Rafiki knows the way

There are two questions we all get to answer at every turn in life.

The first is this: what happened?

Remember that scene in The Lion King where the wise Baboon, Rafiki persuaded Simba to return home and save his pride? Do you remember how guilt had already played a number on Simba? How he has told himself that he was responsible for the death of his father. He had told himself stories of why he couldn’t return home.

Rafiki listened to Simba’s tale of what happened. Told him that it was now in the past, and forward movement is what counts. But Simba just couldn’t let go. The past was heavy.

I love what Rafiki did next. I don’t recommend it, but I love it.

He took the stick with him and, poof, struck Simba's head. "Ouch! Why did you do that?", Simba asked.

"It doesn't matter. It's in the past." Rafiki replied.

As if to let the message sink in, Rafiki took another swing at Simba. This time, Simba ducked.

"The way I see it, you can either run from the past or you can learn from it.", Rafiki said laughing.

The way, according to Rafiki, is to see the past as the past. All what happened led us to where we are today. If Rafiki took a swing at you right now, you'll probably duck too. So, why are you still holding on to that?

We have to be honest about what happened. And equally honest when we answer the second question: where do we go from here?

The past got you here. Good or bad, its job is done. Now what?