What If the Past Was NOT Real?

I know, I know, I have gotten a little behind on blogging, but I promise I have a great excuse!

My Excuse is: I have spending a lot of my free time developing my Zero Limits Mastermind program that I hope to be able to share with you all by the end of this month.  It is going to be a year long group program that will run from January 1st 2015 until December 31st 2015.  My intention is to help those who participate make 2015 the most epic year of their life!!

Today I wanted to share with you something I have been thinking about a lot... the past.

At present I am attending a 15 day long seminar in an area of psychology and communication that I find very fascinating.

The other day we had a discussion on the past and how the past is constantly changing and therefor not real.

Some of you may have just read that and said, "HUH! Jesse you totally lost me... are you smoking something?" 

No I am not smoking anything nor have I gone crazy (well maybe a little crazy), I do have a point; stay with me.

The example the instructor used was this:

In America, as kids we are taught the story of the first Thanksgiving.  When I was a kid the story went something like this:

Many years ago a group of settlers from Europe called the Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and made landfall on the East Coast of the United States.  These kind people were setting up a society and met some very friendly locals called Indians.  These Indians lead by a man named Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to farm and utilize the land.  When the time came to harvest some of the first crops the Pilgrims and Indians came together and celebrated Thanksgiving as friends because they had so much to be Thankful for.  The End.

Over the last several years this story has changed to go something like this:

Pilgrims came over they took the Native American's land infected them with diseases and tried to force their way of life on them.  The pain they caused ran so deep that we are still dealing with the repercussions of it today.  One of the latest examples is the movement to have the name changed of the professional football team "Washington Redskins," saying that the term Redskin is offensive.  Several years ago this was no problem, now people are calling for a Congressional move to ban the name.  The end... or is it.

How can the past have changed so much if the past was permanent.

The reason is because the past is and always will be subject to our interpretation of it and how we choose to interpret things can change from moment to moment. 

Have you ever had a really bad day and when someone asked you about the past you remembered it unfavorably?

Have you ever had a really great day and when someone asked you about the past, something that once was so painful for you, was remembered, in that moment, as not being that big of a deal

Two of the greatest examples of this are little kids and dogs.

The other day I was at a friends house and watched as their one year old son hit his head so hard on a table.  He cried, his Mom comforted him, and 10 seconds later he was back running around the table with no fear.  For him there was no memory, or perceived painful memory, keeping him trapped in the past... for him there was just the present and the experience that comes with it.

Dogs... dog owners know that dogs have a tremendously quick rebound rate.  They do not hold onto pain because they want to experience as much love and joy as possible.

Think about yourself - how often have you found yourself trying to remember who said what in a movie, which one of your friends shared the latest gossip with you, or who sang what song lyrics.  Do you even remember what color shirt the person next to you in the elevator was wearing yesterday?  Do you remember specifically what your boss was angry with you about?

My point is this, how can you be 100% certain the past is real when we often do not remember what just happened five minutes ago? Yet we base so much of who we are today on our past, specifically the painful parts of the past.

If the past is ever changing, and we can be certain that we may not be 100% certain of how things happened (think Thanksgiving story) doesn't it seem to make a little less sense to live your life today based off of what may or may not have happened in the past??

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your thoughts.


Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://www.jessebrisendine.com

http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge