A Middle Piece (Part 2 of 4)

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The Past and The Future

In our collective understanding of time, the past is yesterday and the future is tomorrow.  The past is the moment that just was and the future is the moment in front of us.  Those definitions of time are absolutely valid and it’s not my intention to challenge them.  I will however challenge them as being incomplete.  Rather than look at the past and future as mere points in time, we must begin to more deeply understand another relationship we have with the past and the future - as things.  

Think about it.  Don’t you often talk about the past as “my past”?  Or hear a friend talking about “his future”?  Things like “My past has been really difficult” or “Her future is bright” are spoken as if we are saying, “This couch is uncomfortable, but that chair is delightful.”  In this way, when we talk about the past or future, we are speaking of them as objects, things.  Intellectually, of course, we know that the person whose past has been challenging is really only extrapolating specific events from his or her past, and then generalizing the experience.  Still, when we talk about the past and future in this way, we are objectifying them.  We are doing this, despite the fact that neither exist.

Yes, things happened to you in the past and yes, things will happen to you in the future, but when does the actual happening of the events occur?  It always and forever occurs in a present moment.  Ten years ago, when your child was born, the actual happening of the birth was a present moment that occurred ten years ago at a particular date and time.   Today, in this present moment, you now think and talk about your past – the birth.  Two months from now, if you’re going on vacation to Maui, all you can do today is think and talk about your future.  The actual happening of that future will occur (if at all) at a present moment of time two months into the future.  So, it’s really interesting to begin to notice that we have these things – the past and the future – that occur as real to us as a couch or a chair, when in fact they don’t exist in reality at all.   The only moment of time that exists in reality is the present moment of time (as far as we know today).  And what we do in virtually every present moment of time is we think or speak about these things – the past and the future.

Now remember, the point of this conversation is to impact your ability to create what you want in your life so we want to capitalize on the relationship we have with the past and the future.  We’re not going to stop thinking and talking about them.  There’s nothing taboo here that we’re trying to get rid of; we’re just going to learn to more fully recognize the past from the future.  And the best part is developing the ability to see the past from the future is something that can be mastered over time.  Once you fully see it, you see it and your life is changed forever.  While at first, it might seem challenging, you’ll find that it’s much, much easier to master than spending your life trying to fix who you are.