Saturday, June 13, 2009

A New Day with No Past Mistakes

I remember when I used to watch the movie "Pollyanna"--one of my favorites-- as a child, and the phrase that always stuck with me was that "Each day was fresh with no mistakes!"

How easily we forget this. Each morning we pile on the "backpack" of our past days filled with our saddest memories and guilty moments. Everyday we carry this and think that we are being "responsible" in carrying OUR load. It's almost as if we carry more of a loyalty to those things we did poorly or those times where we fell short, rather than to those things and times that keep us healthy and strong!

Yes, it is true that we must learn from our past in order to keep from learning the same painful lesson over and over. However, how can we properly see or utilize these lessons if they reside in a bag bound with guilt,shame,and resentment? No wonder we keep them bagged up and on our back. Soon they become a mixed bag of emotions and we can't quite remember which memory they belong to. We just know we should feel "bad" for all those "past things" we've done. Is is more that we won't forgive what we've done, or does it affect us more that other's won't forget our past faults?


So, how do we get back to that child-like energy and thought process? How do we tap into that "Pollyanna" existence? One of my favorites things about this life is that we have choice AND we have change EVERYDAY! There isn't a moment that goes by that we can't choose a new existence...a new path, a new life. Maybe the one thing we should remember is how to think as a child. Whoever told you that it takes forever to rid yourself of your past, is mistaken. You can see easily in children that a painful moment is easily forgotten (and most times, for good!) If we awaken the dead of our past, then we choose to live with those skeletons in our present...and so half the day we feel dead, right along side them. Why not leave them where they are...and create a new thought process right now. A single thought that will affect the rest of our day and future. The thought is: "I start each day fresh with no mistakes!"

With time we will find that there are no skeletons to bury and no backpack of shame to carry. Each day is fresh, new, and completely detached from the mistakes of yesterday.
Let's make this life simple--not in a lazy way--but in a freeing, more loving way! Of course you could always continue wearing that bag and complaining of back pain, as you relish in the sometimes-loved-drama of your past! Again, you have the choice.

Perhaps with this new day--fresh with no heaviness from our past--we will feel free and light enough to make all the mistakes we want! But they shall only last a day, my friends, only a day!


*I recently watched a client die. As he was dying, I could see him smile as he retraced each year and memory of his life...as if he were replaying and reliving it. At the end (with his last breath) he smiled and said "Wow, I wish I knew it could be that easy."
I personally believe he was referring to "letting go" of those things that held him back.

It is a new day today! You are alive! Make it fresh with no past mistakes!

With LOVE,
Christy~

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