Left behind

Have you ever left something behind? Sure you have, your whole life is behind you every time another second of time ticks over.

Time only moves in one direction like life. and we all leave things behind, parts of ourselves, and sometimes we leave other people there too, in the past. It happens for various reasons; people drift into and out of our circle, are unsuitable to be in our life or we just move on without them. Sometimes we lament the loss and sometimes not; it's situational. We leave events, thoughts, attitudes, actions and reactions behind also and at times we have regrets; it's all just part of the thing we each call our lives.

I took this photo a while ago, a feather left behind by a bird.

I'm not sure if it noticed the loss, if the birds' life was different without it or it was just something that it had, and then did not have, and its life went on regardless of it. I came across the photo on the weekend and it brought thoughts of the past to mind, of leaving parts of our lives, people and events, behind and what the present and future looks like because of it.

I tend to find more interest in delving into history than the present time, researching it, learning what those who came before me thought, how they acted and I like being able to see the results and outcomes that arose from those thoughts and actions.

I believe there is a great deal to be learned by looking backward in time and have long thought that the answers to the present and future often lay in the past - humans are predictable and if we learned from our past successes and failures then applied them to the present and future I believe we'd have more prosperous and happy personal lives and a more wholesome society.

I've had people drift out of my life in the past and mostly I'm better for it.

I'm not saying they were bad people, or wrong for me, just that I've not suffered negatively from it and, indeed, what I learned along the way has helped me apply thoughts or actions to my present moments that have affected my future ones. I'm not one to cling onto people that choose to drift away, I just let them go, draw a line beneath them and move forward towards whatever my present and future hold. Sure, there's some I regretted losing, and probably will again, but if they wish to leave then who am I to stop them...Also, if I chose to leave them behind I have to face and accept my own decision no matter why I made it.

I don't like to think I've left my life behind, because everything I have thought or done, every attitude and action good or bad, has brought me to this very moment in time and shaped me into the man I am, and still does. If measured against time then yes, it's behind me; but life is the yardstick, what I do with it and how I create it, and because I'm still in it, still alive, my present and future can still be shaped, designed and created the way I would like.

I'm pretty sure most of us has left something or someone behind for various reasons, have you? Feel free to tell me in the comments if you would like, or maybe just a story about how your past has positively affected your present and future.