LETTING GO OF SUCCESS

Red fish in glass aquarium - “When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain”

I want to make the most of every day. And, like most people, I've
discovered that the best way to do it is to let go of past failures.

But that's not all. One can never fully enjoy today while dwelling too
much on past successes, either. People never succeed while resting
comfortably on their laurels. As Ivern Ball has said, "The past should
be a springboard, not a hammock." The fact is, sometimes our successes
hold us back more than our failures!

I once heard a story about the actor Clark Gable. A friend paid Gable
a visit one afternoon at the actor's home. She brought along her small
son, who amused himself by playing with toy cars on the floor. He
pretended he was racing those cars around a great track, which in
reality was an imaginary circle around a golden statuette. The small
statue the boy played with was actually the Oscar Clark Gable won for
his performance in the 1934 movie It Happened One Night.

When his mother told him the time had come to leave, the little boy
asked the actor, "Can I have this?" pointing to the Oscar.

"Sure," he smiled. "It's yours."

The horrified mother objected. "Put that back immediately!"

Giving the child the golden statue, Clark Gable said, "Having the
Oscar around doesn't mean anything to me; earning it does." The actor
seemed to know that past success could be a comfortable hammock upon
which he may be tempted to rest, rather than a springboard launching
him to the next level.

Biblical wisdom says, "Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on
what happened long ago." You may have learned to let go of past
failures and mistakes in order to free the present. But will you
loosen your grip on past successes and achievements in order to free
the future? Will your past be a springboard or a restful hammock?

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past,"
said Thomas Jefferson. I agree. After all, the future, not the past,
is where the rest of your life will be lived.

From Lifesupport.