Sadness

There is no sadness that does not lead to greater happiness later in life. All our experiences, despite their pain, sadness, or the frustration we feel with them, are in some way a gift nearly impossible to see in the present.

But that gift teaches us. A betrayal might teach us to seek those who don't betray. A bad friend might teach us the value of good friends, and how to choose them. A lost job might open the opportunity to do something closer to our passion. The loss of a house might teach us to live more simply. The occurance of an illness might teach us to value our health even more, and to take steps to nurture it.

Sadness, frustration, anger - these all come from that picture-perfect image we have of What Life Should Be Like, according to us. When life turns out different, those feelings are natural, until the grieving is finished. They help us transition to the place of understanding the lesson.

But I lie. There is a sadness that does not lead to greater happiness...that is the sadness we keep locked away, buried in the depths of our being. That particular sadness is actually like a cancer - it eats away at us, causes us to erect walls, pushes us into isolation. The sadness we have locked away and not released is what causes us the deepest pain - we have no chance to learn the lesson, we make the same mistakes, we end up suffering more, longer, again, and again.

Cry your tears. Let that stuff out because there is no sadness that does not lead to greater happiness - - except when you keep it in. Once it is out of the way, that's when you can find the things that are going right, the loev that abounds, that's when you can accentuate the positive, that's when you can shift the old energy into something new, opening yourself to even more joy, more happiness.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop