Only to a certain extent are we prisoners of the past. The present sets us free. We can shape it to our liking, and we had better start thinking about how we would like it. "Past is Past ,we should look ahead into the future" - you may have heard the echoes of these kind of para-phrases many number of times in the past and you will find it rheoteric in the imminent future as well.
As an enthusiast of unraveling the mysteries of the brain, I know one thing for sure, we cannot annul the past.The brain activates itself based on the information which is impregnated in the neurons spanning our neural network.
The past experiences are stored in the "damn memory" with the aid of the incorrigible neurons.The input to this infallible process comes to the brain from the all saddistic senses.
A whole network of guerillic neurons are activated by the electrical signals to recognize an event, person, object or feeling.
That is why when we come across a partial set of stimuli which we experienced in the past, we get to have the "pleasure" of reminding the past to ourselves.
There are stimuli which are almost certainly not to happen in the rest of our life. May be, we could be salvaged from such deja-vu's in the future.
Then, there is also the other kind, those which created the most remarkable impact in your life.The distinguishing part is that, it might have been a part of everything which might have been inseparable from you.We could always get the laudable aid of the imperishable artifacts, music, stereophonic names, blended events, dodgy calendar, polyphonic tunes and what not.
Even if we can manage to find some courage to annihilate them we cannot evacuate the damn data in the neurons.We can pretend the absence of the omnipotent stimuli around us.We are caught up in the prison of the past. It can be apparently denied but not defied.
