Lately I’ve become more “conscious” of my mental habits, and I’ve noticed how I tend to hold on to grudges and other old stuff much longer than needed. (Hint: I only “need” to hold on to the past for about a second.)

I have also become more aware of important messages in my dreams, usually as metaphors. Last night I had a dream that there was an accident at a cemetery, right next to a busy street, and a grave was ripped open. Decayed body parts spilled out into the street. The dream was brief and not overly graphic (one of those out-of-focus dreams), but I got the feeling when I woke up that the dream held a message for me.

Upon consulting my dream dictionary and my own intuition, I asked myself the question: What unpleasant things from my past have I brought up again?

The lesson I have learned from this is that the past belongs in the past. Bury the dead and leave it buried. Bringing up any kind of guilt, shame, pain or anger from the past is like opening up a grave and hauling out the corpse to have another look. We don’t need to do that to ourselves.

Here’s wishing you all presence of mind in 2009. Namaste.