What has been does not matter one whit compared to what is now.
You may have taken a thousand false steps, yet now you can take any step you choose. You are always in the position of making some kind of choice. Even if you are firmly planted with your intention on good for the world, each day greets you anew, and you have new decisions to make or old ones to make once again.
Every morning you rise. Now, beloveds, rise with aplomb. Rise with alacrity. Rise like a morning sun who brightens the firmament. You can rise in any manner under the sun. Each day is a new apple on the tree, ripe for picking.
Whatever has been, it is not settled. Every moment of the past is washed away as you enter a new day. It must be so. It is only a matter of your opinion that holds you to where you have been.
If your choices in life have been wonderful, they can be more wonderful today. If your choices have been hazardous, today your choices can be beautiful. If you can choose one thing, you can chose another. Please, beloveds, do not attribute the past with great powers. It has none. You hold the power in the palm of your hand, in this very moment that whisks away so sprightly.
The past is to be let go of. The present is to be a quick embrace. Win or lose, the present is yours. Nothing else is. This is a splendiferous moment, and it is yours. You can tweak it as you wish. And as you tweak it, it has already slipped away. You are forever diving into the ocean of life anew.
No matter what a swimmer you are, no matter with what prowess you swim or with what awkwardness you flail your arms, you have every choice right now to dive into life. How many miles you swim, how fast the race, it matters not. It matters only that you swim. Whether you progress an inch or a mile, you can only progress. How much you enjoy does not depend upon winning a trophy or coming in first. In fact, there is no first and there is no last. There is on Earth only swimming.
The swimming is not a test. It is a recess, a play-time. It is free-swimming. You can make it what you will. Look, you go seamlessly through the water. There are no obstacles in the water. There are obstacles in the mind.
Whether you splash or winnow your way through the waves, victory is yours. It is you who swims. No one can swim for you. The strokes are yours, and the sunny shore is also yours. Come, children, get wet in the water. Dunk yourself and come up smiling.
Admire how the dolphins swim. What questions do the dolphins ask? What comparisons do they make? Which dolphin says that one or another is more graceful than another, or speedier, or more or less anything? Be like the dolphins and enjoy each splash, big or little. Swimming is the thing. What more is there to it than that?
Where did you get the idea that you are in a race to win? Or that you are in a race at all? Who said you had to rush? Who said you couldn't slow down? Or who said you have to slow down? Who is it that has say over you? You have say over you. Swim in the direction that your heart tells you. Go slow or go fast, who cares? The thing is that you are, and you swim on a golden lake of God's making.