From the song 'Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly' by Vanessa Williams:

Never be afraid to love,
Never be afraid to just be,
Just cast away the chains of doubt,
Have the courage to be free.

Don't cloud your rise with father's lies,
See only what you want to see,
To stuplicate the simple truth,
Have the courage to be free.

Open your eyes you can fly,
Open your eyes you can fly,
You can fly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkYiQJRh0kk

Vanessa Williams is a star with a dark history.
http://global.christianpost.com/news/vanessa-williams-abortion-learned-to-embrace-past-73442/

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be."
- Unknown

"The more anger you hold in your heart towards the past, the less capable you are of loving the present."
- Unknown

"I believe in recovery, and as a role model I have the responsibility to let young people know that you can make a mistake and come back from it."
- Ann Richards

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."
- William Shakespeare

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."
- Epictetus

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but how we react to what happens, not by what life brings us but the attitude we bring to life."
- Wade Boggs

MainMessageForToday
How you feel about what happened to you (your reaction) tells whether you accept it or not and determines how much you will learn from it.

From the song 'Change Me' by Justin Bieber:

Girl, I’m ready, if you’re ready, now
Ooh, as I'm ever gonna be,
If you're with it, then I'm with it, now
To accept all the responsibility.
I'd go outta my way
To live by the words that you say,
I don't wanna be the same.

Maybe you could change me,
Maybe you could change me.
Maybe you could be the light
That opens up my eyes,
Make all my wrongs right,
Change me, change me.

https://youtu.be/ZFIM9c48cSM

Some celebrities get in trouble time and time again.
Example: Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber in trouble again: Singer caught on video repeating n-word in racist joke
- The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/justin-bieber-caught-on-video-repeating-nword-in-racist-joke-9467828.html

Jason Fried believes learning from failure is overrated. Do you agree?

"I don’t understand the cultural fascination with failure being the source of great lessons to be learned. What did you learn? You learned what didn’t work. Now you won’t make the same mistake twice, but you’re just as likely to make a different mistake next time. You might know what won’t work, but you still don’t know what will work. That’s not much of a lesson."
- Jason Fried, http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1555-learning-from-failure-is-overrated

"There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience."
- Archibald MacLeish

"He who lives to forget his past lives to die of his past. Knowing the past, and keeping the past helps us to shape the future and may avoid past disaster repeating."
- Anthony Ugwuoke

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." 
- George Santayana

"What experience and history teach is this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it." 
- G. W. F. Hegel

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
- Douglas Adams

MainMessageForToday
Learning from the past requires figuring out the lessons from mistakes, failures, and even the positive experiences. Have you figured out the lessons from your past?

"I swear, with Chloe Bear once again as my witness...
That my problems and failures will not stop me, nor will they dictate who I am.
That I will continue to be my own person.
That life is too short, and I will live every day as the best person I can be.
That I will grow and that I will change.
That I will smile and hold my head high.
That this is a new start and a new day.
That I will allow myself to cry or sit by myself when I need to.
That I will find things to really smile about."
- Stephen Emond, Happyface

Toni Braxton is another star who has had problems but has recovered.

Toni Braxton's Bankruptcy: Singer Admits Home Decor Obsession Lead To Money Loss:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/toni-braxtons-bankruptcy-home-decor-_n_2233458.html

Some experiences makes us feel like we cannot go on, but it is not the end of the world.

From the song 'Unbreak My Heart' by Toni Braxton:

Un-break my heart,
Say you'll love me again,
Undo this hurt you caused,
When you walked out the door,
And walked out of my life.
Un-cry this tears,
I cried so many, many nights,
Un-break my heart.

Un-break my heart oh baby,
Come back and say you love me,
Un-break my heart,
Sweet darlin',
Without you I just can't go on,
Can't go on....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Rch6WvPJE

Let your past make you better, not bitter.
Unknown

"I know now that we never get over great losses; we absorb them, and they carve us into different, often kinder, creatures."
- Gail Caldwell, Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship 

"A lot of things are inherent in life -change, birth, death, aging, illness, accidents, calamities, and losses of all kinds- but these events don't have to be the cause of ongoing suffering. Yes, these events cause grief and sadness, but grief and sadness pass, like everything else, and are replaced with other experiences. The ego, however, clings to negative thoughts and feelings and, as a result, magnifies, intensifies, and sustains those emotions while the ego overlooks the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love, and peace that come from Essence. If we dwelt on these positive states as much as we generally dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, our lives would be transformed."
- Gina Lake, What about Now?: Reminders for Being in the Moment 

MainMessageForToday
Don't dwell on the negative in your past. See the positives in your life and the future as rosy.

George Michael is a star with a troubled past.

After George Michael is jailed for drug crash: A timeline of trouble
http://metro.co.uk/2010/09/14/after-george-michael-is-jailed-for-drug-crash-a-timeline-of-trouble-511879/

George Michael's brushes with the law: timeline
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8002622/George-Michaels-brushes-with-the-law-timeline.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/george-michael-jailed-after-his-sob-story-discounted-6787490.html

Some things cannot be undone....

"Should have known better than to cheat a friend
And waste a chance that I've been given
...
Time can never mend
The careless whisper of a good friend"
- from the song 'Careless Whisper' by George Michael

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izGwDsrQ1eQ

"We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it’s like chasing clouds."
- Libba Bray

"What they did to me, what I am, can’t be undone."
- The Wolverine
The movie also made me think of this quote:
"Sometimes we have to lose things before we can truly appreciate them."
- Unknown

https://youtu.be/btLk7Ut2s3s

"Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven."
- Igor Stravinsky

"All of us, whether guilty or not, whether old or young, must accept the past. It is not a case of coming to terms with the past. That is not possible. It cannot be subsequently modified or undone."
- Richard von Weizsaecker

MainMessageForToday
The past is in the past and cannot be undone. Accept it.

"Sometimes you'll laugh, sometimes you'll cry,
Life never tells us, the whens or whys"
- from the song 'Exhale (Shoop Shoop)' by Whitney Houston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrTuV4Szxzo

Whitney Houston had a troubled past:
http://www.examiner.com/article/whitney-houston-reveals-her-troubled-past-to-oprah-winfrey

"You are free the moment that you forgive yourself for not knowing better, the past has gone, you must learn from it.
- Unknown

"The past should be a learning experience not an everlasting punishment. What’s done is done. Constantly going over the ore deals you previously faced will only be a burden in your life."
- Unknown

"We ought not to look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dear bought experience."
- George Washington

"We learn from failure, not from success!"
- Bram Stoker

"There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go."
- Richard Bach

MainMessageForToday
Don't worry about past mistakes, learn from them.

From the song 'Today Is Your Day' by Shania Twain:

When somebody throws sticks and stones,
All they can break are your bones,
And life's gonna kick you around,
Then kick you again when you're down.

But today is your day,
And nothing can stand in your way.
Today is your day,
Everything's going your way,
Today, today, today, today.

Life's gonna kick,
It's gonna kick you around,
It's gonna kick you down.

Brush yourself off, no regrets,
This is as good as it gets,
Don't expect more or less,
Just go out and give it your best.

Today is your day,
And nothing can stand in your way.
Today is your day,
Everything's going your way,
Today, today, today, today.

https://youtu.be/OMciyWyugKY

Shania Twain - a star with a painful past.....

Shania Twain Still Smarting From Marriage Split, Betrayal
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0012207.html

"Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come."
- Unknown

"Oh yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it."
- Rafiki, from The Lion King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfGTL2PY3E

"My past has not defined me, destroyed me, deterred me, or defeated me; it has only strengthened me."
- Steve Maraboli

"Learn from your history but don’t live in it."
- Steve Maraboli

Theme for the week 8/16 - 8/22: Learn From The Past, inspired by this quote from the week ending 8/8:
"We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future."
- Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience