You are so much more then your past

I've been meaning to write this for a while, but schools been kicking my butt for a good month at this point. First off, I honestly think this forum is an amazing place for us who have done wrong in the past to confess in a "public" setting. We are obviously on this forum because we have done wrong in the past. Regardless of political affiliation, religion or ideology, we recognize the error in our ways and are trying our best to make amends.

At the same time, I have seen many on this forum, myself included, who have struggles moving on from the past or at least accepting it and trying to grow from it. We are here because we have done something we are ashamed of, something we deem evil on a personal level. Do not allow this to consume you. For your sake alone, you must find productivity to move forward with. You are doing yourself and those affiliated with you no favor by dwelling in the past and imagining how evil of a person you were. You are more then that now. You recognize the error in your actions and are wanting to move on and improve from it.

Of course, this also means to make amends. Whether it be with someone you have done wrong too, confessing in a religious institute, or finding peace within yourself. This is a necessary process to healing and it is a step everyone who is posting on here for assistance must accept. The step of acceptance and love for oneself must be retaught and enforced personally for each individual to truly move on from the past.

i can not stress this enough however. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR PAST TO CONSUME YOU. YOU ARE FAR MORE THEN YOUR PAST ACTIONS , for those who feeling remorse, I am sure many OCD like traits will appear in your life, replaying thoughts and memories in your mind and trying to find some sort of validation in the past.
It is a pointless battle that only leads to headache, heartache and self destruction. Many fall into this pit fall and have a very hard time dragging themselves out of it. The only one who can save themselves from their past is the individual and the individual alone. You must make the conscious decision to move on from your past actions and become a better person.

I wish everyone the best of luck in the healing and acceptance process. While we may have done wrong in the past, every human is capable of becoming a better person and contributing to this little thing we call Earth. I want to dedicate this post to Sprock for being so active and moderating the forum personally and providing support for anyone who posts here.

Happy days my friends,

if anyone is in need of private conversation I am a private message away.

This is a wonderful message, Zonofo, and one with which I wholeheartedly agree.

I was taking the kids to school today and noticed they had a wall filled with inspiring messages. One was: "why dwell on yesterday when you are a different person today?"

We forget this as adults. Children are very much absorbed in the present moment, which is the only place we ever truly exist from one moment to the next. I believe this is why children are, for the most part, happy and carefree. It is tragic that we can become so obsessed with thought and identity that it drives us to insanity and/or depression and stops us from unleashing our full potential in this moment.

Contained within this moment is all our potential and being, it is where the totality of life exists, stretched out and sequentialised through our limited human perception of time.

You may know you'll be in a better position to do something tomorrow or next week, but will it be the same you that is here, right now?

Our atoms are constantly turning over. Billions of neurons are firing in our brains from one moment to the next. New information is ever changing the make-up of our mind, all completely beyond our control. Yet we cling to this idea (that's all it is) of an constant, unified self floating through time and space from the moment we become self aware to when we slip into terminal unconsciousness.

Where is the seat of this unified, perpetual self we so desperately cling to? Can you trace it to its absolute source?

The past matters, of course - it teaches us. But there's a difference between learning from the past (and not just your own) and identifying with the past as if you are still there and the same conscious entity. You can't exist in a thought, and the past is now just that - a thought.

The person I am about to quote has a past filled with wrongdoings and unethical behaviour. But the truth stands regardless, and any judgement of his words against his past is meaningless, since he is no longer that person any more...

"No matter what happened to you in your past, you are not your past. You are the resources and the capabilities you glean from it, and that is the basis of all change."

That's a very kind and useful message. Thanks for posting it!

And I feel humbled and little bit moved by your dedication

epiphany55 wrote:This is a wonderful message, Zonofo, and one with which I wholeheartedly agree.

I was taking the kids to school today and noticed they had a wall filled with inspiring messages. One was: "why dwell on yesterday when you are a different person today?"

We forget this as adults. Children are very much absorbed in the present moment, which is the only place we ever truly exist from one moment to the next. I believe this is why children are, for the most part, happy and carefree. It is tragic that we can become so obsessed with thought and identity that it drives us to insanity and/or depression and stops us from unleashing our full potential in this moment.

Contained within this moment is all our potential and being, it is where the totality of life exists, stretched out and sequentialised through our limited human perception of time.

You may know you'll be in a better position to do something tomorrow or next week, but will it be the same you that is here, right now?

Our atoms are constantly turning over. Billions of neurons are firing in our brains from one moment to the next. New information is ever changing the make-up of our mind, all completely beyond our control. Yet we cling to this idea (that's all it is) of an constant, unified self floating through time and space from the moment we become self aware to when we slip into terminal unconsciousness.

Where is the seat of this unified, perpetual self we so desperately cling to? Can you trace it to its absolute source?

The past matters, of course - it teaches us. But there's a difference between learning from the past (and not just your own) and identifying with the past as if you are still there and the same conscious entity. You can't exist in a thought, and the past is now just that - a thought.

The person I am about to quote has a past filled with wrongdoings and unethical behaviour. But the truth stands regardless, and any judgement of his words against his past is meaningless, since he is no longer that person any more...

"No matter what happened to you in your past, you are not your past. You are the resources and the capabilities you glean from it, and that is the basis of all change."

Very well written comment! I believe if we as adults and humans learned to accept each other for what we are-humans. We have mistakes and regrets that make up who we are, but we also have moments of good, moments of happiness that makes life worth living and contributing too .