Reflect On Your Past, Don't Dwell In It

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." - Buddha

December is always a time of reflection. Especially as we approach a New Year. But this year has been different than others. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to reflect throughout the year. To take note of the things that are really important to us, in life. Yes, it has been a challenging year for all. But causing us to take the time to reflect upon these things could prove to be truly valuable. It caused us to pause and take notice of the people and things we may have been taking for granted.

What things did you feel really good about? What things could have went better? What did you do really well? What could you improve upon? What shouldn't you have done? What should you have done? What things could you have enjoyed more? What things should you let go of?

Reflecting upon your past is a good thing. You need your past to be able to create a better future for yourself and for others. Your past will help you understand the choices and decisions you made, and the results that you achieved because of them.  But it is easy to get caught up dwelling on your past. We end up re-living it over and over again in our minds. If we stay there too long we'll end up missing out on what is going on today. We must recognize if we are getting stuck living in the past. Everyone needs to live through our experiences, learn from it, and choose to adapt or change from it in order to create a better way to live.

There is a big difference between reflecting on your past and dwelling on it. Reflection includes being grateful for all of the positive and challenging experiences you had, and what you obtained from it, and what you can learn from it.  Reflection means accepting your past for what it was and taking full responsibility for your choices and actions. Dwelling on positive experiences may cause you to become complacent about things or even the future of things. Dwelling on painful experiences will continue to beat you down and inhibit you from growth. With what we can learn from reflecting on our past, we have the power to use to turn ourselves into something far greater than we were before.

Make today great!

Curtis

"You can't have a better tomorrow, if you're always thinking about yesterday." - Charles F. Kettering