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Embracing the future

Time only moves in one direction — forward. Yet so many of us spend a great deal of emotional energy focused on the past. Some long for the “good ol’ days,” while others fixate on regret. A song helps remind me to be ready to embrace the future.

“Land of Hope and Dreams”

Sometimes a Bruce Springsteen lyric gets stuck in my head/heart, and I begin thinking (too?) deeply about it. Recently, it’s been “Land of Hope and Dreams,” from the Wrecking Ball album.

The homage to “People Get Ready,” stands out from the start, as a gosple group sings about “this train.” But as with most of Bruce’s songs, these lyrics have a less “heavenly” feel.

This train appears to be the timeline of our lives, including our relationships.

Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder’s rolling down the tracks
You don’t know where you’re goin’ now
But you know you won’t be back

I like this idea about time moving in one direction. We can’t relive our “Glory Days,” or our failures. There is no going back. We move forward toward freedom.

Letting go

“We’ll take what we can carry and we’ll leave the rest.”

I’m especially drawn to this couplet at the end of the first verse:

We’ll take what we can carry
And we’ll leave the rest

There is little need to take our “baggage” into the future. We will do much better if we travel more lightly, letting go of the past to move into the future. We need our arms available to embrace what’s next.

It’s such a hopeful lyric about how all of us can move into the future with hope. “People get ready.” This train is going somewhere.

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