Transforming sadness October 31, 2008
Posted by admin in : Spiritual Growth , trackbackWhat would our lives be like if we experienced extreme joy all the time? Would we get bored being happy all the time? Would life be nearly as exciting without all the lessons and challenges we face in our daily lives? No. Life was designed to take us to our limits and test us so we could experience life more fully.
I use to fight bad days like the plague because I hated being unhappy, but as I got older I realized bad days were actually gifts and were meant to be embraced and honored. I stopped trying to fight off my emotions and instead learned to acknowledge and make peace with them. Every day was a new day and I never knew what was going to come up over the horizon as the sun rose to meet the day. It is not about moving past your lower emotions…it is about transforming them in to higher more divine emotions like love and happiness.
The body has a way of shutting down around suppressed feelings until eventually the body expels them by way of disease or some other physical ailment. The only way you can truly transform your emotions is to honor them, which means feeling sad when you are sad and angry when you are angry. It’s important to create a space for sadness, anger, loneliness, and all the other emotions that surface during trying times. If not, you could very well end up letting your emotions take over.
I almost allowed this to happen one day last week, as I was having one of those days where life didn’t seem fair and the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I felt sad and my heart heavy. I kept hoping the rain would wash away the grief, but instead, it loomed over me like a dark cloud. I gave myself permission to spend the evening on the couch watching television, drinking wine, and eating comfort food. I allowed myself to cry and feel sad, but the next day was a new day and I wasn’t about to sit around feeling sorry for myself so I had a choice to either let my mind drive me absolutely crazy with negative thoughts or I could do something to transform my feelings into something more positive.
It wasn’t easy, as the mind is quite powerful, but I refused to lay on the couch another day so I made myself some hot tea and got in touch with what I was feeling. I realized it wasn’t just sadness…I was feeling alone and a little insecure, but I also knew I wasn’t trusting in the divine plan or in my higher soul. I knew I needed to put some action behind my intention to transform these lower emotions so I thought about what I could do to make me feel happy again.
My heart was telling me to go on a bike ride, but my bike was in storage and inaccessible. This left me feeling frustrated, as I knew getting out of the house and going for a ride would bring a lot of joy to me so I had to come up with a different plan. I tried borrowing my roommate’s bike, but that didn’t work out so I called a friend to see if I could borrow her bike. I didn’t hear back from her so I went on-line and looked up bike rentals and found a place at the base of the Silver Comet Trail where I could rent one.
It was exactly what I needed to get my power back!!! I rode hard for 14 miles and loved every minute. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day and the weather was perfect. The sun was beaming yet the air was brisk and invigorating. It felt refreshing to be outside and empowering to be on a bike racing down the trail with the wind by my side. Either side of the trail was adorned with wild natural growth of varying shades of green. The trees were ripe in fall colors and there were butterflies and insects fluttering across the fields. As I rode, the sadness dissipated, the loneliness turned in to connectedness, and the fear transformed in to trust. It was magical!!!
The Universe can’t give us what we want if we are stuck feeling sad or if we don’t put some trust in our higher power. We have to transform our energy and in return the Universe supports us with divine love and blessings. Don’t try and outrun your emotions…give yourself a day to sit and process them without feeling sorry yourself. Once you’ve made peace with them, transform them by doing something to create the opposite of what you were feeling. Try it and see what happens.
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