 I have decided that it is OK to be sad. Last night the tears started falling, this morning they have continued and my failed attempts at trying to put contacts into eyes half swollen, have me reaching for my glasses instead.
The difference for me this time is in the action steps for I had a choice, I could go back to bed, which I’ve already done twice, succumbing to tears and pulling the covers over my head to hide, or I can choose to get up and allow the words to flow into form, allowing a healing to take place through the simple admission of those few words, “It’s OK to be sad.” The other day during my meditation I witnessed people coming together of every faith, race, nationality, gender, a true diversity of humanity in its purest form. I could hear loud and clear, “What is wrong with this picture?” My eyes searched and searched trying to find what didn’t belong, and after scanning through the vision of color I finally found what didn’t fit into this image. In this beautiful sea of diversity, some had lost their smile. You could see the pain in their eyes, the harshness of life evident on their face, their smile no longer there because there was no more strength left to pretend. The awareness in that moment, was a beauty like no other for the simple fact that it was real and completely authentic. We become so focused on outside appearances and trying to fit in that we completely lose ourselves along the way, and just start walking the motions, one foot in front of the other, plastering on a smile for the world to see, while under that mask the heart is breaking. What if you allowed your heart to break? For the flood gates to burst open, the tears to fall, and the feelings that you have held for so long allowed to break forward into the light. Will you then finally see the pain you have been carrying and honour yourself by recognizing that it is real, it hurts, and you are after all only human? To feel is a beautiful thing as it is the heart expressing itself in the purest of form. Anger are words spoken most often from the depths of sadness, where language and the ability to communicate have become distorted in pain and flow lashing out at the world in an attempt to cover up and hide the truth. Tears are the heart overflowing and allowing the humanness of us to truly feel, to allow those emotions buried deep within the body to rise up and out, pouring forth once again to nourish the earth and allow the seeds of change to begin to take root. It is OK to be sad and not smile today. It is OK to feel all that you feel and to allow it to come forth freely. It is OK for you to notice where there is injustice, suffering, discrimination, anger, and pain within the world. It is OK to feel that those things are not OK, just as it is OK to remember things that have also happened to you over the course of your life that were also not OK. Allowing yourself to feel and release is where the healing can finally take place, and in that healing ask yourself, “Does anyone else feel like I feel? Does anyone else notice the lack of a smile in another’s face? Does anyone else recognize that what is happening out in the world is not OK?” This is what I refer to as entering the eye of the storm. The place of acknowledging your pain and understanding that you are not alone, that there are in fact millions of others feeling and hurting at this very moment, and this is where we are presented with a choice to enter directly into the eye of the storm, that place of calm at the center of it all, a place deep within the very heart of you. Entering into the eye of the storm is a return to peace, a place of accepting you for who you are, a perfectly imperfect human. A human full of struggles and pain, but also of beauty and grace, and just searching and longing for a place to put those burdens down, to close your eyes and rest. Peace comes through the acceptance of your tears and releasing them over to a higher power. Whether you believe in a god consciousness, creator, the universe, it truly doesn’t matter, what matters is that you have come to this place to lay the burdens down and make piece with being OK with not being OK. I plan on spending the majority of my day within the eye of the storm, in this place of peace, sending love to all those broken pieces of me and drawing on the strength of Source to mend it back together with love. I honour myself today, by acknowledging that I need to refill my cup and release the energy that has been weighing me down. When I am ready, I will emerge from this place and venture out once more to focus on all the beauty within the world, the diversity, the color, the celebrations of life. And when I find one with no smile, I will willingly share some of mine in the hopes that it is reflected back, for what I truly understand is that we are all in this together and love is what will pull us through. Today, if you are able, be a smile for one that may need it, or if you feel like I do the need to cry, allow your tears to freely water the earth in a desire to release and let go, planting the seeds for a better tomorrow. But always remember that the eye of the storm is temporary, for the real world exists out there and your smile is needed to help another when you are once again strong enough to share. We stand together in solidarity and strength, and love will pull us through. Lots of Love, Lisa Richard Lisa is the owner of Loving Energy Recharge, a Level 3 Reiki Master, Emotion Code Practitioner, Human Design Guide, Business/Life Coach, and current Level 3 student within the More Than Existing™ self-actualization coaching certification program. Photo Credit: Stefan Keller - Pixaby |