Daily Inspiration 4-9-12

"I can't go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." 

-- Lewis Carroll 

Have you ever gone back to a place from childhood, such as a grade school, a place you used to live and such, only to find that it looks so much different than you remember? Of course you were smaller in size, but it is interesting how my memory is so different, the dimensions so different when I see something so much later. 

 A couple years ago I went back to a place I used to live as a child in Azusa, CA. My old grade school was still there and I stopped and walked onto the playground area and by the classrooms that hadn't changed in the 47 years since I left there. Yet it all looked so small and so different other than I recognized the building. There were also some new temporary buildings. Then I drove around the area and had the same experience, including the house we lived in a few blocks from the school. 

 I'm far better off with my memories. Going back didn't do anything for me except to point out that going back is not possible. It was a different time in the 1950's and the surrounding area had changed dramatically so that it was even hard to recognize that it was the same place. A few things remained, but most things have changed. 

 It is impossible to go back to the way it was. 

 The same holds with when we change our beliefs, our philosophy, and attitudes. Once we've changed, going back doesn't serve. In fact, it feels weird to try to go back because you've moved beyond it. It would be like being in college and trying to go back to junior high school. Even if everyone were the same age as you are now, you've moved beyond it so far and you're not the same person you were. 

 Even just a year ago, I'm not the same person I was. I am constantly changing and growing and becoming. I am seeking, so my thoughts are changing, being influenced with my permission by others and my mind is continually expanding. As this happens and I move beyond something, or I have let something go for something else, I find that going back is not only not possible really, but is counter productive to even try. 

Thank goodness! 

"The Mind, Once Expanded To The Dimensions Of Larger Ideas, Never Returns To Its Original Size" -- Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Spread Some Joy Today--Seek always to feel good. Choose better feeling thoughts whenever the slightest bit off track.