I’m done preserving the past.
Preserving The Past?
The Bible has a story of the destruction of a place called Sodom. Before it was destroyed, God appeared to a man named Lot and told him to flee the land, taking his family with him. There was one rule though. They were not to look back as they went. Unfortunately, Lot’s wife made the mistake of looking back. Immediately, she was turned into a pillar of salt! Dramatic, no?
Alan Cohen has an interesting take on this story. He says that when we hold on to what no longer have use for, we become petrified. Salt is a preservative. We cannot preserve the past or hold on to it. We must release it to make way for what is to come.
I know that looking back and blaming myself for missed opportunities or bad choices doesn’t serve me well. Neither does holding on to bitterness or replaying old tapes of misdeeds done to me. Yes, I will stand up for myself and speak out when necessary. But once it’s over, I don’t need to go on telling the story.
No more preserving the past.
I’m trying to respect the past with all its experiences and lessons and move joyfully towards the future. Most of all, I’m trying to live as far as possible in the present moment.
“The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.” – The Lion King
I’m participating in the Write Tribe Festival of Words – June 2018
Image Credits: Shutterstock
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Wow. This is both informative and insightful.
Thanks, Sonia.
True that! ‘Moving joyfully towards the future’.. simply profound!
I need to keep reminding myself of that, Priya.
That’s thought-provoking. True, past traps us but we must release it and learn from the experience and move on. Like they say, we don’t get over the past. We get past it.
Oh yes. But easier said than done, right?
we are what we are because of our past. Preserving it is different than sleeping with it.
We cannot deny our past, but we can’t live in it either!
Way to go, Corinne! I like how clear you are about the way you’d like to change the course of things from now on.
Thanks, Esha. I hope I stick to it!
Running is not a solution for anything in life. Whereas learning from every single experience help us to build a better future. Very nice write up.
Yes, our past is important in as much as it educates our future!
Holding onto hurt and remembering painful memories is definitely very destructive. Best to let go and move on. Nice example.
Yes, dwelling in the past causes more harm than good.
I am glad that I am participating in this festival of words. I am already in awe of the inspiring words that everyone has to share. This is a very thought provoking take on past with some new information, that I would never stumble on anywhere else.
Thanks, Anupriya. I’m too am glad you’re participating.
Absolutely agreed 🙂 As difficult as it is to let go, it is, indeed, important to let go of the past, the old; to make soace for the new, the future.
Oh yes, making space for newer experiences is so important.
The past is past. Learn from it, leave it and move on. That has been my motto lately.
Great motto, Bhagya!
True! Only lessons to be learned from past. It is waste to worry about missed opportunities in the past.
Preserving past wont make it a testiest pickle! Sometimes I feel, we should have selective amnesia so that we can forget the bitter past and retain only its lessons…
Happy Festival of Words to you Corinne!
Totally agree with that. Holding on to the past won’t do any good to you. Just move on.
I just needed this story. So true that if we keep looking back at things that have no use we only restrict our own growth and well being. As always loved this post.
Oh wow, Corinne! You gave ‘preserving’ the past an entirely new take!
This was an eye opener , ‘But once it’s over, I don’t need to go on telling the story.’ as I never realised that if we keep talking about it we never let the past go.
Thanks for writing this, I am so glad I read it!
Corinne, loved the story (as I have not read the Bible) and the lesson with it. It is useless to hold onto our past. Nothing good ever came out of it.
It always seems difficult to move on but as you rightly said respecting the past and moving towards the future with hope is what will give peace and contentment
Loved the article! Truly insightful!!
Great post. Indeed, no looking back, no flash backs and living in the present is important.
This is the most valuable lesson -respect the past with all its experiences and lessons and move joyfully towards the future. To keep dwelling in the past hurts and pains does not help in living a life which can otherwise be capable of becoming joyous.
“Yes, I will stand up for myself and speak out when necessary. But once it’s over, I don’t need to go on telling the story.” – loved this statement. Keep writing :). #WriteBravely
Seriously I need to frame this and keep.The past helps and hinders at the same time.
Food for thought. It’s true that we waste so much time pining over the lost opportunities than search for new ones… When life doesn’t go as planned, all we need is a new goal to make things fall into perspective… 🙂
This is a good thing for all of us to contemplate. So very true, Corinne.
Storytellers hang onto the stories of the past to illustrate the events of the present, but I think this is close to what I said about not “wallowing” or getting stuck and suffocating in the past. It’s all in HOW we tell the stories, and how we move the action forward.
What a great message that was Corinne and so succinctly put. We have to release the past in order to progress but it is so much easier to wallow in self pity or spend hours in introspection and splitting hairs that we lose sight of the future.
Beautifully said. Moving on joyfully and focusing on the present will bring in more peace.
Gayu
For me, i wonder if this moment of Lion King applies. I worry that it is the past that haunts me rather than me preserving it. :/
Well written Corinne. Hard as it maybe we have to let go of the past in order to move forward.
You know what Corinne – that preserving the past thing is something I too do inadvertently when actually, letting go of it makes me feel so much lighter. I really enjoyed your interpretation of the prompt AND your choice of it.
I agree with this. Holding on to the past makes you feel heavy. The moment you forgive you feel lighter and don’t drag yourself ahead. But you need to be wise enough to let down your ego and forgive.
The past can hold us only if we let it, we should learn from past to shape our future. 🙂
We cannot change the past but it be great to learn what we can from it and let any bitterness out of our lives.