Always look forward and not backward

I can only answer for myself. I moved forward for a few decades and then I burned out. This was because for me, moving forward without dealing with the past that ensured I was not healthy in myself. That sounds very strange, but without dealing with the past was a journey that had many amazing results and I learned a great deal; and then I was simply done. I have spent the last 4 years working hard to correct the learnings from my childhood and the years when I was not fully emotional present. This is ongoing, but moving onward in a safe and healthier process is rewarding.

I am finding my own value, interests, and purpose. This may happen for others without looking back at their past, for me I have had an intense beginning that needed to be understood. The necessity to look back will be made abundantly clear, if it is what one needs, at least it was for me. The reality is always as it is. Mind and the sense of personal me has a hard time with it. It is really a subtle way of escaping the only time we have: here and now. The sense of separation creates itself by pushing and pulling away the moment. Until we realize that we are pushing/pulling away is not the moment, but ourselves. We are this moment. We are not even someone trying to be in the moment. All spiritual practices only point to it, but never show truth itself. Truth is always here and now.

Stop dwelling on the past. The past is history, we can only learn from it. What matters is right now and how we can succeed tomorrow. In my opinion, at its worst and not only because of the leader, but our own stupidity. Instead of striving to succeed, we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re not good enough because we’re not of a certain race or a particular social class. We need to stop thinking about our [ancestors] troubled past and concentrate on our future and take what has happened in the past and make it better. If we think we can, then we believe we can. When we believe we can, then we know we can. When we know we can, nothing (and nobody) can stop us.

I remember it was a full moon night just like tonight and the time was around 1 am. Everybody was fast asleep, while I was awake, staring at the moon and enjoying the mild breeze . Suddenly I remembered something. On one such full moon night, a decade ago, I was staring at the moon, thinking about my future. What will happen after 10–15 years? I will earn, will be married, will I keep a moustache? Will I run a factory? Life will be easy or tough? Will my grandparents be still around? I hope so. It striked me that however my life changes, the moon will always remain the same.

And then I promised myself that after a decade, I will connect with the moon again, observe the changes in life and communicate with this young boy who would be hiding somewhere in memories then. Coming back to present. Looking at the same bright moon, remembering that moment was no less than a time travel for me. Though we never realise and observe how life is slowly changing every moment, but thinking from that young boy's perspective, I felt amazed that so much has changed in the past decade. I felt more or less satisfied thinking that I have been bestowed with so many experiences, lost somethings and gained somethings. In order to move forward you have a choice to make.

You have to decide whether you want to be a victim of your past, or victorious over it. Everyone has bad things in their past. Nothing that you have gone through is unique to you. Someone else has gone through the same things and went on to live balanced successful lives. This means that you can do it too. It is ok to look backwards if done with the right propose, and that is to learn the lesson, gather evidence, etc. We should never look back to start regretting something that we should have done and did not do. To make a point here, if we’re always looking backwards, we can't move forward so think positively and move on.

The problems which were important and overwhelming back then don't exist today, while today has its own concerns. If I would have stayed stuck in life or compromised with my genuine dreams, I would have regretted in this precious nostalgic moment (and subconsciously throughout life). And then suddenly I thought- What will happen one day when I will be gone? I would be long lost somewhere with no one to care. But the moon will still remain the same and enlighten the world with it's glorious light. Cheers!