Flapping my wings

I was just reading in A New Earth how two ducks who get into a fight afterwards fly off in opposite directions, flap their wings vigorously (as if shaking off the surplus energy from the fight) and then float on peacefully as if nothing had ever happened.

And also about how many of us carry the past around with us every day, even though there is nothing we can do to change it. Those memories of the past become part of us and make us unable to function in the present. The story of my life!

I underlined these words: "Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?"

If I ate too much yesterday, that does not mean I have to let it make me feel discouraged about it today and make more such mistakes. I can flap my wings vigorously—and hey, maybe it will have a good effect on my flabby arms as well—and let it go.

Because it is becoming very clear to me that I have spent most of my life living in the past through guilt—especially when it comes to food—and also dreaming that maybe sometime in the future—when the weekend/vacation/retirement comes—things will be better and I will truly be happy and healthy. . . and thin, of course.

But tomorrow never comes, and even at its best, today is never good enough.

I look forward to reading more in this book, such as how to break habits that have become ingrained in my psyche. But I have found this is a book to take in small doses, every day, and give myself some time to mull it over before moving on.