In principle, every encounter, every meeting, is an opportunity to start anew. It is good to learn from the past but not be artificially constrained by it.
Just because we have spent a lot of money or effort on something (referred to by economists as sunk costs) is not by itself justification for spending more. The proper decision criterion for spending money or effort is how it might affect the future, not how it might change the past. Revenge too may create the illusion of making the past better but in fact only makes the future worse.
We cannot change the past by the decisions we make today, but we can change our feelings about the past by making good decisions for tomorrow.
Practical Tip: Glance back over your shoulder, but not so much that you stumble on what’s ahead. Let the past inform the future, but not dominate it.
Experiences from our past are like rocks, best used to pile up and stand upon, see clearly, and step off into the future in any direction—not to be used for building walls.
– Craig Freshley
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A very appropriate tip, particularly for the new year. It is very difficult to let go the past. However, we we must learn from our past to prevent making the same mistakes going forward. Being able to differentiate and understand the difference between revenge and a valuable learning historical experience is often the most difficult for us to make.
The image of standing on the rocks is so helpful. Room to breathe and open eyes towards future but awake and connected to past.
A simple thought I have found helpful in many mediations: “Give up all hope of a better past.” People seem to get it right away!
This is just great advice, but very hard to practice. It bears repeating, over and over again.
Great piece to move forward. Stand upon the rocks and look for foreword to better connections!!