The present is the point of power (don't look for problems in the past)

THE PRESENT IS THE POINT OF POWER.

The above is one of the most important sentences in this book in practical terms, and working within the framework of time as you understand it. As mentioned earlier (in the 653rd session in Chapter Fourteen), you actualize events from the present intersection of spirit and flesh, choosing them from probabilities according to your beliefs.

All of your physical, mental and spiritual abilities are focused together, then, in the brilliant concentration of “present” experience. You are not at the mercy of the past, or of previous convictions, unless you believe that you are. If you fully comprehend your power in the present, you will realize that action at that point also alters the past, its beliefs and your reactions.

In other words I am telling you that your present beliefs, in a manner of speaking, are like the directions given to the entire personality, simultaneously organizing and reorganizing past experience according to your current concepts of reality.

The future — the probable future — is being altered in the same way, of course. To look backward for the source of current problems can lead you into the habit of seeking only negative episodes from your past, and prevent you from experiencing it as a source of pleasure, accomplishment, or success (very intently).

You are structuring your earlier life through the dissatisfactions of the present, and therefore reinforcing your problems.

It is as if you were reading a history book that was devoted only to the failures, cruelties and errors of the race, ignoring all of its accomplishments. Such practices can lead you to use your own “history” so that it gives a very distorted picture of who and what you are — a picture that then paints your present circumstances.

(Pause at 9:21.) Those given to such practices — constant examination of the past in order to discover what is wrong in the present — too often miss the point. Instead, they constantly reinforce the negative experience from which they are trying to escape. Their initial problems were caused precisely as a result of the same kind of thinking. A great many unsatisfactory conditions result because individuals become frightened at various periods in their lives, doubt themselves, and begin to concentrate upon “negative” aspects.

Session 657, Chapter 15, The Nature of Personal Reality

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Exactly what I needed to read.

^This is the way I operate and I just completely forget to NOT do this.

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am having a great time reading this…as usual, more is highlighted than not. (school books too).

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