Monday morning thoughts

Understanding your past is a key ingredient to being sane in the present.

We all have our pasts. We all have good times and bad. For some of us, the bad times feel like they weigh more heavily than the good times. Reversed for those lucky others.

I've watched and listened to many people, just like we all have. Friends, family, strangers. We watch and we learn, and hopefully, we apply what we learn to ourselves. What I've come to observe about the more positive people in my life is that they have that focus on what's good for them, especially right now. They have great mindsets and they never dwell on their past... at least not for the rest of us to see.

I'm trying more and more each day to stay a positive person and continue living for new and better experiences. I have had my issues and demons in the past, but what I think I've done real well is to look at those issues, analyze them, come to the best possible conclusions about it, and most importantly, mentally "save" it and then "close" it and "file" it away (yes, I'm a computer!). Bad stuff happens, no doubt, and I'm lucky enough that nothing so terrible ever happened to me, but I still choose not to dwell on it, and I think that makes me feel better about myself right now. I don't focus on the negative, I don't dwell on things that I can't change, and I don't try to re-live my past (to be honest though, I still do all of that, just not like I used to, I'm not perfect, every day I still have to try!).

My personal zen opinion is that you can't move forward with your life until you let go of the past. Forget? no. Comes to terms with? yes! Accepting your demons, taking your experiences and learning from them, and then moving forward with these newly learned tools, life can't help but get a little easier, and then maybe it'll be easier to get that positive mindset into motion!