When you hold on to the past, even objects of the past, you are holding on to a part of yourself that used to be there. You used to adore and use that object, for instance, and now you no longer do. You cannot let go of it because you feel you would be letting go of yourself. And, yes, that is precisely what is happening — you are letting go of a past part of yourself. You are letting go of a memory that is no longer true.

Perhaps the object was your mother's, and it was precious to her, and you have taken on the object and kept it in loyalty and love to your mother, as if you were keeping it for your mother, as if your Human mother is going to come back for it or to check up on you, as if your keeping it makes you a good daughter, or as if your letting it go or breaking it makes you a flagrant one.

The object is no longer dear to your mother, and only an echo of it is still dear to you. The idea is precious. Only the idea.

The past. The past. As though it were present!

The past. The past. As though it were obligation!

The past. The past. As though it were future!

The past. The past. As though it were lifeline!

Your past. Your past. As if it matters now!

Only the now matters. Only the now counts. Only now is before you. Now is your clay to mold.

The past you merely take out or carry with you. What can you really do with it now but let it go?

The object you keep isn't the issue. Your keeping is. To keep it physically or not isn't the issue. Your keeping it intact as though it were a living part of you is the issue. What you keep is what you carry.

You cannot carry your old life and your parents' old life. They have a new one now, and so do you.

Certainly a string connects you to the past and to your past's past. I do not say there is no connection. I do not say that the past has no merit or no demerit. I say the past is the past, and it is not yours to live in any longer. You can drop the strings and no longer be responsible for the past.

The past does not have to bind you.

Your past identity does not have to come with you. Whatever you used to be, you used to be, but you don't have to be it now. If you were timid in the past, you can be brave in the present. If you were demanding in the past, you can be undemanding now. If you were nervous in the past, you can be serene now. These are your choices every day. They can be decided today. You do not need to be hung over in the past. Letting go of the past is letting go of the past. It is starting fresh. It is freedom.

Did you think you were already decided? Did you think your fate was sealed? Did you think it was irrevocable? Did you think you were only a bauble bobbing on the waves of life and somehow kept to the shore, or dragged there?

This moment is yours now. It is your clay. It is your clay whether you use it or not. It is there for you. It is a gift I constantly give you.

Who gives it to you if not I? No one else gives it to you.

This moment of nowness is not for you to keep intact. It is not yours to keep. Nothing is yours to keep. Today is yours to fly with.

You can stay in the garage. You can also open the garage doors. You can fling them open. And you can come out. And there are many directions for you to go in. Many old and many new. Pick a new one. Start out today, the freshness of you. Refresh yourself with the present, for it is before you. Not behind you. Not in back of you. But ahead. Eyes up. Look at Me.