Transformation happens even when we are experiencing great sorrow. When we deny our grief, we also shut out joy.
We live in a culture dominated by hyper-positivity and damaging behaviors. The endurance to stay positive can overwhelm us and staves our growth and capacity to evolve. It is even harder to keep emotions pushed aside and tamped down. Individually and collectively, moving toward our felt sense of authentic adulting means we hold the capacity to feel our wholeness, including sorrow and grief. If this sounds scary, we are with you!
Frequently, we use our busyness to cover up our feelings. If we move faster, we exhaust ourselves and can “avoid” our emotions; again, we’ve been here too. Absolute joy is our genuine sorrow.
Being stuck in one feeling is the absence of sensitivity and robs us of true happiness. It’s like a sunset that introduces death, change, and beauty; a sunrise introduces new beginnings and brilliance. Our soma has been designed to capitulate with endurance from one feeling to the next; let’s call in our communities who can hold up lamps for us as we adventure into the dark places supporting us to safely cross into the territory of feelings.
When we create space to feel, we stretch our capacity for health and healing. And when we tap into our deeper emotions and sorrow surfaces, tears are the murky depths that begin to clear our paths toward bubbling springs of joy.
No mud, no lotus. -Thich Nhat Hanh
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
-Khalil Gibran, On Joy and Sorrow
