Sadness No More
“Sad? Let sadness prevail until sadness is no more.”
~ Stock art photo. Quote Whispered by A Tree Friend.
Staying with the emotion of sadness,
what can it reveal?
Compare sadness to happiness.
Compare sadness to joy.
What can be gleaned?
Sadness has a depth that happiness never can.
Sadness and happiness are like two opposite sides of a coin.
Where there is sadness, there will be happiness.
Sadness and happiness are vagaries of Life.
One can track their rhythms & cycles.
One can watch both (and other emotions),
as passengers that come and go on a subway station.
Joy is not the opposite of sadness,
but arises out of the present moment.
So when I am present,
can sadness still remain?
Then let me watch sadness and befriend it as one does
an old wound,
an old enemy,
an old lover,
rekindling the flame with awareness,
and allowing it to pass on its own.
Sadness is not mind to keep,
and this
-except joy-
will past and perish
as all must.
Questions for Introspection, Reflection & Meditation
Why does sadness have depth and happiness does not? Is sadness part of the vertical dimension, or is it because of the nature of sadness?
Is it true that sadness and happiness are opposites? Do they follow each other? What is meant by tracking their cycles and rhythms? Can we record emotions and use this data as part of our awareness and spiritual practice?
If joy happens out of the present moment, and I am in presence, can sadness also be there?
Witnessing is said to be used as an effective technique in dealing with sadness. Is this why comparing sadness to an old wound, enemy or lover means accepting sadness as part of life? Accepting that in this moment, sadness is there, but I am not that emotion?
If I allow sadness to pass, does this mean that by watching it and doing nothing, it will leave? How long will it take to leave— or is this question still a denial of sadness, and means I am trying to rush and get rid of it, and not really understanding the energy that is sadness? Is that why it says to “rekindle the flame,” because I have forgotten that I am to watch sadness and not become it?
Is the word “mind” in “Sadness is not mind to keep” a play on words? While sadness is not mine to keep, does it mean that sadness is part of the ego-mind?
Similarly to Q6, is the word “past” in “sadness…will past and perish” a play on words? While sadness will pass and perish by my watching, does it seem to imply that sadness is from the past, like old memories haunting? Or, perhaps that already in my watching, sadness’ energy is already moving into the past, already receding and going away?
