There are very few people left on this globe who, in reality, have achieved the state of fully living in the present. That is the marvellous state of being in which one's past exists but does not interfere in one's present. However, most of us have to live with our pasts, day and night. The past plays a vital role in our everyday life and reflects in us, consciously or unconsciously, through all sorts of memories. It even provides the raw material for many of our dreams and, of course, nightmares. So if we have to live with our pasts, why not do so happily and turn the past into a useful stimuli to brighten our future?

If a person gives some serious thought to his or her past, he or she will definitely find many events and happenings, many lovely days and nights, that give joy in the recollecting. All those experiences of the past are worth celebrating.

What is the past?
The past is the sum total of all the experiences we've had, trivial and important, that lie in our memories. Most memories are attached to the feelings and emotions we experienced at the time of the actual happening. Happy memories make us cheerful in our present and bad memories bring remorse, anger, guilt, fearfulness and many other negative feelings to us. If we learn to remember more and more good memories then our present will become more and more happy and the future will take birth from a happy present.

Here is a simple way to take advantage of celebrating one's personal past:

• Take a diary or a register of 365 pages and write down date and a month (not the year) on every page (you can use the both sides of the paper). You should start from Ist January and then in chronological order end on 31 December. You should also give a page to 29 February which comes after every four years and is called the leap year.

• Then remember all the good things that have happened to you in the past. From your date of birth to encountering a lovely person or having a success in any endeavour. Even enter a party you enjoyed with your friends. Write every event, the memory of which gives you good feelings under that particular date, with the year that event happened. Write about the event briefly including your feelings and emotions at the time. If you do not remember the particular date, do not worry at all about that. Write under an approximate date or the date that feels right.

• During this practice you may have to go through your old papers. If you find a picture of the happy event, paste it onto that particular page.

After some time of doing this practice, you will find many days in the year to celebrate the anniversaries of happy events. Celebrate the day as if you are celebrating a birthday and anticipate that this celebration will bring many more such good events into your life. When they happen, remember to write it down under the date. And remember to celebrate that new event next year! Bless you all.

Syed Hamraz Ahsan London 13 June 2006

To book a healing, call Syed Hamraz Ahsan on 020 8900 9884 or email hamraz@starmeditation.com