Last week I wrote about planning for the future while remembering to embrace the present.  Recently I came across this popular quote which supports my new outlook: “The past is behind, learn from it.  The future is ahead, prepare for it.  The present is here, live it.” (Thomas S. Monson).  Today I’d like to ramble a bit about where the past fits into this equation for me. 

Just as I have no control over my future, I obviously possess no hold on the past except in hindsight, which of course is always 20-20.  But as I continue my quest for solutions to life’s tough decisions, I’m realizing more and more how the past can do the holding.  In other words, focusing on yesterday can and will jeopardize my todays while potentially altering the course of my tomorrows. 

Thankfully, I can choose to use what I know now to make a difference—not only in my life, but in the lives around me and within the make-believe worlds I fashion on paper.  So even though I cannot rewrite history stippled with all its regrets—the would-haves, could-haves and should-haves—I can decide to chalk it all up as one great big cumulative lesson learned (not to mention a boat load of creative fodder).  And in my case, I have no doubt this is the write choice in order for me to live more fully in the present and to move forward into a richer future.  Because when one door closes, another opens.  ~ cs