I was traveling the other day during rush hour traffic. Not my favorite thing to do. As the brake lights of the car ahead would come on, I’d quickly slow down too. My worry was that the car behind wasn’t always as attentive and would come up upon me going way too fast! I’d find myself checking behind me often and sucking in my breath trying to mentally get the car behind me to stop in time.
The problem with that, is that I had no control over what the car behind me was doing. It didn’t matter how often I looked back or how often I sucked in my breath to make myself smaller, and hopefully less of a target. Nothing I did changed what was going on behind me. In fact, the more I’d look behind, the more dangerous I would make my situation because I wouldn’t see the cars ahead of me slowing down and pretty soon I was the inattentive driver! Perhaps the driver ahead of me was also sucking in her breath, wishing I’d stop sooner than I was.
Do we find ourselves doing something similar in our lives? Do we keep looking back in the past wishing things were different? Yet no matter how often we look back, or dwell on what we didn’t like, nothing we do can change the past. In fact, the more we dwell on what’s behind us, the more it affects our present, in detrimental ways. We miss out on the experiences of that day, that moment. Instead of learning from the past, the past ends up stopping our progress and growth.
Keeping our focus on where we are and what we can do in the moment, keeps us moving forward. Being involved in the present allows us to navigate our lives with all of its “stop and go” traffic with a lot more ease and calmness than trying to drive forward but with our eyes behind us.
Don’t become “THAT kind of driver” whether in the car or in your life. Stay present and moving forward knowing the past will take care of itself.
