The past is Diamond in its rough state, when refined, every piece shimmers - Nwadiukor Chigaemecha
Varying opinions of the past abound. Different people at distinct places and timelines, with unique lifestyles and experiences, have said much of the past they saw and lived.
But...
"The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet" - Edward Thomas [Early One Morning]
The past may be all you need to get back on your feet, retrace your steps, recall your values and true motives, isolate what's truly important and who really matters... Just the past.
Not all pasts wield such great power, for some had checkered pasts.
Past happiness, past love, past trust, past innocence, past glory and a lot more pasts could ferment the fructose of the good Present, causing it to taste sour like a yoghurt without sweetener. Yet, the past could also be a zoom lens; magnifying the real substance while turning every banal background scene into beautifully tinged glossy spots; then you'd behold the true beauty of the past no matter how horrible. 
Unlike a mould that leaves a certain shape on everything passing through it, the past lets you choose your shape after you pass through it.
That's where most fail - they choose the same old shape they had before the past - but things don't always stay the same.
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? So he asked. A typical question highlighting how unchanged people and views might remain due to past experiences. Ask yourself: what if the past never happened, would I have been different? How sure can I be?
Now Here's the problem and it's not the past. Some people just refuse to pass the past. However, if you bravely stand tall above the fragments of your past, chances are you'd pick up the best fitting, and subsequently move on to build something better than the past with the fragments of your past, for that might be the only fragrance you need to smell the aura of a beautiful morrow.
Introducing...
FOP (Fragrance of the Past) Challenge
Inspired by @stach
Sponsored by @bethelerics
Watch this space...