LET GO AND LIVE RIGHT

Yesterday is a canceled check: Forget it. Tomorrow is a promissory note: Don't count on it. Today is ready cash: Use it! - Edwin C. Bliss.


Sometimes, I desperately desire  to turn back the hands of time to undo certain actions and measures I took while I was growing up but that desire will turn out only to be wishful thinking. Some actions and decisions we took in the past has had a telling effect on our present and sometimes can continue into our future. Some actions of the past made people lose their trust in us. We also lost confidence in people because of their actions. Sometimes when life hits us with a painful reminder of our past actions, we normally breakdown and wonder if things would have been the same if that situation had been taken care of in the past. These  reminders make us dwell so much on the past. It makes us sometimes take life for granted because we think that life has been unfair to us. Some of the actions of the past were inevitable like the death of a loved one, so dwelling on them so much would end up doing us more harm than good. There were many times in the past that people expected us to set  examples worth emulating but we let those people down. In the same vein, there were other times that we also expected more from people but we ended up being disappointed by the actions and inactions of those people, it is a back and forth phenomenon. Now see this, no matter how hard we try, we cannot get back the lost years but we can sure make the best out of what is left. We should be motivated by our present and even be hopeful about our future because it is only what we have as is captured in the words of Charles Franklin Kettering that, "We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there".We should not let our past mistakes or misgivings or even the inevitable circumstances of the past determine the present or decide our future. Our main focus going forward would be to avoid past mistakes and ensure we do not repeat them because Pearl Bailey was of the view that, "There is a way to look at the past. Don't hide from it. It will not catch you if you do not repeat it". It is one thing learning about the past and an entirely different ball game altogether wallowing in its effects because it normally slows down our progress and I tend to agree with Les Brown when he noted that " If you are carrying strong feelings about something that happened in your past, they may hinder your ability to live in the present". We have this moment and the future to correct the past wrongs. Though our past is written in time, its value cannot be compared to our present and future. The future looks extremely bright with lots of bright possibilities but on the condition that we let go of our past mistakes and live in the present and be hopeful for the future. My name is Edwin Oko Lamptey and though I have made countless mistakes in the past, I would not allow my past determine my future. This is a RANDOM AFRICAN  THOUGHT. More at randomafricanthoughts.blogspot.com