Past Vs Present

WHY DO PAST EVENTS SEEM MUCH BETTER THAN THE PRESENT?

Among family members & friends, our chit chats will at times invariably turn to the past, as we love to reminisce and also know a bit more about where we came from. The stories we tell may have occurred decades earlier. One common thread I’ve noticed is that people like to refer to the “good old days” - when many past events seemed so much better than anything happening in the present. But wait, I’m not buying the story. We had our happy childhood and teen years, no doubt, but those judgements were made during our early days in relation to what we had experienced at that time. We could have been easily impressed or influenced then. Now with our broader base & maturity, it takes a lot more for us to be truly awed.

We think of the past in more abstract term than we think about the present. As we navigate through our daily routines, lots of specific things & petty annoyances will come up. They form very clear pictures in our mind, as the irritants are more intense as we are going through them right now. I believe when we think of the past, we’ve forgotten or don’t feel the ire anymore. That could be why most times, all we think about are the great times that we had. Also, we know how the past events have turned out, but we are currently feeling uncertain, even anxious, how the days ahead will pan out. Have you realized that through our rose-tinted glasses, the past often seems better than the present?

Recall the Past

It's human nature to recall ' the good old days' or the past sweet memories which will never reoccur again in life as we are growing older and encounter life challenges. The present life events as adults or elders are not as interesting with fond memories of the past.

As for me, I feel " The setting Sun had boundless beauty, just because the yellow dusk is so near ", so though I still live in comfort at present counting the blessings and grace of God but unknowingly I love to recall the sweet memories with loved ones, friends and colleagues. The past happy events make us laugh heartily and make our days.

Recall the old believes

Different people have different believes on the same topic. Why is it so? Due to the different experiences they have in their life. In some ways or another experience is second name of past.

Do you have some memories that are truly joyous? Do they make you smile when you think of what happened? Or what about some memories that aren’t so pleasant? Do you also remember them and their effects on life?

I believe big and small, happy and sad, all the milestones and special events in my life have helped shape me into the person that I am today. And not only that, but the events in my life provide FERTILE GROUND for my NOW and...the future.

The past and future are guideposts, beacons. They are not more. You can’t live in the past. You can’t live in the future, you haven’t reached it yet. You must live in the present or you haven’t lived at all.

Recall the past perpective

It is indeed the case that looking from past perspectives, a place we had visited always seemed bigger and better, the food tasted somewhat more authentic and delicious and a movie seen for the first time always seem more intense, scarier or more exciting.

What we had “oohed and aahed” over before, somehow lost its appeal now and we wonder why. Well, I believe it boils down to expectations. The younger, less exposed version of ourself was easier to satisfy than the present one, that is wiser, more discerning and richer in experiences. In essence, having gone through more, we have now more basis for comparison. From a size perspective, of course the world also looked much more intimidating and daunting too when our physical being used to be smaller. For instance, Disneyland must look twice as big then, than it is now to my kids. Similarly it is the same with their perspective of our garden and the school compounds when they return to visit their alma mater. It is not unusual to hear them commenting that things/places felt so much bigger before.

As a family, we have many fond and vivid memories of our very first home..and that’s not because we enjoy the current one less. It was the place of our first born, who took his first step and every single first there. It’s always about looking back with some nostalgia, isn’t it? And of course, the fact that when we get together and reminisce, we inevitably want to recount the jolly good times, rather than the bad. Even if it was a bad one, we are able to laugh about it and look it from a lighter perspective. The past, as they say, is in the past. Can’t be changed, so no point fretting about it and why bring back the unpleasant? But we are more judgmental and critical about our present because we know it is happening right now. and change is still within reach for us to create a better future. So on a more positive side, I’d rather this.....

Recall the Regret of the past

The mind and soul battles daily between the regrets of the past and the uncertainly on an unkown future.

Only with true selfness enlightainment may one live PEACEFULLY with the past, present and future.

That’s men’s ULTIMATE goal which most RARELY attain.

Recall the old days

Some of us had tough life during the old days. Some have it now. There are the good and bad during different seasons of our life . While we think of the old we like to compartmentalised the good and forget the bad.

How do I forget the days when I can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee? Those days when you played hide and seek by going into other’s houses that were not your own. Where you shared one bottle of F&N orange with Muthu and Ahmad - who cares whose saliva were on it? Where you know who were your real friends and enemies . But we all want to change for the better. We cannot be living in the past no matter what.

Yes, science and technology have made physical living easier and convenient. Communication and computers hastened the speed of life. So has crime and corruption. Is the world any better? For some loneliness is still the same now as ever before.

The stage and play have changed. The show must go on. We are thankful for the past and grateful for the present. When the final curtains are drawn we will be accountable for who and what we are.

Reminiscing or ‘I remember when..’ is a remembering act; and though it was about the past, still, you are doing it NOW: so is the your state that you are dwelling now.😁

Remembering/reminiscing

Remembering/reminiscing is actually an imaginal act that can move you to one state to another state, quite instantly, naturally and effortlessly. And if you notice honestly, just after remembering, it has moved you subtly into the opposite of the state or self-concept that which the remembered past event implies. If you remembered a happy past event, you were actually NOT in a happy state now. Your remembrance of the past happy event is only to justify that you were once happy...but not now..

Another example, if you notice the riches, they often talk about how poor they were in the past, in which, intentionally or unintentionally, they really were remembering or using ‘I remember when..’ However, all of it implies they are rich now...😂

However, the poors or unhappy or victims usually more keen toward remembering how good ole days were which implies NOT anymore because the state, they are in now determines what past events that they can remember naturally.

Lastly, the important thing that is needed to be told here is that, it is only useful for a revision, however, not so much useful, if you are doing it just for the sake of reminiscing good ole days, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The best you can do is to use it as a ‘revising tool’, to move you to another desired loving state, meant for stopping any cyclical past events that you do not want to happen again in the future. The past event could be two seconds ago or hundreds years ago...play!

Old Memories still seem much better than the present.

Though we have been exposed to lots of new things in this modern world, some pasts events or old memories still seem much better than the present. For instance, we are so happy to have mixed with different races of friends during our old school days without racial discrimination. We love and help each other truthfully. This kind of friendship is hard to find at the present. Those days the traffic are not so heavy, we are safe to play outside our house and breath in fresh air. We are more healthy that time, not at the present. Yeah, all these are invaluable things in our life, where money cannot buy.

We always like to meet with old friends or schoolmates to reminisce our old time. They are the ones who can tell us the old tales and not the present new friends. Whenever we have gatherings with old friends, we will talk about the good old days and started laughing heartily! We rejoiced the time we spent together those days though some might be tough. Old friends are the ones who bring us back to our memory lanes, we must always cherish them indeed!

We couldn't get back the same old things which our grandparents or parents gave us those days like the handmade toys, clothings, delicious food etc for our grandparents were no more living in this world. That's the reason we love to reminisce some old things which we cannot find now.

lf you find you are happy to reminisce with some old events, by all means go ahead! We must stay happy and healthy always, right?

NOSTALGIA IS GOOD FOR US

Its nostalgic to recall happiness we felt and the joy shared with others, some of those memories will be bitter-sweet but nostalgia bathes them in the glow of rose-coloured glasses. Nostalgia gives us dopamine, triggering positive emotions. Even when remembering tough times can produce this dopamine, it reminds us of how far we've come and enables us to look at difficult life events ahead in a positive way. Remembering the past can be extremely powerful as we can be very emotionally charged; they trigger memories but also help us communicate and create change.

Positively, let it remind us of things we've done wrong, and what to do right next time.

It is a universal experience that people from diverse cultures are having on different sides of the world. When we enjoy same feelings, we can relate to each other even we've never met before. But through common experiences of the past we can be new found friends just like in this Read.Cash platform.