You'll never stand on the mountaintop unless you've stood in the valley. We are all 'works in progress'. No exceptions. We move from one point to another in our lives and hopefully in forward, upward motion. As night is to day, and heat to cold, we experience the very best, and the very worst that life has in store for us. The 'stuff' that defines our lives and forms our future.

Some people are indeed blessed to have not experienced those earth shattering, traumatic events that rock the world for most of us. But more blessed are those of us who have, and who have learned, survived and grown from, such tragedies.

I write this for the latter group. Those of us that have experienced traumatic events such as the death of a loved one, loss of a special relationship, devastating financial loss or have come face to face with a major health issue. Probably, you have experienced more than just one of these at various points in your life. I know I certainly have.

Please allow me to make a most powerful statement:
Our past is only memory.

Memories become distorted over time. The original event, because we have re-run it countless times on the movie screen of our minds, will become colored most often very brightly, over time. The more time that has passed, the more distorted the memory. The exact memory, or, the original script if you will, will no longer resemble anything close to the original event. If a movie camera had captured the original event we would be very surprised, or most likely shocked, if we compared the real version to the current one we remember and believe to be 'our truth.'

What is most sad though is that most of us allow the ever-distorting memories we have to affect our reality today. And so often we find ourselves fearing the future based on the inaccurate memory of the past. This can be, if we allow it, very
limiting to say the least.

A perfect example is someone who after experiencing failed relationship after failed relationship finally finds someone with whom they feel they can share their future with. Suddenly, fears seep in and the person begins projecting the negative experiences of past relationships into the wonderful, untarnished one they now have. Before you know it, huge walls are being built and defenses that have no place in the relationship start manifesting hemselves. Soon, the relationship doesn't stand a chance to grow because the past has been allowed to permeate the present and sadly kill the future.

Another example is one that I have been a victim of more times than I'd care to admit. A new business opportunity or venture presents itself. The potential sounds wonderful and the excitement level builds. But it doesn't take very long before the fear factor starts finding its way into the psyche. Memories of past business failures creep up. The imagination starts running wild with all the negatives that *might* happen. Before the pen is even drawn to write the business plan every reason NOT to proceed further has marched to the forefront. The imaginary reasons for not moving ahead obliterate the sound, solid reasoning to simply "do it!"

A quote of mine that is often used in print and Internet publications has it: "The Greatest Wonders of the World we'll never know for they were destroyed before they were even built by the great enemy of man - Fear!"

On a recent trip I decided to take the train and bring some books with me. One was given to me a few years ago as a birthday gift from a great friend, a very popular book called "Who Moved My Cheese?” You might have read this best-seller (I sure was a
little late doing so) but one of the characters, a 'littleperson' named Haw, ended up taking a long journey through The Maze that he and the other characters lived in, in search of 'Cheese' (symbolic for whatever in life you are searching for). The Cheese
they had enjoyed for so long had somehow disappeared one day. Long story short, Haw leaves behind a series of picture messages for Hem to find when they decide to separate - Haw to begin a journey of self-discovery through the Maze, and Hem to remain behind holding fast to his old thinking that the Cheese was unfairly taken away and will somehow magically reappear. One of these messages was: "Enjoy Change! Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!"

You've heard it said that change is the only constant in the universe. So very true. When we accept that as truth and begin to relish the challenge of a journey of change we begin to truly "live life". Not always easy to do especially after experiencing
a major loss in life. But nevertheless, when we are confronted with the prospect of change we should learn to accept it, and then embrace the new journey with a fresh, positive outlook.

I want to share an experience from my life with you. One in which I indeed embraced the challenge of change resulting in some pretty amazing things.

For a short period of time I was convinced my life as a "creator" was over. I had sold a very successful drycleaning business in order to pursue my real passion in life writing and producing music. See, I had begun to enjoy some real successes as a part time songwriter in the 1980's and early 1990's and the prospect of making my living doing what I loved most in this world seemed reachable. If I approached this move smartly using the business sense I had, I believed I simply could not fail.

After planning this major move and building a recording studio in my home two years prior to selling my business, I was not ready for what happened as soon as the proceeds of the sale of my business made it into my bank account divorce. Before the
studio was even broken in, my assets were seized by the court and I was forced to leave my home (I had custody of my children during this time) and studio.

I managed to make changes though and entered into a third party arrangement that allowed me to continue for a few more years. Although I was living the 'starving artist' lifestyle myself in the process and had managed to position a talented singer to have a great shot at "making it", it all came crashing down in late 1997. I was discouraged, even demoralized and very deep in debt! My dream had evaporated and there I was, lost in The Maze.

That's when I happened to log on to the Internet for the first time. The possibility of New Cheese. It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that I could somehow offer those online the equivalent of what I could musically with my business experience. A few partnerships were formed in tandem with my solo exploits and soon I was well on my way to what has evolved into a wonderful new career and opportunity to help a lot of people make positive changes in their lives. Savoring New Cheese indeed!

I can honestly tell you that if I didn't embrace this 'journey into the unknown' with an attitude of enthusiasm and conviction, choosing not to allow that devastating setback from my past to color my expectations, you certainly would not be reading this
article.

Change is inevitable. We cannot control so much of what life throws our way but we can control how we deal with the change. As difficult as it may seem at the time, believe me, we can choose our attitude and indeed prosper in many ways from our journey to discover New Cheese.

Do yourself a great favor and take a few moments to answer this very important question: Is your past preventing your prosperous future?


© Rick Beneteau. Rick is an award-winning author, highly respected Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of the humanitarian project www.TenMillionClicksForPeace.org