My wife and I took a little road trip up the northern California coast this past weekend in an attempt to escape the temperatures in the valley that were pushing 110 degrees.
During the drive at one point I became fixated on something in the rear view mirror...Now, I can't remember if it was one of the stunning vistas of that stretch of coastline or one of the huge trucks threatening to run us down and devour our little car.... In either case, my attention was drawn away from my course of travel. Finally, I look glance back toward the road, adrenaline rushed through my body as I stomp on the brakes and narrowly avoid disaster....
A big brown cow had wandered onto the middle of the highway! That's certainly something you don't expect.
Had I not been fortunate enough to look up when I did, the event of hitting that cow, at that speed, on that stretch of road, would have been potentially fatal for all parties involved.
The thing I realized after this experience is that many of us spend most of our life fixated on the things in our own "rear view mirror". We have been told by many an "expert" that the best indicators of the future are in the past. We validate who we are by the performances of the past. Look for the reasons we are who we are by the things that happened to us as children. Spend countless hours trying to figure out what went wrong with this or that.
If we spend so much time fixated on what's happened in the past, how can we have a clear picture of where we are going?
If it happened behind you, it's behind you and there's nothing you can do to change what's already happened. I don't care how many "experts" have told you different, you cant' change the past.
The only place you have control is in the road ahead. Had I been looking forward I would have seen the cow, I definitely could have avoided her and perhaps would have seen something remarkable in the process.
Stop fixating on the rear view of your life! If something doesn't go as planned, let it go. It was just a result.
You will avoid disaster by seeing the unexpected up ahead and You can change the result of the future by focusing on what you want that lies ahead of you.
Drive forward!
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