Kay:

Hey-yo Questers happy Fri-yay. It is April 30th. This is episode 345 and we have a cool quote for you today. I’m very excited for the way that this one is going to go down because we have a little old and a little new. But the first part of the quote and you guys have all heard it before, kind of blah, gag status is that “Today is the first day of your future.”

Shi:

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, man. Motivational posters. We’ve seen it. We’ve heard it. We are familiar with this concept. Your quote today is not that quote though. Your quote today is from as you hopefully know our, our, our business partner, our dear friend, our mentor, Joseph McClendon III and he says, “Today is not only the first day of your future. Today is also the last day of your past.”

Kay & Shi:

Ooh-

Shi:

…just such a good addition to this thought and this realization of realizing that yes, you have the rest of your life in front of you, but you also get to have all of your life so far behind you.

Kay:

Technically the present is the only thing that actually exists. Do you experience frequent pain instances in your past? Well, if you do try this quote on for size, because truly if you have some difficult things that you’ve gone through that still haunt you, or some patterns that you don’t want to take into your future, today is just as much of an ending as it is a beginning.

Shi:

Today is the last day of your passing. You can choose to leave it there. Something might’ve happened to you. This concept we recently were talking about, and this perspective was extremely intriguing for both of us. You might have experienced something bad in your past or even those embarrassing moments or the joke that you stumbled in the Zoom meeting, whatever it is. It happened one time but how often does it happen in your mind? How much do you let your mind bring that forward? Do you think about that? Do you really feel the feelings of at worst a trauma, at best an embarrassing moment? But that thing may have happened once, but how much does it happen in your mind? The power of being able to let today be the last day of your past truly lays in that idea right there.

Kay:

I love the way that Byron Katie illustrates this point when she talks often about the things that have happened. Let’s just say you know, somebody bullied you and they bullied you and it hurt your feelings. Now you think about that often and it actively shapes you. In times where you’re going to go do something important, sometimes you get held back because you think about the person who bullied you. But the bullying only took place in that past time and so really who’s bullying you when you continue to think about and hold onto that story of the bullied person. Who’s bullying you? It’s not the person because that already happened. At this point, you’re bullying you by holding onto the story and replaying the memory in your mind over and over.

Shi:

I’m listening to a lecture series by Michael Singer right now, the author of “The Untethered Soul” Kay and I’s number one recommended book.

Kay:

So good.

Shi:

If you ever take any recommendation from us, please let it be that book.

Kay:

Game changer.

Shi:

Yep. “The Untethered Soul.” cannot be overstated how much we like that book clearly. But Michael talks about this concept and how often we let our mind take that control or be that bully or one of the examples in the book that Kay was just referencing is somebody who lived through wartime and the bombs dropped. She says, you know, those bombs dropped once when you were 10 years old, but they’ve been dropping for 40 years in your mind. When you realize that, and you realize the control of focus that you allow your consciousness to go into, as your mind plays that out it lets you question like, “who’s in charge here, right?” Which is one of the main premises behind “The Untethered Soul.” But realizing that it’s you, that consciousness being inside, not that narrative that your mind is telling you that’s in control and if you can take command of the wheel, then you really can leave that past behind you.

Kay:

Well, guess what? There’s not a whole lot you get to control in this beautiful, giant thing called life. We’re all flapping and floating and flip-flopping around. Life is messy and there’s not a lot of control in it. Sometimes a pandemic comes in and wipes out your business. Sometimes a hurricane falls on your city and wipes out your home. Sometimes…

Shi:

A car runs a red light. Yeah.

Kay:

…a catastrophic event happens. You never know. Life is really unpredictable, and you don’t get a lot of control, but you do get control over your focus. You have this one thing in your world that you have complete and total control over (a) it’s your focus, and (b) your actions that come as a result of the focused attention that you give to the thoughts in your head. So, if you are considering your past day in and day out, and you’re holding onto your past, and you think about it and you lament about it, and you hurt, take Joseph McClendon III advice and remember that today is the last day of your past.

Shi:

Alright, that brings you to your Fri-yay quest and as we remember this quote, it’s also fun to celebrate that today is also the last day of the month.

Kay:

And the first day of the weekend.

Shi:

Hey, here we go. In realizing that today is the last day of your past and that tomorrow is the first day of the future, and of the month, decide on one thing you want to leave in April, whether it be a certain attitude, personality trait, bad habit, or bingeing on buttery popcorn, as well as one thing you want to bring forward into your future. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!