ROMANTIC MUSINGS: Doorways

“There is no greater sorrow than to recall a happy time when miserable.” ~Dante Alighieri

The strangest things happen in doorways. On the threshold from one place to the next, be it an entrance into a home, or the place where warm waters of the sea push against the cold waters of the ocean, or where the past meets the future, anything will happen.

Perhaps you will enter, or maybe you will exit.

In the oceans of time, you linger in the familiar waters of the past as if waiting on the edge of time and reason to move into the future. The fear of the unknown and the unforeseen leaves us with the feeling of anxiety, and so we remain apprehensive about venturing into unfamiliar waters.

But what purpose does it serve to live in the past and fear the future when the sadness of the present consumes us?

Indeed, you will find comfort in the memories of what once was, but that is only a temporary solution. Akin to consuming alcohol to drown your troubles. The reprieve will only last as long as the moment, but it cannot carry you through life.

It will merely serve to distract you from it.

That is no way to live.

That is no way to love.

And find love again, you will, because it is as the adage goes: “Everything you have ever hoped for lies on the other side of fear.”

Be not afraid of what may or may not happen for that fear will merely be a fire that will consume your hopes and dreams. Fear, instead, that you will miss out on the greatest blessings of your life, and let that fire comfort you, warm you, and illuminate your path.

And regret not the past for what it was and what it wasn’t. Be grateful for what it was and what it wasn’t, because to only reflect on the good in lieu of living your life, is to cling to the final thread of a quilt that has come undone. In its present form, it cannot bring you comfort. It will only accentuate your misery, and that is the greatest sorrow of all.

But when you live one day at a time with the hope of what will be, you open yourself to the possibilities of a happier time that will shine with such brightness that it will push away the shadows of sorrow.