How to Question the Past
Vétheuil in the Fog, 1879 artwork by Claude Monet
My right leg was struggling to free itself from a shrub snarl. My friends were screaming but I stood like a hopeless fragile statue. We all thought that I hit a venomous snake. I already felt that I might faint. But when that thing didn’t move, I lowered my body and poked it with a stick. It still did not move. We all looked at that carefully. It’s a skin—a skin of a venomous snake. One of my friends said, “Let’s get out of this place guys. Look how long this is. They live somewhere nearer.”
I nodded. My friend pulled me and I finally managed to get out of the shrub snarl. That heap had thorns and some insects. I moved forward with itchy calves. We went there for an expedition. Our main work was to find five shrubs from bushy areas and store one leaf from each. We could have never imagined that project work could turn into such an experience.
I have some questions, “Was that experience ironical?” I mean, did nature show me something that I never could have understood? Letting go of an old skin is a snake’s major work. But how would a human translate that into life? Evidently, it would not be literal. It would definitely be emotional. There are layers after layers that get jammed into our emotional-space. If I talk as a highly-sensitive person (HSP) then the ‘remembering’ percentage scale meter always tilts towards the unhappy experiences. Or even if a person who does not relate to HSPs then also the ‘remembering’ percentage of happy and unhappy experiences would not be balanced. Unhappy wins in any manner. Our brain works as a problem-solver and it searches for something that creates a problem. So, the not-so-good/unhappy experiences jammed on for a better solution and we question us, “What could we do? Why didn’t I do that?” And many more.
But how could we peel off some layers of our emotional-space? Letting go of old skin can be named as “Letting go of emotional burden”. It could be a well-planned progression for each one of us. We could plan some time for each day when we could scrape off one unworthy from the past. We often hear the phrase ‘let go’ but how should a person implement that into his/her life? It is not simple, but it is also not a locked door. We could just ask, “What is my priority? Past or Future?” Or “What did I leave in that phase? Is it still important?” Or “How can some new approaches can make a smoother transition from the past to the present or the present to the future?”
The questions can show a brighter part of reality. It shows the present what you really want. It needs time and it needs focus shifting. These questions can even give a reason to create a draft copy of the future. If a person could let go of one single past issue each week, the complexities of emotional burden could look way smaller. It is a bold decision. I call that Ina*.
What is left in the dark cannot be altered, but the wounded patches can be removed slowly. What you decide to do with your past, your future learns that. There are so many good chances to make this present a better past.
(*In Sanskrit, Ina (इन).—a. means determined or anything that is powerful.)