You Have to Let Go of What Was in Order to Get to What Is - Grasshopper
"What was" intentions put too much of our attention on the past. The ego loves this because it has succeeded in convincing us that we can change the past and control the uncontrollable. We can't. "What is" puts our intention and attention on our present reality and what's possible.
The ego's pseudo-control has you attempting to write a screenplay for your life, line for line. I've never experienced it working that way. Reminds me of a story . . .
I used to work with two young women who had a list of all the attributes a guy would have to have in order to merit their consideration. We were riding together to an event and I was treated to a recitation of all these "musts." I remember saying to them, "When you meet your guy and fall in love, I'm willing to wager that he has relatively few things that are on that list."
There are wonderful uses for specificity in pursuit of our desires, but when you take it to the level of micro-management, you are cheating yourself out of a richer future. Control has you attempt to bend reality into your short-sighted whims. You have a better chance at winning an Olympic Gold Medal.
Letting go of cemented ways of doing things is difficult for most people. There is so much evidence indicating that our way is not working. It's enough to convince even the strongest skeptic, but we have a way of hanging on to specific strategies of the past that aren't delivering results.
This superglue strategy is highly evident in people who live in the past. They hanker for the "Good Old Days." They give all their attention to "what was" and have blinders on to "what is." The Grasshopper said it best,
"Living in the past is like dancing with a corpse."
They never recognize "what is" as their only ticket to the future. The past is like glue. That's why they call it "stuck in the past."
There is no sin in having an intention to recapture something or someone that you experienced in the past. What you may not recognize is the strategy you're employing to recapture yesteryear is the same one that caused it to escape in the first place.
To move forward in time and towards your intentions, it's necessary to let go of "what was" and focus on "what is." This practice of present moment awareness changes your focus. You approach your life and desires from a different angle - one that's not subject to the limitations of a controlling ego that's locked in the past.
If you let your past vision of "what was" cloud your recognition of "what is," you will miss seeing all the available opportunities that are constantly on display.
Stepping out of the past is putting into place the successful strategy of traversing the schoolyard monkey bars. You have to let go of the one behind you in order to move forward.
All the best,
John
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