Is Your Past the Cause of Your Present Stress?
Are you living in the past instead of the present? Day in and day out, are you reliving, in your head, everything you’ve already done … already experienced? Is your past causing your present stress? If so, these two simple steps are key in moving you from the past to the present.
Step 1: Learn from the past.
Many teachers, mentors, coaches, and spiritual leaders will tell you to focus on the present, not on the past. Why? Because there is nothing you can do to change anything about the past. It’s a waste of your time and energy to live in the past. For the most part, I find abundant value and truth in this simplistic belief. Yet, I also believe that by applying that advice at face value — essentially, ignoring the past — you may very well be doing yourself a disservice.
The past is our library of knowledge on which we base and live our present. It is a compendium of everything we have ever learned. To ignore the past for the sake of focusing on the present could actually make your present more stressful. Instead of ignoring the past, glean all of the knowledge you can from it, and use it to build your present. However, you should not — in fact, cannot — begin to focus on the quagmire of ick and goo (technical terms, of course!) that comprises your past … and everyone has ick and goo in their past. If you focus on these negative aspects from the past instead of the positive lessons you’ve learned and the beautiful memories you cherish, you will begin to regress into living in the past, and, thereby, ignore your beautiful and abundant present.
Step 2: Live in the present.
Once you make the decision to treasure your past for the knowledge base it has given you, you will be on your way to releasing yourself from the grip of yesteryear. Your job is only to learn from the past while ignoring the negativity — all that ick and goo from years gone by.
The present is where life happens … is happening. Right now. Not five seconds ago … that’s done and gone. Not 5 minutes, hours, years, or even decades ago … all gone. All you have is now. This very second. Spending your time languishing over your past ensures you will miss out on every opportunity to create the life you wish to live. You will miss everything that’s going on in your life. Your life will pass you by without you even noticing. Right now is all you’ve really got. Make the most of it. Learn from the past. Live in the present. Will you be present in the present?
I wish you abundant peace — Chad Simpson