Pull

All

Stuff

Together

And put it in a box.

Can’t change the past. The past will come back to haunt you. Stop living in the past as the present is all we get that’s why it’s called the present for it’s the gift of today. We’ve all heard and said the clichés no doubt.

But it is at times easier said than done. Especially if we feel sorrow, grief, anger or regret toward the past and our past actions. I know I fall prey to this demon from time to time and it never serves me well. So while we cannot change the past, we can change both our reaction to it and most of all our actions in the present when faced with a similar situation as to one we messed up big time before.

When facing choices, difficult ones, or when reflecting upon things said we wish we had not, or things done, we now regret, or when lamenting the past, it is best not to dwell too long in this space. To do so leads to despair, depression, digression. Instead I like to take a page from one of my great mentor’s book.

A great yogi, she always began each session with the same request: “Put your problems in a box, wrap it in a pretty bow and place it outside the door under a tree. Let it go for this time and space as it will all be there when the class is over.” I like to treat the past like this. I revisit it from time to time. I give it its moment to shine. I try to see what I did wrong, what I wish I could change or correct and then I realize that it is already writ in stone and there is nothing I can do about it.

So I mentally put it in a box, wrap it in a pretty bow and bury it under a tree with the hope that I will live today better than I had in the past and that if needed the past is still there—under that tree–where I can dig it up and revisit it.

So Pull All Stuff Together—and put in a box. Honor it for it is the path you traveled once, but don’t let the past dominate or control your present or your future. Let it go so you can make room to let in.