Our days are not independent from one another. We begin each day with the results and experience from all the preceding ones. As much as we’d like to forget or change some things that have happened, they can’t be undone. That doesn’t mean, however, that the outcome is permanent. Our world is dynamic, never the same moment to moment. This continual evolution impacts everything around us, including our ever-changing selves. While we can’t alter the past, we can reshape our present by the choices we make each day. We are the link between the past and future we desire.
Our minds are expansive, able to adapt to a broad range of experiences. When we feel we have reached our mind’s limit, somehow, some way we always find more open space. Unfortunately this never-ending searching can also work against us. Too often we become attached to things that have happened, are happening, or could happen and forget the limitless capacity of our minds. But we must remember that these occurrences are never what they seem to be. They are just clouds or waves distracting us from the blue sky that is always up there somewhere even if we can’t see it.
We all wish and hope for things to happen. It is the seed of all our ideas. We envision the desire in our minds and put it out into the world in the form of dreams. While this may be soothing and steady us during trying times to believe that someday our lives will improve, if we do nothing, most likely that is exactly what will happen. Our dreams will remain Pollyannish visions with minimal chance for success. Hope is only the first step. We must follow up with action and perseverance. Then and only then can our dreams become reality.
Our ambition and desire to succeed propel us through difficult and trying situations. We don’t allow ourselves to get weighed down by adverse outcomes and stay focused on our long term goals. Unfortunately this same enthusiasm and passion often land and keep us in negative situations that we struggle to get out of even though we know we should. We end up competing and obsessing about winning rather than being committed to our own healthiness and helping those around us. Sometimes the best move is to let go and extricate ourselves from toxic environments and put ourselves in games worth winning.
It’s difficult enough to do the “right” thing — to stay within the lines of what is expected. But to step over the lines and live with and learn from the consequences may be even tougher. When we make mistakes, our first reaction is to pull back within the lines, reverting to what is safe. By doing so we lose all the value of our wrong choices. We need to trust our curiosity and trust where it takes us. Growth and progress happen by doing more than pushing the boundaries. We actually have to step over them and experience life on the other side.
