“Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of
yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind left for living rightly
today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday can prevent you from living
purely today”
(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)
It’s been said that the majority
of conversations by men over forty are about the past. Sometimes it’s about the
‘good old days’ and sometimes it’s about the deals gone bad, the ‘if I only
had’ stories, the missed opportunities, etc.
Letting our “sins
and mistakes of yesterday” dominate our thinking today robs us of our
present joy and our future happiness. It causes us to miss the opportunity of
today! John C. Maxwell, in his outstanding best-seller Failing Forward,
gives some great practical advice: “To move forward today, you must learn to
say goodbye to yesterday’s hurts, tragedies, and baggage. You can’t build a
monument to past problems and fail forward.”
Take time right now to
list the negative events from your past that may still be holding you hostage.
For each item you list, go through the following exercise:
1) Acknowledge the pain
2) Grieve the loss
3) Forgive the person
4) Forgive yourself
5) Determine to release the event and move on
Your best days are
definitely ahead of you if you treat your “mistakes” as necessary lessons to be
learned. If you understand that each lesson brings with it a certain amount of
wisdom, you can understand how truly enhanced your life is becoming. Many
people can’t achieve the success of their dreams because they won’t leave their
past behind. They won’t tear down the monuments they’ve built to their old
hurts and problems. “Don’t dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday.”
Think about it!
THINK BIG. START
SMALL. GO DEEP.
References:
1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen
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