The past is a great place to put things that already happened

I’m not sure where I was when I overheard this line…

“The past is a good place to put things.”

It made me chuckle as I went about doing whatever I was doing. But on and off, I kept thinking about it.

Then I decided it needed some editing, a slight modification.

I came up with this version—

“The past is a great place to put things that already happened.”

I think it has a little more kick and some ponderous redundancy.

It makes you pause and say, “What?” (Or maybe just, “Huh?”)

There are two places we try to live that can get us stuck. The first one is the past and that’s fairly easy to understand because we’ve all been there.

I love this quote by Mick Jagger—

The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.

Sums it up well, don’t you think? Respect it, learn from it, cherish the memories, and put the things there that need letting go.

The other place that’s easy to get stuck is in the future.

It may sound odd, but it’s true. It’s so easy to get ahead of ourselves by looking forward to a better future. We start to tolerate a so-so present by telling ourselves that if we just hang in there a while longer, our future will pay us rewards.

Of course, it’s okay to plan for the future, and you should. Working for a better future is a good thing.

But, there’s an old adage that says, “There’s no time like the present.”

Yes, it means there’s no better time than right now to do that thing that you’ve been putting off that needs to get done.

But, it applies here too. Let’s put a twist on it to make it fit… “There’s no time like the present… for living.”

I think Thoreau had it right…

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.

― Henry David Thoreau

Or, if you prefer a contemporary, Jim Carrey has a less optimistic reason for living in the moment…

If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret. — Jim Carrey

Maybe a little harsh, Jim! But we get what you mean.

There’s no place like here and no time like now…

 

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