"If only.
Those must be
the two saddest words
in the world."
-- Mercedes Lackey
[Classic post from 11-2-14]
Does it matter how far the past is past? Does it matter more if it was yesterday than a year ago? Does a year ago matter more than 10 years ago? It seems that if I'm relenting at all about the past, that it is what I intended to do and did not do, which is most often yesterday. Sometimes, I might relent a bit further back, and I guess it is only because the memory is fresh.
Then today it occurred to me that it really doesn't matter at all whether it was an hour ago, yesterday, this week, last month, or 25 years ago. It is done. It was experienced at the time and what happened did happen and I cannot go back and do anything at all about it. It is past.
However, I can and do have total control over this moment, right here and right now. I can change course, change my mind, change my thoughts, change my residence, change my job, change anything--but only right here and right now.
If loving ourselves and then others is the ideal, and I believe that it is, loving ourselves begins with acceptance of ourselves, and that means everything we have done, will do, and what we are and what we will become. To mourn over the past is to negate the moment we have. The best way we can serve the past is by living in this moment. The 'if only' of regret is an impossible accomplishment.
Imagine that what you did or didn't do yesterday that you are feeling regret about was turned into a block of metal and then put on a skid with a rope, and now today, you pick up that rope and drag that skid wherever you go today. Think how tired that makes you, and how it slows you down, how it gets in the way of everything you are trying to do today. The more regret you feel, the heavier that skid becomes. It's torture, and it is exactly what many people go through in the 'if only' world.
Now imagine that you love yourself and accept full responsibility for all of your thoughts and actions right here and right now. You let go of the rope attached to the 'if only' skid and walk freely, act more positively, and feel joy in the present as you do whatever you choose, change whatever you feel needs changing, relaxing in the glow of the moment.
Ahhhhhhhh. That's What I'm Talkin' About! Peace Of Mind. Sing It With Me. . . Pe-e-e-eace, Peace Of Mind, Pe-e-e-eace, Peace Of Mind. . .
Spread Some Joy Today--by just letting go of this rope and that rope and all those tangled ropes you've got going on. Once you are freed, you will soar.
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