"On Looking Back"

It is physically impossible to look forward and behind at the same time.  It cannot be done.  You are able to see one direction or the other, but your eyes will not take in both at the same time.  It is no different with one's inner vision, that place within your being, in your mind and  soul.  When you spend time focusing on the past, reliving it with guilt, regret, and "if only," that is where all your thoughts are and where your energy is expended.  That is where you are--in the past.  The result is similar to that of an eddy or a whirlpool.  You get sucked down, go in circles, become stagnant, and are rendered powerless and immobile with no chance or hope of ever getting out and moving forward. 

While letting go of one's past is sometimes easier said than done, hanging on to it literally weighs a person down and becomes a heavy burden to carry with no real payoffs, unless you are trying to qualify for martyrdom.  It is the antithesis of how we were created to live.  

Living in the present, ever moving forward, is important in order to live a viable, productive, complete and satisfying life.  How do I know?  This is the voice of experience.  It was one of the first lessons taught to me by my Creator.   

Valuable principles like these are foundational.  They are the base for other building blocks in a person's life.  In my opinion this one is especially worthwhile.

"One thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind 

and reaching forward to what is ahead." 

Philippians 3:13