LET GO OF THE PAST (31dec07)

Today is the last day of the calendar year. For many it is a reason to celebrate the year that was. Some use it as an occasion to evaluate their journey of events. While this can be a very good thing to do, quite often, we tend to look back more out of being judgemental than developmental. We get caught in the passionate perceptions of our past rather than learn the lessons from our experience.

My artist friend, Hanuman Kambli illustrated the need for the appropriate approach towards looking back to the days that have gone by. He said that "the past should be the fertiliser to be used for nurturing further growth, but alas it is used like a chewing gum that is chewed on even when it loses it taste!" The many dimensions of our past experience should be a guide to our future… they should not be the deadweight that weighs us down and prevents our progress.

I like to state during my unlearning seminars that while the past tells us where we have come from, it does not decide where we will go. An impressive past does not guarantee a positive future and a not-so-impressive past does not condemn us to continued mediocrity. We need to hold on to only the valid lessons and cast ourselves in a fresh attitude and approach towards the immediate present and the desired future.

Let's use the metaphor of our life as a ship. The past is a dimension like the harbour we sailed from. The present is a dimension like the waters we ride. The future is a dimension that beckons akin to a lighthouse. The connection between these three dimensions decides our personality. However, there is nothing really that can be called the end of a year. But surely, there can be a beginning to take off on a new year in our lives… every day… every moment… if we only "develop new dimensions"!

Let go of the past and the moments old,
Cast yourself in a brand new mould!
Get set to rise on newer horizons
Let's "develop new dimensions"!!