The Past

"Its only when you truly embrace your past that you can move foward."
"Honor isn't about making the right choices, but dealing with the consequences."

We all have one, a past. Sometimes its joyous to look back on and reflect. Other times it hurts to even think about the failure, the hurt, the pain, the loss, the struggle, the tears. In my years here walking about I have come to realize no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, we all fail, we all struggle. What I also know is that we all suffer and we know the loss-pain-tears of losing someone. So what do we do?? My grandmother always use to tell me how can you embrace (hold) the present and make room for the future if your too full with bringing the past with you. Bad things happen, people get sick, people say the word thing or use hurtful words, people die. We stumble. We fail. We have regrets. No avoiding such things. But what you can do is make the best of them. You can embrace the change for a new opportunity. You can learn and grow from your mistakes and failures. You can understand instead of judge. You can love instead of hate. You can let go instead of hang on. You can remember instead of forgetting. You can smile instead of cry. You can cope instead of resist. You can sit with your grief instead of running away from it. You can walk in the darkness and learn something about it as well as yourself rather than just getting by. This life is full of opportunities and most of the time they are found in places we would never think to look.

The past is there for us to learn from, for us to grow from and for us to be better - a better person, friend, daughter/son, family member, sibling. When one tries to forget their past they truly have no present or future. If you don't know who you were how can you be who you truly are? Embrace your past. It leads to your future and has a direct connection with your present.