Some thoughts on joy and sorrow...

When I had not begun to open to the grief in my own heart, when emotions - especially strong ones - scared me to death, I was incapable of sitting with yours. I have a lot of empathy today for what it is to live without having made friends with and embraced my own broken heart. As we grow older, it is my experience and belief that the cost of not being on a heart path only increases, showing up in illness, addictions, depression, broken relationships, etc. because our relationship with ourselves is broken. Many of us grew up in families who did not teach and support us in striving to be wholly who we are. And we certainly live in a grief phobic culture, one which tells us that something is wrong if we are in grief and we need to just have a drink, go shopping, turn on the TV, have sex, caretake someone else, get religion, exercise, work, or any host of other activities - some of which can be healthy - but which can also often take us outside of ourselves in the form of distracting us from that which most needs attending. I'm just so grateful to have been on a path for many years now of making friends with my own grief. And no longer being afraid of yours. Joy and sorrow are intertwined and both equally as necessary to being Alive...

Kahlil Gibran says it beautifully here: http://www.katsandogz.com/onjoy.html

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