Everything has a beginning. Everything has an end. It’s how we deal with what happens between those two extremes that shapes our character and determines our levels of satisfaction and happiness.
Put simply…all things must pass.
When difficult or challenging things come to their conclusion we can feel relief and release. The ties that had bound us are broken. We become free to pursue a different direction.
But when things that brought us both fulfilment and pleasure finally run their course our reaction is quite different.
We grieve the loss of good times and good relationships. We dream of restoration although we know that it is not possible.
And while grief is a natural reaction to loss it leads us in the wrong direction. A painful emotion can become a destructive force. Negativity feeds on negativity.
Aware of the gap left by loss there can be a tendency to grab at substitutes to fill the void. We want to ease the heartache we are feeling. There are no quick fixes. The link between where we were and where we are has been broken. Time offers us the opportunity to build something new.
While we will shed tears because we have lost something that meant so much to us there is a way to ease the pain.
Rather than crying because it’s over there is so much more to be gained by smiling because it happened.
Memories can bring either tranquility or torment. They can either be a weight we carry or a support that we use to move forward.
Above all else memories are personal and we get to choose what we want to do with them.
Gary Bentley Counselling 