Confucius says....

"To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it." - Confucius

In life we often forget that it is our own mind that obsesses over past experiences and traumas, making it impossible to move on and let go of the anger, resentment or regret associated with that event. Unfortunately time travel is not an option my friends and therefore whatever has taken place in the past must be made peace with.

"Easier said than done" is a THOUGHT most would entertain. This however, is precisely the problem. The mind cannot be allowed treason of thought, and by treason I mean self doubt, regret, anger, excuses and any other pessimistic imposter because this creates our outlook and our outlook creates our world. With that said, it is of the utmost importance that we monitor our thoughts with care.

Identify with your mind as a personal trainer or motivational speaker. It's job is to make you stronger in every possible way and a more complete and content human being.... Would a personal trainer or motivational speaker tell you that you are worthless? That you are never going to improve? Or digress to the past when it clearly serves no constructive purpose? The answer here should be no and if it's yes it's obviously time for a new trainer! This concept applies to the mind, if your mindset is not doing its job properly, it's time to kick its ass out and find a new one ; )

To take this one step further, we should actually identify our mind as two and not just one. One we will call "the master" (personal trainer/motivational speaker) and the other "the fool". "The master", although very wise, has an open mind and understands there is always much to be learnt from both nature and its fellow beings. The master enjoys peace, love and happiness and therefore can only be found when the mind is quiet, still and engaged in the present moment. "The fool", like most, lacks real education and has had very limited experience in the world, but through this limited and ignorant experience has become a "know it all" who refuses to listen to anything else especially coming from "the master" regardless of how rational it may be.

Our job is to find a way to either educate "the fool" (which is highly unlikely) or ignore it while only focusing on what "the master" has to say since it wants us to grow and prosper in life. In the beginning, staying true to childish and irrational behavior, "the fool" will throw temper tantrums because of the lack of attention, but this will die down so long as you ignore it and continue to focus and look for "the master" in the quiet of your mind.

Regret, anger, along with ALL negative thoughts which result in negative feelings are detrimental to our health. They force our bodies into what is called a "fight or flight" response mode, which is the bodies way of handling perceived danger. If there is no physical danger however, but only negative thoughts in our minds, the changes that occur in the body ultimately jeopardize our immune systems defense, resulting often times in sickness and disease. This very well could be the reason why when Jesus was faced with the paralytic in Matthew 9:2 he simply said, "Son be of good CHEER; your sins are forgiven you, take your bed up and walk" thus allowing the man to make peace in his mind and move on.

In conclusion we will always be faced with what the majority of society defines as "trauma" and "failure". Every "failure" or "trauma" however, should not be obsessed over, but rather viewed as an opportunity to learn from and make ourselves stronger. Often times there will be adversity that frustrates "the fool" because it cannot understand or make sense of the matter based on its limited perspective. Why did she/he do that? Why this? Why that? Why? "The master" understands here that there is an eternity of possibilities and to obsess over them and try to make sense of eternity from a limited perspective is "the fools" game. As the master (junzi) Confucius once said, "When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge" So make peace with the past, even if you don't understand it, this is not to say you should not learn from it or wilfully be ignorant if you are able to uncover or change the past to your minds benefit, but if it is obvious that it's beyond our understanding, let it go, make peace with it, focus on this moment and don't "continue to remember it". It is no secret that life is short but it is much shorter when you are never living in the present moment and only existing in the torment of your mind....wake up....LIVE NOW!

"Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." - Marcus Aurelius

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." - Lao Tzu

"If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry." - Dalai Lama

"Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" - Jesus Christ

"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln

"I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds." - Zoroaster

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about." - Dale Carnegie

"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well." - Mohandas Gandhi

"Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power." - Rene Descartes

"The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts." - Charles Darwin

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly." - Buddha