Holding onto outgrown memories, and dwelling on past failings and regrets, is more often than not a painful process. Any new chapters, with regard to life path change or fresh opportunities, can be marred, or even prevented, by thinking too much on 'what might have been'. Instead of looking straight ahead at what can be....
We should learn how to effectively let things go; how to draw a line in the sand and leave the past behind us. Very few of us can truly. There is almost always a string of memories which constantly recirculate in our conscious minds. Some bitter regret, and or some grudge, that we don't shut the door on altogether.
With these occurrences, we cannot possibly allow a new chapter to have the full effect it is meant to have. A new house, a new job, a new country ... marred by regret or sadness or even anger. Or by those harmful 'what might have beens'.
We all are guilty of this painful vice. We all find ourselves suddenly letting our minds wandering over old ground ... an old haunt, or an old friend or flame, is suddenly remembered. We reminisce and then regret not doing more when we had the chance. Or not being there anymore, or not doing something anymore. It is a painful process, especially if it revolves around the loss of a close friend, family member, or partner, due to a serious illness or an accident. The grief can be inconsolable. But somehow, we must find a way of overcoming the haunting by the past ... so we can all move our now into a promised future.