A group of people were having a conversation. Among them a wise man cracked a joke. All present were highly amused and appreciated the humour. After a while he narrated the same joke again. This time the response was tempered. He repeated the joke twice again. A member of the group burst out at him, “Why are you repeating so many times; it’s no longer amusing its irritating.” The wise man responded, “If repeating a joke ceases to amuse after few times; then how do we carry on repeated remembrance of painful stories?”

The way a person deals with the unpleasantness in the past influences largely his attitude and approach to dealing with the present. Carrying excess emotional baggage does not augur well; it could affect your self-esteem. You might get convinced that you are the root of all the misfortunes that have befallen you and will mope and indulge in an unforgiving criticism of yourself. The already low levels of self-esteem could ebb further and make you cynical.

Que sera sera – what it will be, will be. Reminiscing and reacting to the past is as futile as attempting to resuscitate a corpse. Memories do remain. But what is important not be reactive and not to use that as a scale to measure oneself which affects one’s progress and development. The past should never be empowered to affect the present.

A farmer had a couple of horses that he used for tilling or drawing water for irrigation. They would be tied the whole day. At night the farmer would leave the rope tied around their necks but never tied the other end. An onlooker enquired, “Why don’t you tie the other end, won’t the animal run away?” The farmer replied, “The end round their necks is enough for them to believe that they are captive. They feel other end is secured.”

Thus the unsavoury memories of the past should not become such convictions to restrict our freedom from past & to evolve and grow. Treat present as a ‘present’, a gift free of past & wake up to the dream of wonderful future.