Quoteables: What lies within

I spent all day Saturday stressing my brain to the limit, trying to think of something I could post on this blog that would amaze and inspire readers everywhere. I found nothing until almost midnight, when I had a brilliant thought. I’d borrow stuff that originated in other peoples’ minds and expound on it. The idea for this post, and probably many others, was born.
I decided to begin a category of posts called Quoteables as a trusty way to help me blog when I don’t have a clue what to write about, which is often. I simply went to a quote website, chose the first quote I came across and told myself I would write what I thought about it, no matter what it said. Here are the first words of wisdom.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
-Walt Emerson

Things have a funny way of working out sometimes. I got a random quote to write about from a great website, and it just happened to fit right into where I am right now.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately wondering where my life would have gone and who I’d be today if I’d done things a little differently in the past. I’ve spent more time wondering about what might or might not happen in my life down the road.

The fact is, what’s done is done and what’s going to happen is going to happen. I can’t change the past, and I can’t predict the future.

I concentrate on the past only when I’m looking backward, and who wants to spend all their time turned toward where they’ve already been?

The only things my past has given me are my experiences. Some of them were good, and some of them were things I could have done without. I’ve heard people say they are ready to move on with life and stop wasting time like they have in the past. I tend to look at it differently.

If you can learn from something, it’s never a waste of time.

I’ve made mistakes, but each time I make one I try to learn from it. Whatever I learn from it can help me handle a situation better in the future.

I see mistakes and experiences from my past as learning opportunities for the future, but they also serve another purpose.

My experiences have helped shape the person I am today.

I’m not the same today as I was yesterday, and I’m definitely not the same at 25 as I was in high school.

I wouldn’t be who I am if my parents hadn’t done all they’ve done to make sure I had what I needed. I wouldn’t be the same if I hadn’t had the times I’ve had with good friends. I’d be a different person if I’d never had to piece my heart back together after it was torn apart.

I wouldn’t know friendship if I’d never been included, and I wouldn’t know loneliness if I’d never been alone.

My past has helped shape my present to an extent, but I can’t change it. Why dwell on it if I can’t do anything about it? Things happen for a reason, and once I know the reason something happened the best thing I can do is learn from it and move on.

The future is a different story, but it’s also one that’s yet to be written. It has blank pages meant to be filled with new experiences, mistakes and lessons.

I don’t want to spend my time turned back toward my past, but I don’t want to spend my time squinting into the distance,  straining to see what’s in store for me on the horizon either.

I can’t learn anything from regretting my past, because I can’t change it. I can’t learn anything from fretting over my future, because I can’t see it.

The only thing I’m doing when I regret the past or fret about the future is wasting time in the present.

Each moment I waste is a moment I could have used to make myself a better man than I was in the past by learning lessons I can use in the future.

I think Emerson thought of the past and future as “tiny matters” because what lies within us in the present is much bigger.

It’s the power to gain from the past and prepare for the future.