We have heard of creating a better future but have we heard of creating a better past? A better past is created in a better present. What is past? It is the moments ‘lived’.
How to create a better past?
The ‘living’ moment is the present. When present is lived in fullness, the past mirrors that fullness; it can’t be any different or any other way. The experiences that are lived are the experiences that create the past. The past can be recreated by going in the past and in the imagination; but present can be created as it is being lived.
Present can be created any way desired/wanted, so, if you intend to create a better past, you’ve got to live a better present. Be in the awareness that what you are creating today, in the present, you have to live with it. It is not going to go away. It can’t be anything other than that, what you create.
If you know in the present, you are creating the past, won’t you like to create the present better? The present can be experienced and created better in knowing that you are creating this living structure for yourself. This structure in which you are going to live, mentally, emotionally, so why not create a structure that is serving? If you got to create a structure to reside, in your memories, in your mental space, then why not create a serving present, an aligned one?
How can one create a serving present? Through the choices made of today.
If a choice, in hindsight, does not present itself to be serving, then what does one do? Create another- make another choice-now you carry the wisdom of the past choice and have the opportunity of re-creating. The opportunity of re-creating isn’t a small gift, you see.
How to re-create an event already lived?
You can change things you want to change in the next moment, the next day, by a new response that will re-create the past. But know that all activities of yours — thoughts, actions, reactions — you project is possible in the present moment. Past can be revised but not re-created as the way the present sits to get improvised. What is lived, is lived, “now” is the opportunity to create again, a ‘better’ past. This freedom is a big one.
What about past lived like childhood events? That past is important too because it holds some messages. Decipher them, pick the meaning, the messages buried in them, in that, you no longer will get ‘haunted’ by the past. You got to see meaning in that past, not because you should, but because it has (meaning). Just that you haven’t uncovered it yet. When you uncover the meaning- in the present-now, you re-create the significance attached to that past, not the event.
Creating a better past (already happened) is in the thought/the ‘mental processing’ of the past and not the event; the event is (merely) the message carrier, focus on the message. Does it mean that a lived past moment will remain unchangeable?
Not at all. You still have the power to re-create a past. How can you re-create a past? You cannot undo a past event but you can re-write another and make it big and keep it activated in your thoughts then the original will lose its grip over you, which means that you won’t act, react or interact, dictated by that past.
So, as you step in to the new year, don’t allow the experience of the past to ‘fail’ you, because none has. It all has served you to bring you to this point, the point of introspection, reflection, the point of decision-making.
The present is the time to give meaningful closure to an experience to create a closed/completed past, not a past of regret. Consider each present-day, moment that is readily available, ready to serve your intention of creating a beautiful/ satisfying past, for, within today is embedded your past too.
Disclaimer: Urmila Rao is an emotional healer and a forgiveness teacher. All the ideas expressed herein are her own and not professional advice or medical prescription. Listen to her podcast ‘Meditative Reflections-Dhayan’ on Spotify. Email: hellokarmicwellness@gmail.com
