Removing Obstacles

What should we do when the past is the biggest obstacle we face in trying to find fulfillment in the present? A strong temptation arises to simply try to forget it -- "Put it out of your mind," as people say. But that would involve suppressing one's true feelings -- never a good idea. That which we repress today comes back to haunt us tomorrow.

Removing an obstacle often consists of gradually removing one's attachment to it. If I'm no longer attached to whatever it is that's in my way, it's no longer an obstacle.

The best advice in this case, as in so many, comes from A.A. -- "We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it" (Big Book, p. 83), and consists of learning to see the past to which we are attached in a new light.

I'm still very much attached to a mental image of my recent past, even though I know that image is unreal. That realization is recent, and more, as the wise ones say, will be revealed. And that will happen through practice.

Not of a sudden and overnight are these very large obstacles removed from the pathways of our lives, but gradually and by degrees. We need to be as patient as Ganesh for that to happen.