Blog

Reflect on 2021, but don’t get stuck there.

Total Recall, both the old one with Schwarzenegger and the new one with Colin Farrell, are awesome movies – and can also be used to explore who we are, who we are not, and who we want to and do not want to be.

This topic is something most of us battle with from time to time when we stop to reflect – who are we, why are we here, do we have some purpose in this crazy universe? We can also draw some parallels from Total Recall and The Matrix movies, where people are plugged into a computer program, living a virtual reality, similar to the main character in Total Recall who lives the life of someone else via a memory implant  – until he manages to “unplug”, and find out who he truly is.

Here are some quotes from the movie:

Matthias : Mr. Hauser, What is it you want?

Doug Quaid : I want to help you.

Matthias : That is not the only reason you are here.

Doug Quaid : I want to remember.

Matthias : Why?

Doug Quaid : So I can be myself, be who I was.

Matthias : It is each man’s quest to find out who he truly is, but the answer to that lies in the present, not in the past. As it is for all of us.

Doug Quaid : But the past tells us who we’ve become.

Matthias : The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You’ll find your answer.

This last quote by the Resistance leader Matthias, is a very powerful statement. We think that we are as a result of what we have done and experienced in the past, which of course is partly true. But as we leave yesterday behind, and enter the new day, we have become someone else. We are the person who is engaging with the world at this present moment – the only moment that really matters. Many of us are stuck in the past, re-iterating events and memories, often negative and bad memories (the fight with our spouse last week, the annoying thing your boss said to you yesterday…).

Learn from the past, what you have done, and move on, focus on what’s happening Right Now. Don’t let the present slip away by being stuck in the past – it’s a waste of energy, a waste of your life, and a total waste of time.

Reflect on 2021, but don’t get stuck there.

Your turn!