I would like you all to imagine going back in time. You're going back in time in order to fix or change something that you did in the past. What is it you would change?
(I know this is a very personal question, so feel free to use the anonymous feature in the comments section if you want to.)
18 comments:
Hi Stacy,
I just wanted to thank you for the comment on my blog. And no I am not marrying him, I am marrying Aaron McNutt.
While there's all sorts of changes I'd like to make in world history, Stacey, in my own life I'd go small for a small change. I'd have skipped a semester of college and attended the Lake Placid Olympics instead of staying in school. I grew up near lake Placid and would have been able to work during the Olympics and earned good cash as well as gain a once in a lifetime experience by seeing the Olympics behind the scenes as a local.
This would be worth the trip in time since the decision to stay in school was due to my viewing it as the mature responsible thing to do. That viewpoint has guided many of my decisions in life--and it's not the best way to make decisions. If I could go back and change that decision--maybe then I'd have followed the rest of my life relying more on my "gut" for making choices. Something to think about...
Of course you realize, if you've ever read any time-travel discourse, that you can't change any one thing in the past without effecting a change to future events. If you go back too far, comes forth possibly marrying your grandmother/grandfather or any sort of odd wierdness!
Just kidding. Its a real thoughty qustion.
I would stick as close as possible to the present and just opt for baking last night's chicken for a bit longer to have made it less "chewy"!
Peace, gm
I do not believe that I can do things differently even though I know more now than I knew then. No need to go back to the past. Even in this moment I know what I should be doing (i.e. what I will wish that I had done) but I do not have the will power to do it.
I am still doing all of the things that I wish that I had not done.
Perhaps for me a better question would be "What would I do now if I had will?"
I would be present to every moment,(which would be more than enough) and I would not let fear and self judgment prevent me from enjoying things, particularly fear about what other people think of me.
When King Lear was having regret he declared, "No, no -that way madness lies!"
Live and Learn.
Spiritual Seekers in the NOW, What's to change?
But Spiritual Authorities brag about the past, it empowers them.
I don't Know??
Personally, the past is like, well, everyone does the best that they can, even when they didn't think so at the time, but now it always is true, I did the best I could.
Hi Chrissie,
You're welcome! I guess that would make sense as there are probably a few different Aarons running around the Louisville, KY area. :) Good luck in your wedding! :)
Hi Utenzi,
Oh that really would have been something, to see the Olympics! Well, the good thing you got of it is that you learned a lesson, and that is to sometimes pay attention to your gut instinct! :)
What good is the past if it can't teach us things?
Goatman,
Now you're almost talking Chaos Theory. :)
Be Now,
So serious! :) Playfully, what would you change? Think of it as a children's game. Imagine that we're children who haven't developed the ability to know anything about focusing on the now. :) Although if we were children we wouldn't have that long of a past to want to change. OK, think of us as being humans who do not yet have the knowledge to want to focus on the Now. Pretend that our past still ways heavily on our shoulders. Then what would you change?
Hi Rob,
I've never read King Lear. If I could understand Shakespeare, I might be motivated to. LOL :)
Hi Anonymous,
That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Just do the best you can do! :)
I'd say you did the best you could do to answer my question. :)
I wish I had the courage to say "I love you" to a former girlfriend of mine. Or wish I had not broken a girlfriend's heart by falling in love with another girl. Or wish I had given all of them a good chance to get to know me. Or wish I didn't break up my friendship with some of them. Etc.
Lots of such things.
Stacey
I hope you get around to reading some Shakespeare one day....he is just AMAZING.
There is one choice I would change.
I'd laid tempered glass into the form, then pressed a grout mixed from limestone and cement - a white-grey, instead of a sandy grey. Then concrete, rebar, and concrete. The piece was about 18"x36"x2". I popped it out of the formwork after a day, scrubbed away some cement, leaving the texture of the limestone screed and the glass. It was beautiful.
It was my first attempt, and I knew I'd be doing more. So I decided to stress it and break it.
It just cracked, there was enough rebar to hold it together. But it was beautiful, and I wish I hadn't.
The second one was beautiful in a more severe way. I left it in the formwork longer to cure, so couldn't scrub away the surface to expose the limestone. It was smooth - glass and that bluish cement. I still have photos.
And I wish I had kept both the casts - but there was nowhere at the time for a 60# piece of concrete. All I have left is one 8" round test, the very first one before going full scale, but at least I still have that.
Ok Stacey,
You are right I am much too serious. If I could go back I would be less serious. I would have gone to every High School dance and enjoyed myself dancing with the prettiest girl that would have me. Instead I did little of that for fear of being less than perfect.
Sadly, things haven't changed all that much.
before learning to walk
I RAN
before learning to talk
I SCREAMED
before learning to wait
I PUSHED
a day came gently i learned
I WRONGED
lessons hard electronic song
I WISHED
to type words apologies
I HOPED
to return to humilities
Hello, Stacy,
I came across your blog when I read your post in soc.jewish.culture.moderated seeking guidance in obtaining an authentically Jewish translation of the TaNaKh. I've read some of your blogs and some of your posts in various Google Groups, and I believe your search for enlightenment is sincere.
I believe that we *can* change our past. It's a gift of God, who lives outside time, as we know it. The gift is called repentance. We can live a new life, be a new creature, even, and have all that is bad in our past washed away, while all that is good is retained and incorporated in a beautiful new self. We can then live as if we've *always* lived that way.
This gift is available to every person who has ever lived. The apostle Peter made brief mention of this possibility when he wrote, in his first epistle:
"For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."
(1 Peter 4:6).
This means that even those who never knew the gospel of Jesus Christ, who lived before or after he lived, or who never even heard of him, will have an opportunity in the spirit world to hear the gospel and accept the Savior, then to be judged according to whatever light and truth they were given during their life. They can then live a new spiritual life and obtain all the blessings God has to offer, as though they had heard and accepted the gospel during their mortal life.
Look for a religion that offers the gift of repentance to everyone who has ever lived, and that makes a substantial investment to facilitate that gift, even to those who have lived in past ages, and you will be well along your way to the enlightenment that you seek.
When you find it, I am confident that you will find a philosophy, a theology, and a community that will challenge your mind and satisfy your thirst for true spirituality.
Best wishes,
Tracy Hall
hthalljr'gmail'com
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