There is almost no teacher as powerful as the past, yet you do not have to make it your permanent home. Every human has their moment in the past that has contributed to shape them into who they are today. This can include the past victories that inspired you to aim higher, and the past mistakes that taught you vital lessons. The major problem with a lot of people is not the past itself, but pitching their tent in the past. This includes living in past regrets, or basking in past glory. What happened in the past should sharpen you for a better tomorrow, and not to make you dwell in the past. True growth will come when you have drawn lessons from the past, then move forward without allowing it to hold you down.
Image from [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/desperate-think-stressed-out-5011953)
The past is just like the rear mirror in your car. It is true that it has its own purpose, but if you continue to look at it and focus your whole attention on it, you may not move forward as you should, or worse still, you will crash the car. It is true that the car rear mirror can give you some perspectives, at least to know where you are coming from, but your focus should be on the road ahead to avoid crashing. In the same way, if you constantly dwell on the past, it will affect both your present and your future in ways you may not even expect. Your past experience are important though, because they communicate wisdom, they teach lessons, they expose the bad decisions you took so that you can avoid them, and can also show strategies. But you should not live permanently in your past.
If you stay too long on your past, it will rob you of today, and more so, it will blind you to tomorrow. I once read about Thomas Edison. During his scientific discovery, it was recorded that he failed a lot of times. Yet he did not dwell on the failure, neither did he allow it to define who he was. If he allowed his past failures to define him, he would have given up on his discovery of the light bulb, and the world would have stayed in darkness longer. In order to access the blessedness of today and the possibilities of tomorrow, you have to let go of the past. Even though you have to learn from it, but do not live in it.
I have a friend who experienced a failed relationship. After that, instead of her to learn from what went wrong, and pick up the fragments of what was left, she kept sulking over the past. Each time, she will constantly be replaying the past and keep reminding herself of what had happened. This affected her present relationship, because the boyfriend was almost starting to get tired of all her sulks. In fact, it was as if she was seeing her ex in her present boyfriend. When she told me what was happening, I advised her to let go of the past. I told her to only draw lessons from it and move on. I also asked her to give her present boyfriend a chance because he is different from her ex, and she listened. The last time I checked on her, the relationship is progressing brilliantly. If she had continued to dwell on the past, she may have lost her present relationship too.
Image from [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/desperate-sad-depressed-cry-2057116)
It is worthy to note that you cannot change the things that have already happened. There is no amount of sulking, worries, blame, or regrets that can rewrite the past, but you can make a decision of what to take from the past. You can make a choice of taking wisdom, experiences, and knowledge from it, while letting go of the pains. With this, you will be ready to face both the present and the future. When something happens, always ask yourself what you can gain from it and what you can take away from it. Even if what happened was not too good, it can still teach lessons and impart experiences. You can use the past as the fuel to power the present, in order to get to the future.
In life, always learn to carry lessons, not the burden of regrets nor the loads of the past. Everyday that comes to you is like a blank page. It is what you do that will become the content that will fill up the blank pages. When you remove your focus from the past, which is already a history, you will find the needed clarity to focus on today, which is a gift.
***Thanks for reading***
Peace on y'all
