In order to let go of any painful past condition — so there is never again a moment where regret or sorrow is pulling us down — we must allow every movement, each unexpected event encountered, every thought and feeling — no matter its character — to have its own life. If we will attempt to view life from this new and higher understanding — that everything under the sun, from thoughts to thunder, has its own birth, life and death — then one day we will come to the relief-filled realization that the reason any part of our painful past persists is because there is something in us that won’t let it die out naturally. Any lingering sadness is an unnatural life-form kept breathing by our reluctance to let it go. We can prove this to ourselves and we will; but there is also an abundance of help waiting and available to encourage us on our way.

Physicists have just recently confirmed what religious scholars, wise men and mystics have known all along. Every present moment is always new and new is always right now. Now is constantly shedding the old. The new dies to the ever-new in an endless celebration of Life. This is not philosophy or a misplaced wish for a kinder, gentler universe. Life works through this process. You need only observe any living system to see the beauty and significance of starting over — over and over and over. If anything in life fails to shed the old, it quickly stagnates. A spring that stops replenishing its new waters soon turns dank and sour. This powerful principle is never so true as when it pertains to human life. It is a scientific fact that the you who is reading this sentence right now will not be the same you that finishes it!

So, the evidence is conclusive. What it tells us is that there is no real reason why our lives should ever seem stale or feel futile because real Life, of which we are a part, is always new right now. This is the fact of it. Our task is to unleash the power of this fact in our own lives. You may be thinking, “What’s it going to take for me to break through to totally present living? How can I learn to really start over all of the time?”

Just as a weary rock climber must at times reach above himself to gain a difficult resting ledge, you too must dare to go beyond yourself to find this ever-present safety. There is no danger in true self-ascent. The only real danger lies within remaining where you are. Think about it. If you could realize and enter into that true quality of life where there is an entirely new you every moment, it would mean that with every single heartbeat you would be free from any possible heartache that might have preceded it. In this new life, every relationship begins for the first time over and over again. Every discouragement is over right now. Every challenge, every difficulty is shouldered only in its time and is never carried forward or looked back upon with regret. Isn’t that what all of us really want? Yes it is!

Do you see what has happened? Something wonderful has already taken place. Our question is no longer, “Is this ever-new life really possible?” Now we are asking, “What is it within me that has kept me from living in this new way?” What a difference! If you will only persist with this kind of bold self-questioning, nothing in the universe can stop you from leaving the painful past behind and breaking through to a new you. This is Truth’s wondrous promise.