There are plenty of sayings that describe how humans have to push on and move ahead in order to grow and prosper. While the sentiment makes sense, it’s not actually the most useful piece of advice. Instead, what we should really be talking about is how we can use the past in order to shape our future–but how exactly does that work?

Our past is a collection of our mistakes

When we make mistakes, it’s fairly normal to bury them in the past so they never rear their head again. Unfortunately, hiding your mistakes like this isn’t progressive. Instead, what we should be doing is analysing these mistakes and attempting to find the cause and the effects it had, then use that knowledge to prevent it from happening again. We can also use those lessons to avoid similar problems and improve our future.

Our past shows our progress

People that study the past or at least have a grasp of it will often tell you just how much progress we’ve made as a collective. This is because understanding and embracing the past can show us just how much progress we’ve made. Whether it’s using statistics and facts or simply realizing that we’ve changed, it’s a great way to understand how far we’ve come and also gives us predictions on where we’re going.

We’ve included a fantastic example of a study of the past involving American women in war and how their role evolved. Using this, we can see just how progressive our society has become and it even gives some indication to where we might be going.

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