"In the carriages of the past you can't go anywhere."--Maxin Gorky
We all like to "relive" the past at times, and precious memories are a source of great pleasure for most of us. But we dare not dwell too much on the past at the expense of the present and the future. The past has already been lived and, no matter how pleased or displeased we are with our past lives, there is no way that we can go back and make changes. What's done is done, and there is nothing we can do about it.
As we grow older, some of us are tempted to say, "The past is all I have now." But that is never true . None of us knows for sure how much longer we have to live, no matter what our age or our current state of health. As long as we are alive there is always today and hopefully tomorrow. Maybe we have lost our youth and don't have a lot of energy and strength left. But we still have the capacity to get enthused about life and to make the most of the present.
No matter what the past has been like, and no matter how uncertain the future may be, we all have the present, and we should make the most of it. In the words of Somerset Maugham, "The passing moment is all we can be sure of; it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it; the future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now." There is so much truth in these words. Why not try to get the most out of each day of our lives?
The lessons we have learned from the past can be applied to the present and, because of the past, we can live fuller and richer lives today. We can reflect on the mistakes of the past when making decisions in the present. We can reminisce about pleasant times from the past to help us get through troubled times in the present. But we cannot relive it. We can live only in the present. So why shouldn't we try to live each day to the fullest?
Whenever possible, we should try to think of the present as the "precious present." It can be precious for most of us much of the time if we will just focus on the positive side of things. The present will soon be the past, and how we live our todays will determine what kind of yesterdays we will have to look back on in the future. So it is all right to think about the past some of the time. Indeed, we must use our experiences from the past to guide us through the present. But the more we focus on getting the most from the present, the richer our lives will be.
Copyright 2014 Allen Smith
TB-75—Posted 06/14/2014
