The past is an education, not a prediction.
Many of you know that my early history was a study on how not to succeed. There are lots of things I used to blame this on from my parents, to my low self-esteem, to how bad things just seemed to always happen to me, to anything else in between. The truth of the matter is that I used to look at my prospects in life from the eyes of “poor me.” I used each failure as a prediction for why the next thing would not work for me either. In other words, my past was a prediction for my future, because I consistently behaved and acted the same way I had in the past.
The reality is that the past is a great source of education and experience, but from a future perspective it is nothing more. I thank God that my eyes were opened to this in my late 20’s and the past was no longer a shackle for me. At any moment you too can make the decision that the past has no hold on your future…you can glean the lessons and apply them in a positive way and use your bounty of gifts to influence a wonderful future. Here is a little nugget from Jim Rohn for you to feast on: