April 26     

Today's quotation:

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.  When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Khalil Gibran

Today's Meditation:

I've had my share of sorrows, and I've had my share of joys.  I must say that the connections between the two things are incredible, if we only take the time to recognize them and understand how they work together.  We try to avoid sorrows because we see them as negative, but so often they open the doors to other things that turn out to be joyous.  The loss of a loved one is sorrowful, but did you meet someone because of that death, or take a new job, or travel somewhere that brought you joy?

I love what Rumi says about sorrow, describing it as something of a purifying force in our lives.  Sorrow comes in and changes things, puts us in a situation in which we have to find a deeper strength, a deeper courage to move on in our lives; once uncovered, that deeper strength is something that stays with us and helps us to realize that we are much, much stronger than we ever thought we were.

Much of our sorrow comes as a result of loss; much of our loss opens doors to things that wouldn't have been possible if the loss hadn't occurred.  My sorrow has made me withdraw into myself to search for something that wasn't at all necessary before sorrow showed up.  Look to your sorrow with open eyes and an open heart, for in it you'll find eventual joys that will brighten your life, and remember that in those joys you'll find the sorrow that made them possible.

Questions to consider:

Why do we tend to see sorrow as something exclusively negative?

What would our lives be like if we didn't experience extremes such as that of sorrow and joy?

How might we deal with sorrow more effectively when it shows up on our doorstep?

For further thought:

Sorrow prepares you for joy.  It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter.  It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place.  It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow.  Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.

Rumi

more on sorrow

  

  

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