I want to take you on a journey.
Just for today, you have the use of a time machine. There are no rules about how the machine looks, it's whatever your imagination wants it to be, and is able to conjure up in your mind's eye. If you have ever seen the Time Machine movies (with either Rod Taylor or Guy Pearce), then you can pinch one of their time machines – or you can borrow Marty McFly's DeLorean from Back To The Future.
Now that you're in your time machine, you will notice a series of dials in front of you, which allows you to select a day, month and year to visit. Which date are you going to choose? The dials are simple enough to use, so first add your day (from 1 – up to 31), then your month, then the year. This exercise is completely flexible and you-centric, so if you only wish to travel i.e.: a single day or month, then that's fine too. Okay, so that's your date entered into the time machine, are you ready to go?
Answer this question truthfully: did you set a date in the past? Did you want to return to the past, when you had the same technology that would take you back, as could equally have taken you forwards? Why did you do that?
Is it possible your desire to return to the past is rooted in a wish to somehow prevent or avoid a mistake or unpleasant experience? It would seem like a perfectly natural, logical and human instinct to attempt such a thing, but here's the thing...you are the sum total of your experiences, and you needed to live through them to become who you are today. Have you ever met a strong person who's had an easy life?
We are all a work in progress, and always will be. We all have areas of ourselves and our lives we wish to change, but that is simply our continuing journey forwards. These areas can be worked on and steadily improved, if we are sufficiently motivated to do so. To go back and make your life easier somehow, would change who you are today. Some of you may think this would be a good thing, but this is your path here and now. You are exactly where you need to be, at exactly the right time and phase of your journey.
In this highly hypothetical discussion, if you were to return to your past and change it to make it easier then, you would still have the same lessons to learn. The universe would then be obliged to conspire and deliver you into a similar situation (again and again), so your lesson could be learned eventually; essentially the Butterfly Effect. Lessons will either stay with us, or keep returning to us, until they are full and learned
There is a whole other spiritual dimension available to this discussion about blueprints, but I'll leave that for another time maybe. Those of you of a similar persuasion may nod your head sagely at this juncture, and email me to discuss this topic in more detail if you wish.In the meantime however, I am interested to know how many of you automatically sought to go back, rather than forwards. I was careful not to lead you either way when typing up the instructions, as it was your revelation to have either way. Would you say this is typical of who you are, more backwards looking than forward facing? If so, how do you feel about that, is it something you wish to change about yourself?
Now this exercise has revealed your current propensity to look back, you can make a change by using mindfulness as a technique to drive that change. If you are aware and mindful of the thoughts you are thinking, you can stop and redirect them at any time. Set your intent to become forwards facing from now on and, with dedicated effort on your part, it'll become automatic. You need not be held hostage by anything: your past, your future, your thoughts, your emotions, or anything. Of course you may need some professional assistance to guide you through the process, but you have the power to make these changes and to determine your journey forwards.
It is my strongly held belief that if we really were able to make a quantum leap into the future, we would be able to appreciate and understand why everything has happened as it has, when it has. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I concede we do not always possess the wisdom to understand why we are experiencing what we're experiencing and when we're experiencing it, but it all makes sense eventually. There is a quote I call to mind when times are tough: it'll be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end.
Faith, trust and especially patience are the essential tools to deploy whilst wading through the thwartations of life. There is nothing to be gained from the regrets of the past, but there is everything to gain from the future. Oftentimes those regrets can be addressed in the future, but it will invariably require a degree of boldness and courage to confront them.
Take the road less travelled. Our eyes are at the front of our heads, with a 180° field of vision, precisely to encourage us to focus and motion forwards. We're not even designed to look behind us, so don't.
So now there's a question going begging, in my head at least. If you had another opportunity to sit in the time machine, where would you go this time?