A man was living in a flat which was owned by a rich and old lady. She used to live all alone and had no one in the world. Although she was alone and was mostly ill, she was always found to be smiling. She never let herself being disappointed by any problem of the world. His tenant was a young and energetic man who was trying all his best to make up his future.
Just like any other man of his age and situation, his emotions were controlled by the small achievements or setbacks. Small successes at once made him happy while temporary setbacks made him feel disappointed. Whenever he visited her landlady, she used to say a sentence much repeatedly which was, “Close the door behind you”.
After hearing this on a number of occasions, he thought that there would be some other meanings hidden in these words. One day, when he was sitting with the old lady, he could not stop himself from asking this question for which the lady smiled and said, “My child, this world is full of sorrows and difficulties. No one can claim that he never had any sad moment in his life.
Life is like a cycle that has got two wheels; one wheel of joys and other wheel of sorrows and these wheels take their turns and keep rolling in our lives. But one thing is for sure; life never feels pity for those who keep crying for all the unhappy events of the life. In fact, life gives another chance for everyone to be happy by bestowing him with a gift of a happy moment followed after a sad one.
But those who always keep thinking about their losses and keep crying on them cannot see the happy moment that silently comes nearby. Eyes filled with tears never let you see the things around you clearly and when the happiness comes near to you, you cannot see it and it silently advances.
That is why lucky are those who quickly forget their misfortunes, wipe the tears of their eyes, see the happiness near them and again return to life with a broad smile but this is only possible if you close the door of unhappy yesterdays because until and unless this door is open, the heat of sadness will strike your feelings and emotions and will never let your tears to dry up. Thus it is necessary that you should close this door and it is the reason I ask you to close the door behind you.”
I have seen many people who once used to be the pillar of their families and used to support everyone of it but once they had such an incident that they never came out of its sad memories and all the time they were found to be absolutely overwhelmed by the sad memories of the past.
Then they themselves became a burden on their families and were never able to get out of the tormenting past. They left their jobs or shops, got alienated from all the family gatherings and more sadly, forgot their responsibilities regarding their family members. Tears of his wife dried down but it did not make any effect on him, the worsening conditions of children could not move his heart and the illnesses of parents did not make him return to the normal life. Now, everyone is thinking about him and everyone is giving his full time and attention to bring him to normalcy.
No doubt, some events of life shake us from our roots and demolish our mental and emotional structure but it never grants permission for a person to be a picture of sadness. This is a kind of picture that keeps filling the poison of sadness in the lives of people around them. Children forget their smiles, parents look ill and aged and rest of the members appear to be under a constant tension.
One who is responsible for ruining the general serenity and harmony of the family cannot be forgiven on the pretext of being sad. No doubt we have become a victim of our fate but we should never try to inflict this poison into the lives of others.
Those who appear to be maddened by any sad event need to understand this very well that they are depriving many of the right of being happy and they can never be forgiven for this.
The only solution for the above problem is to show a sense of responsibility by the person himself and close the door of sad memories. There may be a mayhem in his mind and emotions but he needs to be responsible enough to control his emotions and not let the lives of many more ruined.
It should also be kept in mind that extreme feelings of joy and sadness last for a limited time only and if one successfully controls himself in these extreme moments, he would soon feel much better about all these and controlling the emotions might not be much difficult.
Similarly, a sad moment might be followed by a joyous one and it might be a good opportunity to bring about positive changes in your feelings and mental condition.
Those scholars and thinkers who tried to understand the essence of life termed it to be a very precious gift and advised us to enjoy every moment of it and not let it to be wasted by the sad memories. It would be very unlucky if a sad and dark page of life covers all the pages of this book and makes it a book full of sad memories.
There are those who become a burden on others and who cannot control themselves. There are those who cry on the time and then return to normal life. But there are those courageous ones who smile although their hearts may be crying. They quickly wipe their tears and then run to wipe the tears of others as well. With their eyes clear of all the tears, they are also the lucky ones who see the happiness coming from the distance and welcome it with a broad smile. Happiness is also like a sensitive guest; if it is welcomed, it enters into your life and if not, it quickly moves to another person.
As I mentioned in some of my other articles, human beings have been gifted with unlimited abilities. Overcoming the sad moments should not be taken as something impossible and nobody should say that, “However I try, I cannot control my tears.” This is an approach of coward people who cannot face the life with courage.
Living a happy life is the right of everyone and can be made possible by taking the responsibility of yourself and closing the door of sad memories. If you don’t believe in my words, you should try it yourself!