The Hardest Part Is Getting Past Now.

NOW is all you have to work with. If you could be finished with all of your past and be totally confident in your ability to decide what your future was going to be it would be no problem. The reason getting past now can be so tough is that you invested a lot of time in creating a very elaborate interactive character that goes by the name of (your name here). If you are like most people you find it difficult to accept that you are under no obligation to give anything that has happened up until this moment any importance in determining your future now’s. The problem is that you think your past has to matter. It doesn’t. Like everything you do right now, it is a choice you are making now.

 Here’s a good analogy for you. If an athlete practices an event and has a poor practice, does he or she say I’m no good and feel doomed to failure? Not if they are going to be great – tomorrow is a new day and they will improve and get better. The now of a bad practice will not determine their future unless they “chose” to obsess about it and make it an excuse to worry about if they will ever be any good. The point is, whether they get past that less than desired now is totally up to what they decide to think about it. Same with an actor rehearsing for a part in a play – a bad rehearsal should only lead to much improved future performances. With each rehearsal the performer is getting clearer on how the role can be most effectively played.

 You are that performer and each day you should be working at improving the character you are playing. You may say that is what you are doing. That is probably true but you are very likely missing one key part of the equation. You are probably carrying around a lot of baggage thinking what has happened in your past now’s matters. In “reality” none of the past has any more importance than what you choose to give it. Everything except right NOW is in your imagination and has no reality other than what you choose to give it. It is whatever you have decided to believe it is and nothing more. That gets back to why getting past “now” can be so difficult – most of us place a great deal of importance on what has happened in our past and allow it to define much of what we see as “now”.

 Getting to the core of this is a much longer discussion but the important thing to try and accept is that nothing in your past can have any power in your now unless you choose to believe it can. Forget your past. There is nothing to regret or feel guilty about. A good athlete spends no time feeling guilty about a missed catch – they just get focused on being ready for the next opportunity to make a great catch. Place no importance on a “mis-take” or bad practice – just get focused on making your now go the way you want it to.

 An even bigger realization is that like the actor in a play, it you want to, you can decide to play and entirely new character having very little to do with that part you were playing in those past nows. We often get so invested in the role we have created for ourselves that we take ourselves way to seriously. You may think that everything you do in your life matters. It does but no more than the part an actor plays in a play. It is all supposed to be for fun and adventure – an intricate interactive game. Don’t let the world you have invented in your mind limit you in any way. You need to remember that you have no limits on you except what you choose to believe in. You are totally in control of all your now moments. You are fully capable of changing, defining and doing whatever you want with your character. Don’t let your past trap you in a now that you are not happy with.