In this blog, we often talk about how our thoughts can influence our actions. This seems pretty common in cases of drug addiction and alcohol abuse. People sometimes abuse drugs or alcohol to try to block certain thoughts.

They often try to blot out their pasts. This is so common. We’ve all done things in our pasts that we wish we hadn’t, or we’d do those things differently. If we had second chances, we’d say different things than the things we actually said or not say them at all.

But we know that this can’t happen. There aren’t mulligans and do-overs in life. That’s why I have to remind myself that the past is the past. We can’t change the past.

That has been one of the hardest lessons I’ve ever had to learn, and I’m still learning it. I still criticize myself for things I’ve said and done, even though I know that this criticism isn’t going to change what I said or what I did.

That might be why I like the word excelsior. For one, it sounds cool because of the x sound. Secondly, it’s a Latin word, and Latin’s always interesting. But mostly, the meaning of excelsior is what makes it so interesting.

Excelsior means higher. It is the motto of the state of New York, which translates excelsior as still higher. Still others have translated excelsior to mean forward, not just higher.

This seems to be the meaning used in the book and movie Silver Linings Playbook. Both provide interesting depictions of people living with mental illnesses. In the book and the movie, one character uses the word excelsior to indicate that he wants to go forward with his life, to be more positive, to rise up from the past.

This seems to be a useful tactic. If we focus on our present and on our future goals, we’ll have less time to focus on the past. If we accomplish those goals, we can use those accomplishments as our touchstones, not our pasts.