Social Question

LornaLove's avatar

How much has your past shaped your present and are you happy with the results?

Asked by LornaLove (10037points) August 12th, 2013

How much of your thinking today has been shaped by your past? Perhaps your past has been positive and resulted in a positive outlook on life. Or maybe it was mostly negative and has resulted in a negative outlook on life. Perhaps it has been you exceptionally functional or very dysfunctional.

If so could you explain how this has helped or hindered you? If it has been negative how can one change this do you think?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

8 Answers

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Depends on how far in the past we go.

YARNLADY's avatar

I was raised in the 1950’s to believe in love and marriage and having and raising a family. I had very loving parents, and i am very happy with my marriage and my family as well.

augustlan's avatar

All of my past has shaped my present, and what happens today will shape my future. I see it as a continuum, and neither all positive nor all negative. It’s just…life, you know? Some of how we view things is surely due to our experiences, but I really believe that some of it is due to innate personality. Two people can go through the exact same experience, and come out of it differently.

Lots of negative stuff early in life caused me a great deal of mental anguish. Therapy, medication, and lots of positive stuff since then has made my life not only bearable, but enjoyable. I don’t regret any of those experiences. All put together, they make me who I am. If I had to pick one thing that helped me the most, it was coming to accept “what is”, while understanding that it is not necessarily what “will be”. In other words, accept whatever situation you find yourself in, but work to make it better.

ZEPHYRA's avatar

The choices I made about twenty years ago have affected my present extremely negatively. The effects can be seen in my personality, mental and physical health, self-image, direction in life, mindset, way of thinking, everything! Thanks to a wrong direction, my outlook on life is now pitch black and not getting any better!

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

I had a great early childhood, then took some rough shots as I grew up. I had to decide do I throw away a good beginning and let the bad crap get me down. Or do I turn the crap into something positive. I went for the positive and I think it’s turned out well.

marinelife's avatar

All in all my past shaped my present, and I am very happy with it.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I went through several stages, mostly good, a few bad, and they shaped me to be who I am, so all of it built my character. I feel like the bad things I’ve seen and went through, taught me what NOT to do in life, so in the end, it was a good example for me.

Basically take a negative and turn it to a positive, never let it bring you down. :)

Response moderated (Spam)

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.
Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther