Two Ways

Two ways that meditation might go:

attention focused entirely on the present - no memories arising;
memories still arising but also a resolution of the identity yet difference between the self that performed past actions and the self that remembers having performed them.

The present self must neither deny responsibility for past actions and their consequences nor remain attached to guilt about them. I performed and remain responsible for discreditable actions even though it was not the present I that performed them. Intuitive understanding of the causes of the past self's actions might help the present self to resolve guilt and continued meditation might generate intuitive understanding.