Let It Out

It’s Ok To Cry

In today’s world we are often overwhelmed with self-help advocates telling us to be happy. Chose happiness and everything will be fine. And when we fail at walking that path, we think something is wrong with our view. Or feel we’re not good enough or spiritual enough or mentally healthy enough within ourselves that we can live up to that talk and be happy. Which only makes things worse.

It would be nice if life were that easy, that we could simply chose to ignore the hurt. But in reality we all face challenges that we can’t always be happy about. We can’t ignore that part of our existence. Yet we don’t have to dwell in the moment and make it worse either. This is yet another example of how balance is what we’re here to accomplish. We don’t have to be happy about being kicked when we’re down; it really is ok to let the tears fall.

There’s something to be said for having a good cry. We release the negative emotions instead of keeping them inside and letting them fester. We’re constantly told we make our own choices and should look for the silver lining and be happy for the challenge that makes us stronger.

That’s all fine and good. But by doing this without allowing ourselves to feel, we’re denying part of who we are and what makes us an incarnated being. Life isn’t always light and happy. Bad things happen and if we’re striving to live in balance we need to accept all aspects of our self; good, bad or indifferent. The tears, the anger, the frustration and everything we’re told is “negative” should not be pushed down and rejected as something bad.

I’ve come to realize that society has put a terrible spin on the word “Negative”. It doesn’t mean bad or evil which is what we have come to associate it with. It means opposite, the other side of the coin, the energy that helps us balance the scale and allows us to appreciate the Positive aspects even more. We can’t truly understand happiness without being sad once in a while. We can’t fully appreciate being calm, if we don’t have moments of anger. And let’s face, there are things in this world that we should get mad about.

This morning I woke up to yet another medical challenge. After going through hell for the past 6 months, struggling on a daily basis and not always facing the challenge with courage, this morning’s issue was devastating in that moment. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of “when is all this going to end”. Why am I trading one problem for another? I can’t go through all this any more. All those whiny self-serving complaints and self negative talk that we often preach against from the pulpit.

I lashed out to who ever would listen. Truth be told I was up before anyone else and therefore I was talking to the “air” and wallowing in my own self pity. I had a good cry and then focused on what to do about the problem. But without the release of that emotional devastation, my judgement was clouded and I couldn’t think of a solution. Of course the problem is not as bad as it “felt” like it was when I woke up. But when you’re in that moment of pain (or whatever), it’s ok to cry.

As with all things in the Divine Universe, extremes are what get us into trouble. Too much of anything, even those things that are “good”, can be bad for us. Being overly happy can cause us to make reckless choices that put us at risk. It’s not always wise to throw caution to the wind with a smile on your face.

Positive and negative energy create the balance that allows us to be a spiritual person living in a physical world.  We don’t have to strive or work hard at it. We merely need to accept all parts of who we are and how we feel. So give yourself an outlet (within reason), for the frustration, sadness and feeling of being defeated. It’s ok to cry, feel sad and “Let it out to  let it go”.

© 2016 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D. Springwolf Reflections / Springs Haven, LLC. All Rights Reserved.