STEPPING BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE PAST AND THE CONFINES OF THE PRESENT…

 

What forms a boundary for you? Is it your life experience? Things you did (or did not do) as a child? Your respect for the way things have always been or your desire to alienate yourself from those things that negatively impacted your youth…your life…your current existence? Your hesitancy to abandon the comfort you feel in predictability whether you like where you are or not…or your fear of the unknown that accompanies each potential new reality? The future can be either something to which an individual aspires – an adventure not yet fully discovered or a destination not yet fully revealed – OR it can be an escape from one’s present reality – something that is but a place to go when one runs from their past – an unplanned and unpredictable landing zone that will always be viewed as “being better than what was” rather than “a place in which I want to be.” How the future is viewed will ALWAYS determine what it holds but before it can become anything more than a distant dream, we must plan and take intentional actions that cause us to move from where we are to a different destination rather than simply run away from an undesirable situation towards an accidental environment.

Perhaps the time has come for you to overcome your limitations – regardless of what helped to define them. We often choose to move slowly in order to test the waters before plunging headlong into a different reality BUT sometimes we allow our fear of the unknown OR our complacency with what we know to control not only the speed with which we move forward but also the likelihood that we will move at all. Should you prefer not to blow out the walls that surround you – to leave forever what has been holding you back as you look forward towards what could be a life filled with new opportunities – perhaps you could at least open the windows and doors wide enough to escape the room that stifles your every move and keeps you from becoming all that you could be. Unfortunately, many find so much comfort in what has been they refuse to begin the journey towards the discovery of things not yet considered. Tradition, history, and comfort is good, yet it can inhibit our growth and throttle our progress if we allow the past to define (and limit) our lives. We should cherish all we have done, all the friends we have made and the differences we have made in the lives of those around us BUT if we continually seek new and better ways to do things – actions and activities that may define a different path as we move forward into a new and untested reality – we may see how we can help to define what we might yet to become. If we recognize and acknowledge several “truths” about our past, we should be “released” to better move forward in life: 

• HISTORY IS BUT ONE BASIS FOR YOUR ACTIONS. Where we are and what we have done should never become the destination we seek but rather a firm foundation from which we may begin our journey. Far too many individuals mask their fear of advancing beyond their present reality – and some even to face the unacceptable reality of their present situation – by hiding themselves within the comfort or “sameness” of their past – the predictability (whether enjoyed, wanted or cherished) often being “the devil they know” which is considered to be a better alternative than “the one they do not yet know.”  Holding on to the past is not a bad thing but when holding on causes you to hold back – when what we have done or accomplished becomes our goal to perceive rather than the historical perspective from which we find our strength – we may never become more tomorrow than we are today. 
• WHEN ONE TAKES MORE PRIDE IN WHERE THEY COME FROM (whether it be national origin, gender, race, education, experience, or religion) than in where they are going, they can disconnect from their reality and fail to contribute to its sustainability. When one holds so tightly onto the past that there is little ability (or desire) to move beyond the present – that their expectation is one of accommodation and acquiescence rather than assimilation and growth – then accomplishments, traditions, heritage, or upbringing becomes a millstone around their neck rather than an encourager of potential. 
• WHEN ONE THINKS OF WHO THEY ARE AND LEVERAGES WHERE THEY COME FROM, expecting to contribute far more than they would ever hope to be given…when they share more that they could ever hope to receive – they have stepped beyond the boundaries of traditional pride and entitlement as they begin to live life looking ahead rather than dwelling in the past. We must continually give of ourselves in order to gain – recognizing (but never expecting) another to build us up as we help to construct others – in order to expand our sense of past into a hope for tomorrow. 

Accomplishments, traditions, and thoughts of the past are the “glue” that hold our lives together – the framework upon which we build our future. Striking a balance between where we came from, who we are, what we have accomplished AND what we wish to become when we step away from our “present” into our “potential” will help us move from what once was through what now is to what might possibly be. Remember your past – your traditions and heritage – but do not allow them to prevent you from moving forward. Let go of what you feel is earned, comfortable, proven (and to which you feel entitled) as you make your way into a world not yet imagined and you will be able to cross the boundaries that hold you back as you enter into a whole new realm of possibilities. Perhaps the greatest truth in moving forward is that we should never run to what we want but rather from what we do not want for unless we choose to initiate change (rather than simply running from something that may be undesirable) we will never realize when we have reached our destination nor recognize that we have achieved what we want (or need).