We’re often being told to “stop living in the past” and to “forget it, it’s gone” or such advice.  

The intention is positive of course.  We can’t change what’s happened and we can’t undo or unsay what’s been done or said.

We can however learn from it. 

We can also realise how far we’ve come.

We can understand what we’ve done differently as a result.

It can guide us as to what we do next, now, going forward.  It does me.

That’s why I’m an advocate of the backwards and forwards approach to my life.

When I think of “this time last year” and realise all that was going on and we were juggling there are so many lessons in there for me.

• Jeffrey our pesky hound was having a life-saving heart operation at a specialist vet
• In the same week we’d put an offer which was accepted on our new home
• In the same week we sold our existing home within 36 hours

Talk about tectonic plates shifting in our world.

I didn’t sleep soundly for a while.

The point of sharing this with you now is that to look backwards and reflect on just how much we juggled this time last year explains to me, for example:

• How tired I became towards the end of the year last year
• How emotional I was when I’m normally fairly even-keeled
• How much I learned about transactions, removals, relationships and stress!

What about you?  

If you look backwards to this time last year or to a time you know you were tested, you’ll have learned some great lessons to help you moving forwards now.

Personally, I love to consider all that’s happened and then put it into context with ‘now’ and ‘tomorrow’.  It helps me realise how much we can handle.

So.  

Backwards and forwards isn’t about forgetting to be in the present.  It’s more about enjoying the present moment knowing how far you’ve come, how much you can handle, how you can underestimate yourself.  That’s where the power is for you to act NOW!

In other news…

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My sis has been over here for 10 days from Crete.  We’ve had lots of family chats, gatherings, birthday celebrations and it’s been wonderful.  Intense at times but wonderful and always time for a Pizza Express!

Jeffrey proved to us how he doesn’t look back for long or get stuck in the past!  He only had a matter of days to live when he went for surgery last year.  Now, he’s as pesky as ever and roars about with his friends.