What if every day were encapsulated and once it’s over it’s gone forever? How can we best utilize the resources we have on any given day? How much extra energy are you spending on what you can’t change?
These are all big questions. I saw a quote today that inspired me, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” You may not be carrying around the energy from the past few days, but are playing scenarios in your head wondering the “what if” question? How much time are you wasting on the Monday morning quarterback strategy as you face life with a chronic or life-threatening illness? It’s an important question because every drop of energy you use on what already happened detracts from the energy you need to deal with what is happening in the here and now.
I’m sure for some people ruminating over past events have a certain level of comfort. Let’s face it; we’ve already lived it, so we know it. However, wouldn’t you rather start fresh and approach the day as a new beginning? Living the day for what it has to offer allows you to stay in action. It promotes a healthier life view and that translates into immune boosting activities within your body.
The other element involved in allowing yesterday to eat up today is the simple matter of time. We’re only given twenty-four hours in a day. As the song from the musical Rent reminds us, that translated into five hundred twenty-five thousand-six hundred minutes. So how do you measure a year?
Robbing yourself of time today limits your life experience. It prevents you from capturing the experiences, and information you need on your journey to wellness. I realize that we can’t start and finish everything every day, but most of us carry around too much from previous days clogging up the new experience pipeline.
What will you do today to limit yesterday’s intrusion into your life today? It’s all about containment. Let the past be the past unless you’re using it for lessons learned, but don’t try and relive the past…that’s only in fantasy and science fiction movies.
Pilgrim Pathway/Surviving Strong 