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Quotes about The Past

    “The past is fixed, but the future—it could be better.  It could be better, some precise amount—the amount that can be achieved, perhaps, in a day, with some minimal engagement.  The present is eternally flawed.  But where you start might not be as important as the direction you are heading.  Perhaps happiness is always to be found in the journey uphill, and not in the fleeting sense of satisfaction awaiting at the next peak.  Much of happiness is hope, no matter how deep the underworld in which that hope was conceived.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 94)

      “People create their worlds with the tools they have directly at hand.  Faulty tools produce faulty results.  Repeated use of the same faulty tools produces the same faulty results.  It is in this manner that those who fail to learn from the past doom themselves to repeat it.  It’s partly fate.  It’s partly inability.  Its’s partly… unwillingness to learn?  Refusal to learn?  Motivated refusal to learn?” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 75)

        “Less and less memories will come as the time moves.  There will be gaps – you would like to relive something but nothing is coming – and those gaps are beautiful.  Then a day will come when you will not be able to move backwards because everything is complete.  When you cannot move backwards, only then do you move forwards.  Be finished with the past.  As you become freer from the past, the mountain starts disappearing.  And then you will attain unison: you will become, by and by, one.” ~ Osho, The Art of Living and Dying

          “Memory is potent.  It does something to us.  It makes us who we are.  It gives us depth.  It ties our past to our present to overcome the disjunction of a too literal life.  It focuses our attention on the imagination of events rather than on events taken literally.  Memory is a kind of poetry.”

          Thomas Moore, Original Self | ★ Featured on this book list.

            “In Latin there is a dictum: agere sequitur esse – to do follows to be; action follows being.  It is tremendously beautiful.  Don’t try to change your action – try to find out your being, and action will follow.  The action is secondary; being is primary.  Action is something that you do; being is something that you are.  Action comes out of you, but action is just a fragment.  Even if all of your actions are collected together they will not be equal to your being because all actions collected together will be your past.  What about your future?  Your being contains your past, your future, your present; your being contains your eternity.  Your actions, even if all collected, will just be of the past.  Past is limited, future is unlimited.  That which has happened is limited; it can be defined, it has already happened.  That which has not happened is unlimited, indefinable.  Your being contains eternity, your actions contain only your past.” ~ Osho, Love, Freedom, Alonenss: The Koan of Relationships

              “We may believe that mistakes have been made already and that we cannot go back to the past to change things. When we look deeply into the relative nature of time, we see that the past has created the present. If we seize the present moment with mindfulness, we are in touch with the past. We can actually go back to the past, while staying firmly rooted in the present moment, and heal the past. We forgive ourselves for our mistakes, knowing we didn’t have enough wisdom or the right conditions at that time to do better. We transform our regrets in the present into compassion and understanding, and in this way we also transform the past.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Savor

                “No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future.” ~ Unknown

                  Ah yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it. ~ The Lion King

                  Be not the slave of your own past

                    Be not the slave of your own past

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                    “Be not the slave of your own past – plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

                      Never regret anything that has happened in your life, it cannot be changed, undone, or forgotten.  So take it as a lesson learned and move on.

                        “Nothing that had happened in the past could be taken away. This was an amazing gift. The past was done and over and settled; you couldn’t get it back, but still, whatever good you had gotten from it, spiritually, emotionally, would be yours for your lifetime.” ~ Nancy Werlin

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