Live Out Of Your Imagination, Not Your History

Live out of your imagination: A lovely quote by Stephen Covey talking about our bad habits of letting past failures ruin our future hopes. The past is a powerful occurrence. It teaches us a lot of things including how to avoid failure. However, sometimes, this past can be a hindrance and prevent us from dreaming or thinking big. Our life and future are defined by our ability to imagine. If we constantly live in fear, what hope do we have for the future of our lives?

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”

– Stephen Covey

Live out of your imagination, not your history

Anyways, coming to the topic – we all have a ghost in the past – something we are proud to accept and sometimes we are not. But rest assured that we all have a past, a past we are really proud of and a past we are not so much fond of. The pleasant ones boost our confidence, improve our outlook towards life and make us feel more full of life. However, the unpleasant ones leave an impact too – an impact not too many of us would like.

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If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re too small–Richard Branson

I remember the times when I have been haunted by these ghosts of the past. It used to happen very regularly with stage talk. But at some point we all realize what is pulling us down, Right? At some point, we all realize that what happened a long time ago doesn’t really matter. What matters is what we do about it. Life is never about looking back and lamenting. It is not something we live or lead in retrospect. It is something we live every day, we feel every day and rejoice about every day. We can’t let what happened yesterday play a significant role in what is happening today.

Don’t worry about your past failures

So what if your previous relationship didn’t work well – it doesn’t mean that your current one is going to go awry the exact same way. If you are thinking so, then you are really not being very fair to your current partner. What if your previous boss was an ass and completely disapproved of what you did? That shouldn’t be shattering your dreams. If anything should change, it is your boss, not your attitude, not the spirit that defines you. No one should be given the right or the place to shatter your spirit. What if every effort you put in the last time went in vain?

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The Past Can Hurt, you can either run from it or learn from it – Lion King Quote

Life is crappy sometimes and we have all seen our share of it. Not that we like it, but it doesn’t mean that we have to overstay our welcome there. If life is going through the nonsense, it becomes our responsibility to step out of it and look at the bigger picture. It becomes an onus on us to take control and be in charge of the life. We can’t afford to feel sad about what happened in the past and pull ourselves down. That is never going to help us take today or tomorrow to the place where we want to.

Live out of your imagination

Our imagination or our dreams are very powerful tools. The more trust we put in them, the better they serve us. They take us to better places and do some extraordinary things. They define the spirit within us and make us go beyond our limitations that hold us back. This is the elixir which keeps us abreast of the challenges we face. These are the life juices which keep us more and more alive. The more we trust in them, the more we work on them, the better we get at them.

All that past can bring you is misery, a reminder of the time when you failed. That is not going to make your current project succeed. If the past was a mistake, then it was a mistake – move on from it, move on fast. Like Bernard Shaw says –

“A life spent on making mistakes is not only honorable but also more useful than a life spent on doing nothing”

Or how about our previous post where we talked about a favourite quote

While One Person Hesitates Because He Feels Inferior, The Other Is Busy Making Mistakes And Becoming Superior

So, get out of that couch, forget about all those hindrances of the past. Our dreams await us, our imagination awaits us. And as Stephen Covey says, these are the things that are going to take us forward.

And as always – Belief is a choice, the only question is what you want to believe in.

This is our two cents for the day or the thought for the day if you like to call it that way. Stay tuned in for more.

8 thoughts on “Live Out Of Your Imagination, Not Your History”

  1. Thank you Najm. Good to see you here. We are bound to keep them away, not just cos it is the right way, cos it is the most practical way too. Or else, it is very easy to be down all the time.

  2. Thank you Somali. THe ghosts do haunt us a lot, but at the same time we can shoo them away at times and tell ourselves what is really more important

  3. Thank you Saurabh. Past sure is a great lesson but that is all it truly is, we need to look ahead to make that difference and build the future we desire and deserve

  4. Saurabh Chawla

    Wonderful post! Yes its true to forget the past and focus on the present to build the future!

  5. Maniparna Sengupta Majumder

    Well narrated…it’s always better to say let bygones be bygones and move on… :-)

  6. Somali K Chakrabarti

    A very good and practical advice to let go of the ghosts of the past,and follow your dreams.

  7. Another post that will put many in thought. The ghosts of our past keep visiting us again and again but like you said imagination and our dreams can put everything at bay :) Well written post!

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