Past, Present, Future.

There are several novels and a role playing game that is based on a fictional world named Kryn (DragonLance in case you have not figured out by now), and there lived Raistlin Majere (lets just call him Raist), the most kick ass guy ever. This all powerful mage had but one flaw, and that flaw was what made him so powerful: He was the Master of Past and Present! In the future Past, a wizards named Fistandantilus sent his essence into the future and possessed Raistlin, which gave Rasit the the ability to develop a power beyond imagination.
Later, Rasit traveled in time and took on Fistandantilus and absorbed him while he was still alive! It was like being two times a powerful as you can be! But with all that power and shit he still could not escape his past. Since he became Fistandantilus, he became destined to die and go forth in time to fin himself (Raist) and be lock in a never ending circle.

Why am I telling you this? To see what happens when you stop living for today while thinking about the future and start living in the past and thinking that the past is the answer to your problems and the root of your curses.
See the past is just that: PAST... you can't do shit about it because, unless you have a time machine (in which case you'll have to let me borrow it, I wanna meet hide), you CAN'T change your past! The only thing you can do with that is learn from it. Period.
On the other hand you have the present, that thing which you are living now. You can screw the present big time if you decide to live in the past, because the past it's a bitch... it wont let you go.
Then we have the future... all we can do about that is get ready for it learning from the past, the hard part is that no one knows what awaits us in the future, unless you have a time machine (in which case you'll have to let me borrow it; I wanna know who wins the Euro2008 and then make some bets).

Bottom line is: you have to own you past, you can't let your past own you. It's the same thing with money: when you own money, you are wealthy; when money owns you, then you are just greedy and that sucks.