Friday, March 13, 2009

Keep Moving Forward!

On Wednesday, I was reminded by Wendy Christiansen (authenticstyle on Twitter) of one of my favorite Disney films, Meet The Robinsons. Wendy didn't specifically bring up the movie (I did that), but I was inspired by the many quotes that she was sharing with the Twitter world by someone she admires greatly, Walt Disney.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie, I will do my best not spoil the plot (nor the power of the ending). But suffice it to say, that of all the Disney movies I've ever seen, the message of this one was delivered as perfectly as any live action movie. The way the Director and Writers of this movie carried the message of the story through to the end was absolutely AMAZING.

The moral of the story, "Keep Moving Forward", is interwoven in the stories of two young roommates in an orphanage. It is a Back to the Future plot with all the intracacies of the time travel. But it is the very powerful message that plays upon the impact that "regret" has in our lives, that makes this movie stand out as a Keeper.

The truth is, things happen to us that we may or may not have planned on happening. Sometimes we don't get the job we had hoped for (or we get fired / laid-off). Or we go through a divorce (or break up before we ever had the chance to get married). Maybe we have a child out of wedlock and are raising him or her on our own. Or we get diagnosed with a "chronic" or even fatal illness that was no fault of our own. The truth is, bad things happen to good people and these things are outside of our immediate control - for whatever reason.

However, although we may not be able to control the circumstances or events in our lives, we do have complete control over our responses. We always have a choice! We can dwell on the negative and live a life of sadness, sorrow and self-pity - always wishing we could change the past. Or we can accept what has happened in our lives as part of who we are and always look to the future as an opportunity to create greatness.

It sounds like an easy choice - from a conscious perspective. But if you don't stop and think about it, and choose the happiness and the future, it is very easy to fall into the habit of regret and bitterness. For most people, it happens every day.

So, like the characters in the movie, you get to make the choice. Dwell on the past . . .

or KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

3 comments:

  1. :) I wrote a book called "It's the Little Moments that Matter" and it contains THREE chapters on Moving Forward. It is such an important part of learning and growing... It's not alway easy but in order to become our greatest possibility - we must. That's something I admire about Walt Disney ... he was always moving forward / finding new ways to do things!

    Thanks again!! Your Twitter friend - Wendy

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  2. I choose moving forward. If I lived my life based on regret, I seriously wouldn't even want to get out of bed in the morning. I've always believed that life is never over until you die and I admire people who change their paths late in life, like going to medical school in their forties or getting into fitness in their fifties or sixties.

    Every day has the potential to be whatever you choose it to be and we get a fresh start every time we open our eyes. I am deeply grateful for that!

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  3. I was just thinking about this the other day. I thought that I am not who I was yesterday, last week, or last year. All the experiences I have gone through and people I have met have made me who I am at that particular moment. By looking behind us rather than forward, we are preventing ourselves from growing and changing.

    As always, thanks for the inspiring posts!

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