The Past That Keeps Meddling in Our Present

One of the major things that affect our present life and may have materialized from our past is Obsession.  Obsession may often surface after the loss of the subject/object or a heightened desire for a subject/object. It is like wanting to see a picture or a memory of the object/subject all the time, wanting to spent every moment analyzing the characteristics and movements of this subject/object and even sometimes having to stop what you are doing to search for it. Obsession can go both ways, negative or positive. Negative obsession may take lot of your time, energy and sometimes even finances. It can delay your desire to move on or pursue other things that could otherwise improve your life.  In positive obsession for example, you may be obsessed about making money or bettering your life, which can lead to just that as you are persistent in your pursuit.  

Another thing from our past that affects our present is emotional baggage. Mostly, if your life has been easy, happy and simple, you are more likely to grow to become a very accommodating person. You are oblivious of the day to day struggles and don’t give much weight if a real problem occurs. However, if your life has been full of struggles, abuse, poverty, neglect, degrading, you name it, you may become a bitter and defensive person as you believe that is how the world is supposed to be, that you always have to defend your turf in order to survive.  I tend to believe maturity is one of the beautiful things we experience when we acquire it (it’s a choice so not everyone acquires it, by the way).  For this reason, maturity helps you understand things better, have self control, make rational decisions, solve problems in a sane manner just to mention but a few. In some people maturity improves their lives regardless of their past but it is not always the case in others.

Environment can also influence our present lives.  For example, a person who has grown up in the suburban area is likely to end up in the same environment even when he starts living on his own. He achieves this by working towards that particular goal upwards. For the one who has grown in the slums, he may only work hard enough to be able to live in the same area but pay his own rent when he becomes independent.

In conclusion, our past will always affect our present and sometimes even our future.  For this reason, we need to always recognize things from our past that may hurt our present, ditch them and be determined to move on. It may not always happen overnight but with determination it becomes possible.  God gave us a gift, free will. More often that not we choose to abuse and misuse this gift. We are the people who can mould or break our lives and should never allocate blame or credit to anyone else if we fail or succeed. Most people prefer explaining their failures or heartbreaks by pointing fingers at other people and dwelling on what may have been.

If for some reason you loose something/someone, or can’t seem to get things right, let it be, no matter how painful, hurting or frustrating it may be, that becomes your past.  By that you are able to focus more on other things that might turn out to be even better than what you lost or can’t seem to grapple. Think about it, it’s your life and nobody is or ever will live it for you. Remember to always be honest with yourself and your decision will more often than not be right.