Let Go!!!!

Ever been on an escalator?

Yes, am sure. On a recent such escalator experience with my children, I realised a hint to the big truth of life, as I would see it.

My son held the rails so strong for fear of falling off that he was standing at an angle for a few seconds before I hurriedly got him to loosen his grip on the side rails and straightened his panic mode to a gentle smile!

We safely stepped out, and it was such a huge ordeal for me, coming to think of it.

Afterthought:

Think of life’s timeline as an escalator with side rails. Let’s say each passing moment is a step in the escalator. The timeline keeps moving the Moments in perfect routine and it is always a forward movement. This escalator stops only on your Last working day on Earth!

Now, what will happen if we hold on to the side rail and refuse to let go of our grip?? We’ll fall, while the escalator continues to move. 

That’s exactly what happens to most of us most times, when we refuse to let go of the past. We are holding the side rail of a moment (past) so strong on the timeline escalator. 

We do not understand: 

We are on an escalator. 

It is continuing to move. 

We must let go of the grip on the past and slide our hands easy on the side rails (Move on).

For those of us, deeply affected (both happy memories and sad memories) by an incident, person, place, or thing of the past, this phrase ‘Move on’ may sound, impossible, unfair, unbelievable, or even disheartening.

However, it is important to know that the memories  HAVE to take a form for the rest of the journey, by the Law of Creation. Anything that happens, MUST have a reason - tangible or intangible. Nothing happens by Chance.

Memories take the form of an intangible happiness record or sadness record in our minds.

If we hold a past bitterness so strong, chances are we will see a small problem of the present to be monstrous. Let me tell why. The mind has the tendency to recall the strongest emotionally impacted moments in its list. It tries to draw a parallel of the present simple problem with the past’s bitter memory and makes you relive the feeling from the past. This makes you reach a consensus you have known a similar situation earlier and how it goofed up your life. There is a well-known adage - Experience makes a man perfect!! Going by that, your experience of bitterness aligns your mind so well to the present situation and you cannot believe in anything but the worse.

Therefore, we often hear people say: I had a tougher past, or It has always been hard for me.

May be the current situation is simpler than the past instance that gave you the bitter memory. Instead of thinking how to resolve the challenge of the present, the mind is fixed on the anchor of sadness from the past, leaving little or no time and motivation to work on the present case in hand. The circumstances are usually never exactly same, so chances are, if addressed correctly, the solution may be in sight for the present challenge. If only the past allowed you to think!!

If we hold to the past joy so strong, chances are we can never appreciate a present joyous happening. The mind tries to draw a parallel between the present joy and the strongest emotionally impacted joy of the past from its database. It makes you relive the feeling from the past that has been so strongly imprinted in your mind. It also tries to compare the current happy moment you are in and would naturally conclude that this is nothing compared to the joy of the past.  

Therefore, we often hear people say: This is nothing man!, the place had better recipes when we used to eat here every Sunday evening as a child. 

May be the chef changed, and the taste has deteriorated genuinely but in most cases, it is the mind. As a child, may be the mind enjoyed the company of people it went with, the things they spoke, the taste difference it had from that of the home-cooked meals and the leisure time it offered from the school or college routines. As a grown-up, now the same mind has outgrown all these situations but the feeling of ‘connection’ that made the mind comfortable back in the past has not left. So at present, the mind is not able to appreciate the same place, same food and possibly same people and same Sunday evening.  

In both these happy and sad situations, if we carefully think through, Happy memories do not allow you to appreciate the current joys. Sad memories do not allow you to believe “Today is doable”.

Now, I am wondering if memory power is great, except for the academic examinations and recalling a special day?

With more and more people realizing this truth and the importance of mental health, living the moment and letting go of the past also becomes a subject of discussion. 

Past is not a thing to just drop off from your hand.. Wish it was!!! But frankly it is not.

It needs help. 

Sometimes self-driven, sometimes inspired by something or someone, sometimes motivated by a book or a reading, and sometimes educated by someone who has been there and seen through that.

If you are holding on to something too strongly from the past and are convinced that you must move on, then you are already on the path to happiness.

If you are convinced that you must let go of the past but do not know how, you can seek help from expert counsellors who have studied psychology and can understand the tricks of the mind!! 

Bottom line: In the escalator of life, there is only forward movement. 

Thoughts to inscribe: 

Thanks to the Law of Creation. 

The memories of the past HAVE to take a form for the rest of the journey, by the Law of Creation. 

The Past makes you Believe. 

How much you want to believe in something (either happy or sad) is defined by how strongly you want to hold on to your past.

The Past is History.

It does not happen again unless you have failed to learn from it and pass on what you learnt to the world! 

Share your Experience!

The best way to handle the memories, both bitter and sweet, is to ensure you share your experience with one or many people who may need it. 

Nothing happens by Chance!

That includes this reading you are doing now. Go on! Make the most of your take away! Have a good day!