This is a story about what to do with the happiness and sorrow in our life. I hope you like it.
Happiness and Sorrow Boxes
At birth, God gave Adam two simple-looking gray boxes.
God said, “In one box, you will put all the wonderful moments of your life – the pleasures, the joys, the laughter and everything that makes you happy”.
“What about the second box?”
“In the second box, you will put all the moments of pain and sorrow”, God Said to Adam, “All the loneliness, the discomfort, the heartache, the suffering, the tears and the misery”.
“But they both look alike. How will I tell the difference between them?” asked Adam.
“As soon as you start adding experiences into the boxes, you will be able to tell the difference”, God promised.
Adam started life and accumulated all his experiences. In one box, he put all the joy and happiness and in the other one, he put all the sorrow and sadness. Over the years, the happy box was no longer gray and simple. It became colorful and beautiful and every new experience Adam put in added even more color to it.
The sorrow box did not change at all over the years and stayed gray and boring.
At the end of his life, Adam stood before God and was asked to present his boxes.
Adam lifted the happy box and, although it was heavy, it was not hard to carry. The sorrow box was light too and its weight did not change over the years.
God opened the happy box and started spreading joyful, happy moments in the hall. Adam looked at his wonderful moments and remembered how happy and wonderful his life had been. Adam was happy that God had made him collect them and he thanked God for it.
When they looked at the sorrow box, Adam felt uncomfortable. He did not want God to spread his pain in the hall. He did not want to remember the loneliness, the heartaches and pain.
“Open the sorrow box”, God said to him.
Adam opened the box and looked inside, it was totally empty. At the bottom was a big hole.
“Oh God, I am so sorry. There is something wrong with my box. I must have damaged it over the years. There is a hole in it and all my unpleasant moments disappeared. I am so sorry. I do not have any sad moment to show you”, he said.
God smiled at him and said, “There is nothing wrong with your box and you have done nothing to damage it. I gave it to you like this – with the hole”.
Adam did not understand. “Why did you give me a box with a hole?” he asked.
God said, “People find it hard to let go of the experiences of his life, whether they are happy or miserable. So I gave them boxes to store them. But I did not want you to collect your sorrows. So I gave you a box with a hole for all the sorrow moments to disappear as soon as you store them. I did not want you to carry their weight all your life. Any sad or painful moment you have experienced, you do not have to experience it again”.
“Then why did you give me the sorrow box at all?” Adam asked.
“Memories are hard to ignore”, said God, “They are part of who you are. I want you to remember every happy moment, but not the sad ones. So the happy box helps you store your good times and enjoy them over and over again and the sorrow box helps free you from your pain”.
If you experience pain and sadness, put them in your “sorrow box” and set yourself free! Then, only happiness will remain.
Be happy in life,
Ronit
