Creative Commons license courtesy anna_gutermuth

The past is over: Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past.

Jack Kornfield – in the book The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace

This little book came to me at an important time, when I wasn’t really in the mood for any of the three words mentioned in the title. I looked at forgiveness as being weak, or condoning unacceptable behavior, or otherwise just giving up as if it were giving in.

It’s taken years for the simplicity of his messages to sink in, and to start to move into right action.

It’s already enough to be living in the past or in the future. Living in the past has the benefit that anyone can replay and replay the past and even add in missing details. Reliving the past can even bring the blood to a boil. This bit about giving up on a better past is the key. After all, if somehow the past gets better in replaying it, then it’s probably not real, and then who’s fooling who? How can the past be changed in the past?

Only the present moment can be changed, so work with what’s happening right now.