When we look back at the past, knowing what we know now, we often find it difficult to understand how we made the mistakes we made. This is because once we learn new information, it is nearly impossible to reenter the head space we were in before we learned that information. And so we look back at parents who drank and smoked around and in front of their kids, for example, and wonder how they could have thought that was a good idea. Similarly, our personal pasts are full of mistakes we can't believe we made. We did things then that we would never do now, and this is precisely because we have information now that we didn't have, or weren't able to access, then.
From ideas about how to raise children to how to treat the environment, our collective human past sometimes reads like a document on what not to do. In many ways, this is exactly as it should be. We learn from living and having experiences. It is from these past actions that we garnered the information that guides us to live differently now. Just so, in our personal lives, we probably had to have a few unsuccessful relationships or jobs, learning about our negative tendencies through them, in order to gain the wisdom we have now.
In order to live more peacefully with the past, it helps to remember that once we know better, we tend to do better. Prior to knowing, we generally do our best, and while it's true that from the perspective of the present, our best doesn't always seem good enough, we can at least give our past selves the benefit of the doubt. We did our best with what knowledge we had. Beyond this, we serve the greater good most effectively by not dwelling on the past, instead reigning our energy and knowledge into our present actions. It is here, in this moment, that we create our reality and ourselves anew, with our current knowledge and information.
Can we do better? yes for sure we can. As Golferman has so well embedded in us �Knowledge is Power�. So read, learn and gain as much knowledge about your addiction as you can. Knowledge also replaces fear of the unknown. Always remember that withdrawal from nicotine is a process that requires some effort on our parts. The more we learn the easier it becomes and one day we look back and say why did I ever do that in the first place
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Quit Meter
$285,462.50
Amount Saved
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Quit Meter
Days: 6851
Hours: 3
Minutes: 0
Seconds: 27
Life Gained
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Quit Meter
45674
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
1,141,850
Cigarettes Not Smoked
