Happy Life,  Inspiration,  Travel

Take a look back, but don´t dwell in the past

“The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

 

Flashback

 

Recently, I posted a couple of photos from Athens on my Instagram account. I had been asked for my favorite place in the world – the so-called heart place. Well, Athens is definitely amongst them. I could continue with a number of other beautiful places I have visited, especially during our time in Greece. I love scrolling through my photo library and remember how the sweat trickled down my face while I was walking up Aeropagus hill to enjoy the magnificent view from the Acropolis or how I squeezed the sandy beach in between my toes, while the salty water cooled my ankles on some of the amazing beaches. Am I dwelling to much in the past?

 

Is it a fault to look back?

 

A lot of guidebooks alert you to not constantly dwell in the past as you might miss the beauty of the presence moment. “There is nothing special about the present moment”, you might say. Routine has put a string around your neck, you are dealing with home office and homeschooling your kids simultaneously and try not to lose sight of yourself. Others miss their freedom lifestyle with traveling and have to beat down loneliness and restlessness.

It´s easy to plunge back into the past during those times and remember how good life was at that times, how well you felt, sitting at the beach surrounded by a bunch of people or traveling through the Andes only with a backpack on our shoulder. It´s lovely to scroll through the photos of gone times, like I did, and try to reconnect to the places provoking the feelings you stored with them.

 

And yet there is nothing wrong with it.

 

Even though I am a fan of living in the here and now, I see a lot of beauty in looking back to the past from time to time. Traveling through time can help you to:

 

  • Motivate yourself to regain your power as you feel a sense of energy from past moments.
  • Think of friends you have met and with whom you haven´t chatted for a while. Grab your phone and talk to them!
  • Start with this special project you know you first thought of at this particular place.
  • Remember good habits you started there and let lose upon. Maybe it´s time to restart that Yoga morning routine you always did at the beach or having a short walk first thing in the morning.
  • Think about talents you discovered while being away. Wasn´t it a core strength that you always kept your calm even in scary situations? Remember that feeling and transfer it to your current challenges.
  • Consider the lessons you learned in the past

 

Thinking about the past should not be a dwelling about “the good old times”, but a chance to reconnect and gather new strength and motivation for the present moment. It is only here were we plant the seed for our future, but it is the past, where we had laid out the traces to the current moment.

„It´s being here now that is important. There´s no past and there´s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can´t relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don´t know, if there is one.”

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