chevelle in an UGLY color!
Nope: You didn’t go to THAT Party
Yes: You should have studied harder for that test
Yes: You should have saved more money
Yes: You should have picked up the game of golf earlier
Damn: You should have said YES to that!
Damn: You should have said NO to that!
Yes: You should have started on your community actions sooner
Wow: You should have listened to that business opportunity
No: You should not have said that to……(pick a person)
Yes: You should have said that to….(pick a person)
Yes: You gave your kids some really bad advice and missed on about 5000 decisions that you should have done better on
Yes: You should have told Dad you loved him
Yes: You should have spent more time with your baby sister growing up and not waited until ya’ll got grown to get close
Yes: You should have made that one more call before your best friend got into that car crash
Yes: You should have come over to the house 30 minutes earlier so you could MAYBE have talked to Dad one more time before he died

So: If you want to live in regret and shame

You could choose to be upset and talk about it every day
You could choose to blame and be mad at others for what they did not do for you (or what they DID!)
You could choose to constantly examine all the what-if scenarios that may have changed your life for the better (or just different)
You could choose to be angry and avoid talking to the people who messed you over, or lash out at them so THEY feel bad about it
You could spend hours thinking and weeping over how you could have connected better with friends and family that are no longer with you

Or maybe things went great

You could talk about how great you were…then!
You could talk about how great things were…then!
You could brag about all the awards you won
You could share all of the compliments people gave you

But what will that do for you right here and now? Nothing!

Well….maybe get you a little sympathy or admiration and even THAT does NOTHING other than make you feel good for a moment and perhaps absolving yourself of any responsibility to do anything.

Besides half the stuff you remember as FACT probably did not happen the way you said, so you may be living a fantasy that never happened, or happened the way you said!

So even the sympathy, admiration, and feel-good you get is not based on anything REAL!

The past is just NOT real, at least it is not NOW! What is REAL is what is in front of you right NOW!

So, the question is not about what you once did, or what once happened, the question is this: What are you going to do TODAY?

You have family that needs you TODAY, what will you do to support them?
You have a purpose yet to discover, what is it?
You have a community that needs your voice, why not use it?
You have dreams you still want to achieve, what action is there to take TODAY to get close to it?

I think that almost anything with the word SHOULD in it is a waste of time.

Try making life less about what SHOULD have happened and more about what COULD be possible!

Then you are living in the present and THAT is the perfect place to be!