We May Never Pass This Way Again August 10, 2010
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Mindfulness, Music & Dance, People.trackback
Yesterday, I spent some time reviewing photo albums filled with ghosts from the past, memories resurrected that crumbled back to dust as soon as I turned each page.
Nostalgia for the past, memories of the way we were, no matter how strong the pull, will not allow us to make a U-Turn on our one way journey through life.
As Anna Nalick noted in Breathe (2 AM) :
Cause you can’t jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable
And life’s like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, now
Sing it if you understand
And breathe . . . Just breathe. Oh breathe . . . Just breathe.
It’s a one way trip through life, like it or not, as Eddie Money captured in I Wanna Go Back (accompanied by some killer sax!):
I know that things will never be the same
I wanna go back, back, and do it all over
But I can’t go back, I know
I wanna go back, go back
Cause I’m feeling so much older
But I can’t go back, I know
A similar sentiment is expressed in one of my favorite songs by Seals and Crofts, We May Never Pass This Way Again.
We May Never Pass This Way Again celebrates our one way ticket through life, reminding us that, although the future’s obscured from view, we must let go of our fear and keep sailing forward:
Like the twilight in the road up ahead,
We don’t see just where we’re goin’.
And all the secrets in the Universe,
whisper in our ears
And all the years
will come and go,
take us up,
always up.
Like Columbus in the olden days,
We must gather all our courage.
Sail our ships out on the open sea.
Cast away our fears
And all the years
will come and go,
and take us up,
always up.
Make the most of this moment . . . you’ll never pass this way again.
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Spirit Lights The Way 
Good post, keep the good memories and discard the rest.
Just so.
For some reason, I am thinking of the Don Henley song, “The Boys of Summer” and the line “Out on the road today, I saw a deadhead sticker on a cadillac, a little voice inside my head said “Don’t look back, you can never look back.”
It’s hard not to look back though…
Love that song. I should have included it too!
Nance, I sense such sadness. Tell me it’s my imagination and to take my turban off! Big hug to a great supporter of others – XO
Thanks, Amy. You’re sweet!
I’m not really sad. Although, yesterday, looking at the photos of all my nieces and nephews when they were still “munchkins” made me wish time hadn’t flown by so fast. : )
And I wish that my parents were as they were 15 years ago, instead of as they are now.
And looking at Cindy’s list of songs from the 70’s brought my teen years flooding back and made me wonder how I got from there to here so quickly.
But, it’s really not sadness that inspired this . . . it’s my desire to keep moving forward to see what’s waiting around the bend.
Lovely post. Sogyal Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist master) does this thing where he taps his finger on the table like the ticks of a clock and says, that’s your life ticking away, each moment never to come again, each moment bringing you closer to death.
Sure makes you think.
Yes, and because we can’t peer around the bend, we never know how much time we have left.
We might be just beginning. We might be near the end.