I’ll tell you another secret, this one for your own good. You may think the past has something to tell you. You may think that you should listen, should strain to make out its whispers, should bend over backward, stoop down low to hear its voice breathed up from the ground, from the dead places. You may think there’s something in it for you, something to understand or make sense of.
But I know the truth: I know from the nights of Coldness. I know the past will drag you backward and down, have you snatching at whispers of wind and the gibberish of trees rubbing together, trying to decipher some code, trying to piece together what was broken. It’s hopeless. The past is nothing but a weight. It will build inside of you like a stone.
Take it from me: If you hear the past speaking to you, feel it tugging at your back and running its fingers up your spine, the best thing to do – the only thing – is run.
~ Becca @ Lost in Time
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Live & Learn 
I read somewhere that GOD gave us eyes in the front of our head to see forward if he wanted us looking back we would have them in the back of our head.
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I like it!
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haha, this is great! and it does speak to the power of our identity / experiences / traditions / ethnicity and so on as those things shape our decisions going forwards. somewhere in there though, those past realities are part of the ballast that informs and guides us; giving us confidence and inspiration and direction. finding that balance is the elusive art 😉
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Yes, the elusive balance, walking that tight rope. On point Anake…
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Beautifully compelling!
St. Paul says it really well too… No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:13, 14 NLT)
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Hi Joel. Thank you and thanks for sharing St. Paul’s view…like it!
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Very good. One of the best on not focusing on the past!!
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Yes, certainly some of it for sure
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Keep moving forward, a glimps of the past can be a helpful reminder as long as we do not get stuck there….keep moving…keep moving..
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Yes, Tina. I had a hockey coach who used to say that if they are clutching and grabbing you to slow you down, keep your feet moving. Your comment so reminded me of that.
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I like “keep you feet moving” maybe that’s because I am in the Podiatric field 🙂
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Now, I didn’t know that…learned something today…
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How true! Love this! My past tortures me plenty.
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All of us I’m sure…
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Free yourself from your past history…..
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Yes, (esp the past that torments you) 🙂
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Of course ! It would be the first priority actually =)
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I feel out of sync here, as I just wrote about a wonderful memory…I love the quote and the magnificence of having raindrops beat ceaselessly upon the street, as memories can rain down upon a soul and erode it slowly over time. They can dilute the present (going with the water theme here), they can wash over all the magnificence of being in the moment. Yet, I don’t want to be without my past…I take it out sometimes, it informs my narrative sometimes..there are moments I don’t want to lose, and others I’d rather forget. I just can’t deny them. I don’t think that’s what this post means – or we would repeat history constantly – or are we?
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Yes, Mimi, a fine balance (as Anake and others have said above)
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Just adding my two unnecessary cents David.
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All necessary Mimi, all.
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When I read your comment, the word “dichotomy” came immediately to mind. Yes, she’s captured it again, and done so beautifully…
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This post really strikes a chord with me, a beautiful caveat. I think the past can be a wonderful place to *visit,* it’s just not the best place to *live*….
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Well said Lori…
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Hmm, certainly living in the past is bad, as is living in the future, there is just the moment of the present. Connection with the past is vital, imagine all your memories erased, how would life be?
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Yes, quite empty…
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