“It teaches us to toss aside the unhappy memories of the past” (ODAT, 31 March)
When I say it once, and without elaboration or decoration, it’s said. Does it need to be analysed? No. Does it need to be meditated on, ruminated on, pondered? No. Do I need to talk about my ‘feelings’ about it? No. I didn’t like it. That basically covers it. But it’s over now. To be upset about something in the past today is to deny what is around me, to deny the opportunities for ordinary happinesses and pleasures, and to wallow like a pig in mud. The physical brain, trained to continually retrieve shot gamebirds, might repeatedly draw my attention to something from the past, but that does not mean I have to obey it. I’m not a machine. I have choice, and I can choose whether to have my life dictated by a small number of events from 40 years ago or whether to display character, fortitude, and good humour and get on with my life today.