Past is Past ??

We have heard this “Past is Past. Forget it/Leave it… Live in the Present/Move ahead” several times from our friends, elders, well-wishers, psychologists etc. This makes an apprehension that the past/history is not important and only the present is important because we are told only present is in our hands, neither the past nor the future. But the psychologists, during the process of counselling, use the history of the clients to understand & assess their behaviour pattern to help the clients to come out of the problem. We can also find the importance & use of history in several areas of our life. 

With this contradictory thoughts in mind, let us now try to analyze the pros and cons of history.

Before doing that, let us list out the applications of history from different perspectives-

Doctors use the patient medical history to understand holistically how the patient is responding, side effects, allergies etc.  to decide the course of action or prescription of medicine etc.

Engineers use the history of the equipment, historical parameters, maintenance records to asses the condition of the equipment for predictive/preventive or breakdown maintenance of the equipment. The historical trends of different parameters of the equipment help the engineers to operate the machines at the optimum level with higher efficiency and to ensure continual improvement in the performance.

Managers in businesses use the history of purchase of different products to understand the customer buying patterns & use them in strategic product planning, design & promotion etc. Financial records or repayment history are helpful in fund raising/investment decisions. History & past records are always helpful in assisting the effective decision-making process. Even the past history and background of the Human Resources is verified in the recruitment or promotion processes. So, history/past records find a great place in every aspect of Management theory and practice.

Investigation- Criminal records/Crime history are very keen in identifying the criminals by police and collecting the evidence. Tracking the call history has also become a clue for investigating several cases. 

Strategic alliance or war between two kingdoms or countries- We can understand the basic social psychology or mass psychology and the culture of the people of any region of the world if we understand their history properly. This helps in making the strategies of external affairs effectively. We can understand the changes in the behavior also if the present is compared with the history.

In academia- Though the history is one of the key elements of several competitive or recruitment examinations at graduate or post graduate level, its importance in the school or college education is not yet felt. It should ideally to be well integrated to all the professional courses as well.

Entertainment- TV/Cinema industry has achieved great success by focusing on the historical stories/autobiographies etc. in the recent past. In fact, they have created history by telling the History.

Sports- Several records and benchmarks in the Sports history become the new goals to be achieved for the future Sportsmen. Even the strategies of play, especially in Cricket are made based on the pitch history, player history and track record etc.

In the traditional marriage system of India, the past history of the family is also considered in finding out the perfect life partner for a bride/bridegroom.

In Research- Unless we know the history of what has been done so far on a particular field or topic of research, we can’t identify the gap or frame our research objectives & other steps of research. To track what has already been done in the history is nothing but the Literature Review in Research terms.

Disaster Management- Historical records of previous incidences and how those were handled will be the guiding force for the current/future action plan for handling similar type of disasters or emergencies.

We can explore more & more applications of history like this…

If we see the other side of the coin, history or past bad instances eat away the mind and continuous thinking about them pull the mind into a vicious cycle which may lead to deterioration of the psychological health. In such cases only, the psychologists use the mental history of the client to correct the history in this mind. Here, we can perceive the history as the collection of memories both in the conscious and subconscious mind (mostly subconscious).

So the history or past has its role in the following-

·       In the medical field

·       In Psychological counselling

·       In career counselling

·       In Engineering- Operation & Maintenance of Equipment

·       In law & order- identifying the suspects

·       In Management- In Strategic planning, Decision making, Branding & Promoting, Recruitment, Financial Management etc.

·       Alliance or War strategies

·       Emergency Handling or Disaster Management

·       Crucial in academia

·       Sports Strategies

·       Source of Entertainment

 

Past things recorded in the mind or in some physical form or written have become the history for us at present (“History is the Study of the Past” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History ). Similarly, things we record in the mind or in some physical or soft form or written will become the history for the future.

So proper record keeping either in the finance or research or work or anything can only create History… History is always a good source of information… Analyze and take a Decision…

If you want to create history in life, go for proper record keeping & use it effectively.

Learn from the Mistakes of the Past. Correct them in the Present. Enjoy the Success in the Future.

Just brooding over the past will yield no results unless & until it is backed up with proper analysis and use it for a positive change.

Use the history/autobiographies for deriving inspiration and intrinsic motivation.

"Be the Change You Want to See in the World"... Mahatma Gandhi