Perspective

"Only time can put the past in perspective, and only when the past is behind us, and not before us, can we be open enough and empty enough to truly feel what is about to happen." Mark Nepo

Mark Nepo talks about how the nautilus builds another spiral onto its shell in which to live; the rest of the shell is filled with gas to help the nautilus control its buoyancy.  The nautilus can be an example of how to live.  We need to learn the lessons life has to teach us.  We hold these lessons in our hearts, but it is only in living present to the moment that we can really be alive.  Like the nautilus, the past can serve us.  The past can give us buoyancy to live the present.  We cannot turn the pages of life until we learn the lesson from what is on that page.  Having learned that lesson, we store the lessons softly in our heart, and this enables us to live more fully in the present.