OUR PAST MAY INSPIRE PERSONAL CHANGE – “Even though we can’t undo the past, our experience has shown that we still need to look at what we’ve done and acknowledge the damage we’ve caused. Despite the impossibility of changing what happened, we can start to make amends by not repeating the same behavior.”  (It Works, How & Why, p. 58)

LESSONS FROM THE DEBRIS – ” … having had cleaned away the debris of the past, we consider how, with our new found knowledge of ourselves, we may develop the best possible relations with every human being we know.” (12 & 12, p. 77)

“The Past: Our cradle, not our prison; there is danger as well as appeal in its glamour. The past is for inspiration, not imitation, for continuation, not repetition.”

– Israel Zangwill (1864 – 1926) Jewish UK, playwright and coined the phrase, “The Melting Pot”

– Tracy Chapman (5:07)

A View of the Heavens Om Meditation (6:31) 

Be it with, a person, place or thing, in what ways has your own actions caused harm?

Life Is Fine

by Langston Hughes

I went down to the river,
[I] set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn’t,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn’t a-been so cold
I might’ve sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn’t a-been so high
I might’ve jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I’m still here livin’,
I guess I will live on.
I could’ve died for love–
But for livin’ I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry–
I’ll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!