remembering the future

how often have you heard or spoken the following words:
"If I knew then what I know now..."

there is no "going back",
but there is remembering 
and what we do with those memories 
has a tremendous impact on our future

there is no recapturing the past
but there are opportunities to learn from it
if we focus on and get lost in the "if onlys"
we deceive ourselves at best and chance losing ourselves at worst

there is no "do over" and it helps when I remember:
sometimes there was no other option
most of the time I did the best I could with what I had 
hindsight is 20/20
loss changed my perspective
the past can look more appealing now than it actually was 

what do you remember from "before" ?
what do you treasure?
what do you wish you'd done differently?
what do you wish you'd done more of?
we cannot go back and undo what is already done,
but we can choose to do something about what is yet undone

Today, and tomorrow, and all of your days after that
I hope you are able to choose 
to do more of what you enjoy, 
and less of what has caused you heartache
to invest heavily in what you value
and spend less on trifles
to build healthy relationships
and mend broken ones 
to embrace life fully
even pain and struggles have value

I want to be ever mindful of this truth:
the choices I make today impact what I will remember in the future