Favorite Inspirational Quotes

The enormous complexity of cause and effect leads to another conclusion:  It’s futile to look back at our lives with “what if” scenarios.  What’s done is done.  Although changing our past would change our present, it would do so in ways that are so unpredictable that we could never know whether it would be for better or worse.

Michael Josephson
Character Counts

There are so many places where a different choice would have changed my whole life.  Each moment, it seems, is alive with choices that can change our lives.

If I had stayed in Florida and not moved to California, I would not have my present husband.  If I had put my kids in more activities, we would have been more tied to our community and not moved.  If I had chosen a different major in college…  If, if, if.

They don’t matter.  I’m here now and I can’t go back no matter how many science fiction stories use time travel in their plots.  And even if I did, who’s to say my present situation wouldn’t be worse instead of better.

The experiences that helped shape me would have been different meaning present me would be different.  Maybe good.  Maybe bad.  Who knows?  All I know is that I must do my best to pick a future I want and then take action with focus to get it.

The past helped make me but I don’t have to stay this way or in these circumstances if I don’t like it.  I can change by starting right here and right now.  The past is gone.  Live here and now.  Work now on making me and my circumstances what I want.

Tags: present