Resolving your Past, Present, and Future

Coming to peace with all time dimensions of being.

What does it mean to be a self-assured human being, someone with a solid core that is not easily shaken by the vicissitudes of life? People are often stuck in the past, unable to move beyond the hurts and pains that they have suffered. It may be the way you were raised or a past trauma. Some people are paralyzed by the future, incapable of making sound long-term decisions and instead are meandering through life. Others “live for the moment” (perhaps most stereotyped in by the “Instagram generation”) and seek to maximize current pleasures. All three scenarios show that in order to live into your whole being, you really need to come to grips and resolve your past, present, and future. Resolving only partial components will leave critical gaps in becoming whole.

"...in order to live into your whole being, you really need to come to grips and resolve your past, present, and future."

Then what does it mean to actually “resolve” these three periods in your life? It generally means being able to understand, explain, and be at peace with these phases. For example, If it’s a past hurt, then it means revisiting it, as difficult as it may be, and choosing to forgive where necessary. If it’s uncertainty about the future, then it means sitting down and having a hard look at yourself and where you want/need to be going. And if you can never enjoy the present (which is the only dimension we actually ever live in), then it means taking the time to soak in what is happening around in you and taking it a day at a time.

By no means should you paint a false rosy picture about the 3 phases in your life, but it does mean you have accepted it, can learn from it, have chosen to grow from it, and ultimately can have peace. That’s why this is so hard and likely one of the most difficult principles!

I would generally recommend resolving these periods starting with the past, present, and then the future. Understanding where you came from will give you the self-awareness to make better decisions about your immediate present and will give you resolve to start making long term plans for the future.