What can you do about what happened in the past?
We could say nothing,
But that's not actually true.
It's possible to make apologies,
For example.
And this kind of thing can be quite powerful.
However,
It's not even always possible or appropriate.
I suspect that many of us feel that an apology might be necessary for something that we did in the past,
But it's actually not at all.
I would wager that many of the things that we beat ourselves up about,
The other people who were involved,
Have forgotten about entirely.
We're very good at blowing things up,
Magnifying things that took place in the past,
Especially if we have hooked some negative emotion onto this memory.
What I encourage you to do is forgive yourself.
First of all,
Because there's likely nothing that you can do about it now.
But second,
Because holding onto that memory and recreating those negative emotions serves not yourself nor anyone else.
And in fact,
It's highly likely to hinder any good that you might do in the present.
And given that the present is the only time that we can do anything about anything,
Let's focus on that.
If we feel remorseful about something that occurred in the past,
This displays conscience,
A will to do good.
The only time we can do good is right now.
And negative emotions attached to past experiences only get in the way of our doing good right now.
So when some memory from the past arises,
Bringing with it some feeling of regret or remorse,
Perhaps guilt or embarrassment,
Just accept it.
Be with it exactly as it is and investigate it.
Investigate its purpose.
Why is it here?
What is it for?
And if you look deeply enough,
You're very likely to find that it's only here to make you feel bad.
Seeing that that's the only purpose of this old memory,
We can see that it has no use.
There is no reason to keep it around.
This doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to disappear right away.
Seeing that it has no purpose is to see through it.
We divest it of its power because we tend to think that digging up memories like these is somehow going to serve us in the present.
Perhaps it's going to stop us from repeating the same mistake again.
Well here's where we can deploy trust.
In that if we've already been beating ourselves around the head with something for long enough that it's become an issue,
We're very unlikely to repeat that behaviour again.
Many of these memories in fact are so old that to behave in such a way right now would just be out of character.
Certainly if you're someone who's listening to this recording,
It's safe to assume that you're someone who is concerned with cultivating wisdom.
And it's wisdom that most effectively governs our behaviour.
When we apply current wisdom to past events,
We can often extend compassion to ourselves and others.
Compassion that perhaps we didn't have at the time of the event.
These can have a healing quality.
You might imagine that it wasn't you in that past event,
But that it was someone else,
Perhaps some other youngster making a fool of themselves.
How would you feel toward that youngster now?
What would you say to them if they came to you looking for support?
I'll bet that you would say kinder things to them than you might say to yourself when these memories arise.
I'll bet that you would feel warmth and compassion towards them.
You are no different to anyone else in the world who makes a mistake.
You are equally deserving of your compassion.
You are equally deserving of your love.
And indeed,
Divesting these old memories of their power will enable you to extend more compassion,
More love to those around you who may be making mistakes right now.
May we all treat our past selves,
Ephemeral as they are,
With the full depth of our love and compassion.
May we let go of old memories and attachments and bad feelings so that we can serve ourselves and others in the present.
May we forgive ourselves and others,
No matter what has been done,
For the purpose of serving ourselves and serving others,
And coming out of dissatisfaction.
