Choosing Direction
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Hello friends, On a walk the other day, I encountered a big metal sign covered in layers of peeling stickers. One read “Don’t look back! You are not going that way!” I snapped a photo and headed forward. But, as intended, the old sticker got me thinking. First, it reminded me of an old card I kept in my office for years. A Mary Engelbreit print, it wasn’t my usual style, but the message was clear. It was a person at a crossroads and the street sign read “Your life,” in one direction and “No longer an option,” facing the other. It was a message I needed at the time, to remind myself to keep moving, and to do so with as few regrets as possible. I almost wrote no regrets there, but that is harder, isn’t it? But still, regrets or no, we must choose our direction. We choose our direction each day, whether we’re conscious of it or not. Here’s the thing about not looking back… we cannot dwell on the past, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it. And, now that I am older, I also understand that nostalgia is a dangerous trap. Nostalgia is the ultimate looking back. It imagines that an earlier time was better. Mostly? Nostalgia, or regret, or resentment, or any other form of too-much-looking-back means we are not living in the present. We are choosing stagnation. To live in the present is to be bracketed by past and future, but living neither in dreams nor shadows. To live in the present is to practice being, right now. To practice building, right now. To choose our lives, right now. We can honor the past and plan for the future, but we can live in neither. To do so is a rejection of the gifts and challenges of the moment. So, how are you living today? What do you choose? Best wishes — Thorn
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T. Thorn Coyle
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