Can you change your past? - Absolutely!
Understanding past.
I am not going to trick you and divert you to some AI generated hypothesis to discuss current hypothesis about time travel. But simply, I am going to discuss how, what and why understanding past has an enormous impact on my own life. So, if you follow the arguments, you will see this also apply to your life too. If it doesn't, fine, you can move on to the next article or the cat picture you need to see on your screen.
The past, as I have discussed before has no evidence to its presence. I can give you a memory of the past. Something happened 80 years ago like Hiroshima bombing. But to create the feeling of the past, first we have to imagine that there is a one! By bringing out a memory which mind has gone through before. But we forget when we do that, that memory location is not in the past. That memory location points exactly to the present. What we are doing is, filling up our now, with a past experience. So truly speaking, I can say there is now, but not the past and the future.
It is important to contemplate on the above fact, as long as necessary. Do not let it slip your mind just as a nice idea. As understanding that would have enormous impact on everything that you do. Everything ordinary, extraordinary that you are planning to do today would depend on your past and future projection. Your meaning and values stand on the believe that there is Time, like a continuum. However, this is just a one interpretation of the understanding of the world. There are few people who find fault even do not believe that this interpretation is wrong. And they are not wrong either. Only when you contemplate on this fact long enough in various situations you would understand the illusion of life. After all this blog is about mindfulness. What better practice there other than contemplating on Now?
Can your chang your past? Absolutely Yes!
The solution comes from the form itself. If past is just a memory in the mind which we interpret in the present, perhaps we can interpret it better. So, we feel more productive and alive. As an example, imagine some stupid thing you have done in the past. I am sure there are loads of things in your memory bank. When you remind of this thing, just cut off the label Stupid, and look at it just like you would look at a thing. This stripped naked thingness in everything in life is neutral. From there you can put a any topping you like. You can think about alternative routes you could have taken and ask "Then what" until you find the meaning of all of this. As an example, consider you are on a vacation and now you think you should have been at home. Ask Then what? What would happen if you were at home? You would do ordinary stuff, walk to the park, watch some TV. Ask Then what? You would sleep and the day would end. So, a couple of days would end, and you will meet yourself in the future. Ask then what? The life will go on as usual. As you can see, there is no end to it. Nothing remains in the mind including your sad and happy thoughts. But the past would be changed indirectly with your interpretation.
Another thing you can do is to think about exact circumstances that lead to your decision during that time. We take decisions with available information, although when viewed in retrospect, we might find faults, we cannot recreate exact circumstances in mind, and these will be never replicated in the future. So, truth is past is merely a gone function. There is nothing to learn from it by thinking back. Whatever gained can be used as information for current decision making. Other than that everything can be discarded the moment it arises in mind like a piece of a rotten banana.
So, that is it. So far I have given two ways for you to recreate your past. One is to create a new painting over your previous picture. Other is discard your old ones entirely with rational thinking. Hope this helps.
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