Living with innocent unhappiness
A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend about emotions. It seemed to be a little bit strange that we have two different words for unhappiness and grief. Is there any difference between those two?
I asked my friend. She said, “In most cases, they have the same meaning, but it seems different.” And then she talked about her mother’s death, she said: “That happened just as something sad” as if there was no difference between the words ‘sad’ and ‘grief’.
An old person once gave a piece of advice to his son:
“Son, the happiest people in this world is those who do not remember what happiness was. If your memory is too good, you will regret how happy your life was and feel unhappy because now it’s not as good as it used to be. Thinking about past, we may even resent ourselves and get unhappiness.”
The young man could never understand how deeply true these words were until he became an adult himself. For him, the present time seemed duller than the past; especially when he saw his children growing up happily with many toys… Their innocent laughter always made him wonder why the gods blessed their lives without sorrows yet cursed his own with bittersweet memories that made him so bitter.
He was once the King of a great nation which no longer exists. He still remembered his days in power clearly, especially when he had to defend against many invaders… The terrifying memories always made him terrified even if it happened only in dreams.
Though he tried hard to forget about that time, it always came back into his mind because this was not something that could be easily forgotten.
One day, while recalling the past, he realized why things were like this for him…
It’s simple:
He has too good an imagination! Even though he did succeed in forgetting some parts of the memories by turning them into nightmares, they never fully disappeared because each memory was very clear and vivid to him unlike ordinary people who only remembered some vague colors and feelings.
His imagination was so vivid that even though he had only experienced the past in his dreams, it was as real as reality itself, more real than remembering something from yesterday even though he knew they were just dreams…
Strangely enough, however hard he tried to forget about what happened in the past, whenever he saw blue skies and green grasses which used to be filled with thousands of people at the time surrounded by enemies; whenever he heard children’s innocent laughter echoing across the city which once belonged to him; these memories always came back into his mind like a bad nightmare… The gods truly did curse his unhappy life with unhappiness because no matter how hard this old man tried, no matter how much effort he made to forget about this past, he could never forget as long as the present was not as good as it used to be…
Dreaming of a better future:
This old man is not that different from ordinary people. Everyone has memories that they cannot easily forget and feel unhappiness because what they have now is not like before. However, some people can learn how to deal with their ill fate and turn it into something positive by dreaming about a better life. Even though the future may still look bleak for them, there is always hope in their hearts that tomorrow will be better than today if they work hard enough. Sometimes they even imagine what the future might be like and try to plan things out so they can achieve their goals easier than ever before… If the present is not as good as it used to be, why not try to make something for tomorrow?
Who knows, maybe you will succeed in making your tomorrow better than ever before!
What matters most?
By dreaming about a better future and trying to plan things out, one can always overcome obstacles and achieve their goal. However, the most difficult thing in this world is not achieving success but dealing with all sorts of problems that come along the way… On the other hand, we cannot worry too much because stress can damage our health and even kill us prematurely. What matters most is how we deal with these problems in life and turn them into something positive in order to live happily… Sometimes when in crisis, people start having nightmares and feeling anxious because they become pessimistic or depressed… These dreams might be manifested from suppressed negative thoughts created by worrying too much about things that might not even be real.
Conclusion:
People will only feel truly happy if they can overcome problems and live their own lives in a positive manner without worrying too much about negative emotions such as fear, anger, unhappiness, and hatred… By dreaming about a better future and turning bad dreams into something more positive we can always remember to follow our hearts when making decisions due to our optimistic nature. This way we should always try to become stronger than anyone else because the present is never as good as it used to be while the future is full of endless possibilities within our hearts.