From Cradle to Grave

MEMORIES. From your earliest memories - it could be as early as three years old - come the flavour and sentimentality that will form your persona as you add maturity and years to your life.
These are the remnants of childhood experiences that each and everyone of us carries with us to our graves. Of course, there may be times when a sudden and traumatic event is thrust upon you.
In the case of such an event, you may envision your entire life in five seconds but such incidents are rare.
Man's life experiences are made up of past memories. An individual can only have memories if he has experienced them or seen them through the eyes of others. What benefits do we derive from memories which we carry within us from cradle to grave.
Bad experiences quickly become bad memories. These have a tendency to be pushed far into the recesses of our mind. Sometimes they are shut down almost forever until another bigger trauma jolted them out of cold storage.
Pleasant memories are like balm for an aching soul. These are the candles in the dark when we need them most. For example, if we are caught in a life-and-death situation and we are not sure if we can make it out alive, then good memories become the rope to safety or sanity for us.
A man who is floating alone in an open sea will remember all the nice things about the loved ones waiting and praying anxiously for his return. Sometimes love alone can save a life.
Hence, memories serve as a raft for us to float out from the sea of woes to the land of hope and love.
A man who has lost his memory is a man without hope. He wanders like a lost sheep. He has no ties, no past, no present and almost no future. That's how important memories are.
A child who has good memories will grow up to be a nice person because there are no bad experiences to affect his personality adversely. A child who has more than his share of bad memories enters adulthood with a burden that would take a lot of effort to shake off.
Thus, we have troubled lives in our midst. These are the people who are unable to unshackle the chains of bad memories that have continued to trouble their minds and hold their hearts to ransom.
An individual who can control his memories can shape his present and alter his future. Therein lies the escape route for all those who harbour bad experiences aka bad memories and unwittingly continue to grope in the darkness of their minds.
All of us can control our minds, that is if we are not certified insane. The idea is to fill every living second of our lives with pleasant experiences. We accept the good, receive the joyful and retain the pleasant.
We make it a lifelong habit to be nice, to be kind and always to be optimistic. Armed with these weapons of mass happiness, we should be able to conquer the gloom and doom that surround the pessimistic and sorrowful.
Let it be known that in THIS life, all of us have a choice. Choice is one of God's greatest gifts to us humans. We can choose to be sad. We can choose to be bad. We can choose to be miserable and we can definitely choose to be happy and hopeful.
The road to unhappiness is not a one-way road. It is a six-lane highway. The rest of the lanes are called joy, hope, happiness, confidence and serenity!
Now, go and choose the road of your life.