Leaving the Past Behind
How much of today have you spent dragging yesterday behind you? We often move through our lives like travelers unwilling to set down our heavy luggage filled with old hurts, missed opportunities, and severe regrets. This constant looking backward anchors us to a ghost world, preventing us from arriving fully in the only place where life actually happens: the present.
The false self—that noisy, defensive part of our ego—clings to these narratives because they define it. The mind will insist we need to revisit the scene one more time. Yet God does not meet us in rehearsal. Forgiveness happens when we stop feeding yesterday and choose, even briefly, to live in today.
True release doesn't mean forgetting what happened or pretending it didn't hurt. It means recognizing that the past currently exists only as a thought pattern we cling to. Forgiveness is a present-moment event. It is a deeply spiritual act of exhaling the stale air of what was, so that we can inhale the vibrant reality of what is. It is the practice of setting the luggage down and walking, unburdened, into the grace of our next breath and the present moment.
Choosing Presence is an Illuman Partner Program.
Brian Mueller – Poet, Community Organizer, and Spiritual Guide
Brian Mueller is a poet and community organizer based in Dayton, Ohio. He serves as Director of Education & Engagement for ChoosingPresence.org and is an active member of the Ohio Chapter of Illuman, where he co-leads writing retreats that support men’s spiritual journeys. As a writer, Brian is known for his candid, accessible poetry, with works including Cock‑A‑Doodle‑Doo: 100 Morning Haiku, the Poem of the Day series, and the Bull Series. Inspired by poets like Rumi and Mary Oliver, he believes everyone carries the voice of a poet within.
