Chapter 145

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Potential and possibilities within each of us are unbounded, there are no caps, no limits. The only boundaries are likely our imaginations. We are all unicorns in a sense. Yet as Emerson implied, we usually give far more weight to our histories completed in the past and the trajectories of our futures.

Our pasts and futures are a weight we carry, and they bump into us all throughout our days, affecting pretty much every aspect of our lives. They are an unseen yet ubiquitous part of our thoughts and decisions and choices. Our pasts and futures and what we think about them, drive us like cattle in certain directions . . . directions we likely would not have chosen if we were free from the constraints of these histories.

And that is beauty of what Emerson is offering us, by making our histories appropriately insignificant, compared to our potential and our possibilities. Our histories are tiny matters on the scale of our promise. We can chose ourselves instead of waiting for our past or our futures to dictate what we can or can’t accomplish. Our histories can be the fuel that drives our promise and potential, or they can be the water that puts out our passion and enthusiasm to change the world. Our histories can be that which gave us additional tools and incentives to be more, or the bonds that cripple our actions and efforts.

What lies within you?

What binds it there and keeps it from blooming into something amazing?

When will you put the past where it belongs?