Higher

It seems everything in life is meant to humble us. We often say "that could never be me" or "I refuse to deal with this again". Until, once again, you find yourself in the middle of a puddle filled with your sorrow, and with wet eyes, you wonder, "how did I get here?" It's as if the greatest aspect that validates our humanity, we are too afraid or ashamed to fully embrace — emotion. At least the dark ones, that is. You know the kind? The kind of emotions that knock the wind out of your chest and causes your eyes to burn. The kind of emotions that make you feel as if you are in need of open heart surgery with an estimated recovery time of 'indefinitely'. You feel stuck. You feel broken. You feel foreign to even yourself because you start to forget who you were before this pain. It begins to engulf you like quick sand with no escape route in sight, but trust, it's there.

That is not to say the lighthearted and positive emotions do not engulf you as well, but the effect is different. We all love to love. We love to laugh. We love to smile. We love to form bonds and connections. These are some of the things that come to mind when we think about happiness and completion, but in life, there are always oppositions. For every concept, there is an opposite but equal concept, so if we wish to experience happiness, we must also expect to experience sadness. Therefore, we must honor and appreciate all emotions, both good and bad. Allow yourself to feel because that is when the healing can truly begin and a true sense of understanding can be grasped.

Those dark emotions can knock us so low, we feel there's no way out. We start to question whether recovery is even an option, but, ironically, in the darkest of places, we tend to find our strength because we are forced to reconstruct our own light to find our way out of the darkness and find ourselves. See, the darkness prepares you for the light. The sadness assists you with truly appreciating the happiness. Without the negative emotions and dark spaces, we would not experience expansion. Darkness leaves no room for distraction, yet you are not alone. You are in the company of three: mind, body, and spirit. It's up to you whether you're going to cherish this quality time with yourself and notice the opportunity for genuine healing and growth.

The ultimate goal of accepting the bad, just as well as we accept the good, is realizing the goal is never to simply 'make it back to yourself'. If you are attempting to make it back to yourself, you are moving in the wrong direction. You are not utilizing the pain to your advantage. We do not wish to return to ourselves after being in the darkness; we wish to emerge anew. As aforementioned, the escape route is always there. We just have to find our strength, reconstruct the light within ourselves to break through the darkness, and find the exit. Of course, this is easier said than done, but nothing worth achieving comes easy. Take it easy on yourself. Take it slow with yourself. You're testing your limits and learning your true strength.

Think of it like this: when someone starts to go to the gym after living quite the sedentary lifestyle, this person has to start fairly slow. There is a period of learning and adjustment that must take place before the stages of advancement, in which the heavier equipment can be used. This is not only due to lack of knowledge, but if this individual chose to start with the heavy machinery, it's likely the body would be in worst shape than when he or she began. Pace is not synonymous with quality of progress. So, why would you want instant gratification of surpassing your grief? There is no work in that. There is no lessons learned in that. There is no true healing in that. If you are not doing the work, you cannot reap the benefits.

Embrace all emotion. Remember what makes you human. When you find yourself in that dark pit of despair, remember to reconstruct your light. That light may take days, weeks, months, even years to perfect, but even with one step, you are still moving. There is no time limit on healing, but there is a promise attached to it. The promise is that this light will shine brighter than your last. This new version of yourself will be wiser and stronger than the last. The negative will help you to truly appreciate the positive. Life has a way of humbling us by breaking us down, but once you're down, you can lay there for a moment. Just a moment. Take time to rest. Rest to regain strength. Rest to regain clarity. Rest to regain energy. You will need it because your next destination is higher. Breathe.