The past was a perfect servant, not a tyrannical master. I truly believe that the way life works is almost like a perfect orchestration. We are sent the right people, the right circumstances, the right conditions designed to teach us the lessons we are most in need of learning. One philosopher said, “Life can only be understood in hindsight, but it must be lived with foresight.” And so, isn’t it interesting how when we look back at life, I’m sure it’s the same with you, we can start to connect the dots. We can start to understand, “Oh, now I understand why this didn’t work out. Now I understood why this person did this to me. Now I understood why this dream took a right-angled turn to open up another door I never expected going to.”Isn’t interesting, when we look back at life, it all starts to make sense. A lot of people, they limit their creativity, limit their productivity, limit their performance, they limit their prosperity because they get very stuck in the past. And related to that is forgiveness. I mean, forgiveness is not just a gift you give to the other person. The other person who wronged you was doing the best they knew how to do based on where they’re at in life. Why be upset with them? They didn’t know how to do any better. Mark Twain said, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that crushed it.”Maya Angelou, the great poet, said “When one can know better, one can do better.”So other people are doing the best they can do based on where they’re at. But forgiveness is also a gift you give to yourself. So many people that I’ve mentored, a lot of the billionaires that you think they know it all and they’re fearless and they’re unconquerable, inside they have a lot of repressed anger that’s limiting their productivity and next level of performance. Inside they’re holding back in some ways because a business partner wronged them or maybe in a relationship someone did something to them, and they haven’t gotten to a place of forgiveness. Forgiveness is very a powerful for elite performance. You probably don’t hear that very much because it’s a rare thought, but forgiving people and letting go of your past frees up all of the psychic energy and the repressed pain that has been dragging you down. Imagine what that does for your clarity of thought. Imagine what that does for your energy. Imagine what that does for your immunity. And imagine what that does for your productivity. So just remember, the past was a perfect servant, not a difficult master. The past happened as it did to make you into who you need to be to hold the life of your highest ambitions.
