Own only what you can own
Not owning what you cannot own, and owning what you can own, is intelligence. Unfortunately, you constantly try to own what you cannot own, and you do not own what you are supposed to own! You are supposed to own your future, but you do not take ownership for it; you do not take responsibility for it. Instead, you continuously try to own your past, which you cannot own!
Why do you feel comfortable owning the past, but not the future? This is because your mind teaches you to always own the known. The unknown is always frightening, so the mind rejects the unknown and clings to the known. But just because the past is known, do not think you own it! You only know it; you do not own it! You can only own the future. And you are supposed to own the future!
When you are ready to move out of your comfort zone and face the unknown, that is freedom. Understand: freedom from the known is the real freedom!
Just look in. 90% of your thoughts are all about the past!
When I see a person, I can tell from his eyes whether he is lost in the past
or working towards the future. Eyes which have no power indicate that the person is lost in the past.
Understand, you might have lived with your wife for 50 years. She might have been your first and last love. And you might have had the most romantic relationship with her. Even then, you cannot keep her dead body with you for more than a few hours!
This is exactly how you should behave with the past. No matter how beautiful the past was, remember it is dead now! Wake up! Just because she was your beloved, she fulfilled all your dreams, she was part of you, you had a romantic relationship and an amazing life together, do not forget the truth - you cannot keep her dead body! It is time you bury her body. It is time you give her a good farewell!
And there is another funny thing: if you are clinging to your past because it was happy, at least that can be understood. But you keep clinging to your past even if it was a torture while you were living it! Your energy hardly ever flows towards the future, because it is locked in the past.
When you constantly brood over your failures, you are only empowering them! When you give so much significance to your past failures, you have already planned that your future is also going to be a failure.
One of the delusions that human beings suffer from is that the future comes out of the past. I tell you, future comes 'OUT' of the past! That is why, when you take sannyas (monastic vows), you just break from the past. If you are still brooding over your past failures, sannyas has not yet happened in you. Even if you are wearing the monastic robes, the space of sannyas has yet to happen in you.
Trying to own the past is abusing Time, Mahakala! Not owning the future is shutting the door to Mahakala! Owning your future means receiving Mahakala. Brooding over your past means living with your own dead body, and not looking at the possibility of life!
If you take ownership for your future, your eyes will be shining and bright - anticipating the future, ready to receive it, planning for it, taking ownership for it. Take ownership for your future, and Time will bless you.
You can only own your past, not your future.