“The mistake we make is to turn upon our past with angry wholesale negation… The way of wisdom is to treat it airily, lightly, wantonly, and in a spirit of poetry; and above all to use its symbols, which are its spiritual essence, giving them a new connotation, a fresh meaning.”
John Cowper Powys, Sunbeams (Page 26)
Beyond the Quote (Day 408)
Not only do we try to deny (often angrily) the events of our past, but we often turn on our past as if it’s without any use at all. Like it just is what it is and any time spent looking back is wasteful. But, that’s not entirely true. While, yes, our past is composed of unalterable events, what it’s not composed of is unalterable interpretations. We are free to interpret the events of our past however we choose. But, when we believe that looking back isn’t worth our time—because we “aren’t going that way”—we miss the chance to update our interpretations and give the events of our past fresh meaning.
In fact, by not looking back, we’re effectively deciding that we’re just going to use outdated interpretations. It’s a decision to let our less experienced, less knowledgable, less aware, younger selves do the decision making. You wouldn’t let an 8 year old tell you what to think about what happened to you when you were 8 years old, would you? Of course not. Well maybe you should confirm that that’s not exactly what’s happening in you now.
When new movies, books, TV series, plays get released, why don’t we just read the plot/ spoilers and be done with them? Why do we read/ watch the full productions? It’s because the series of events isn’t what interests us—it’s how the characters respond, act, and navigate the events that does. The story is what matters; not the timeline. The emotions are what matters; not the facts. The connection is what we’re after; not a superficial summary.
The story of your past is just that—your story. So grab your pen and fill the pages of your past properly. Your past is not carved in stone; your past is filled with bundles and bundles of blank pages that are waiting to be filled. Fill them in the spirit of poetry; in the spirit of maturing your guiding voice; in the spirit of connecting more deeply to yourself; in the spirit of moving forward—by looking back.
Read Next: Hannah Brencher Quote on Baggage and How We Might Best Move Forward From Our Past
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Written by Matt Hogan
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