The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you’ve lost it. Anonymous
I am having real trouble with a particular thought that will not go away even though am unwilling to name it, own it and hence give it life. When I begun this blog, it was with the mindset to inspire to give positive thought and experiences out to the world. I think I am well along my way with that, however I am now confronted with this invasive thought that reality is not always happy and wonderful, there is a lot that mars our happiness and gives us grief, we cannot always be up, there is a down . Actually the universe demands it, the balance, good and evil, ying and yang, and so on. It is all inevitable. One of my favorite poems or should I call it sayings by Khalil Gibran the philosopher is exactly about that balance. In his writing “On Joy and sorrow” he says Joy and sorrow are inseparable, neither one greater than the other. Hence my dilemma!
Anyway, so I have been wanting to talk about less happy and light things, and do a few “darker” pieces but fighting with myself because who needs more dark in their lives? Why should I be adding to whatever bad someone is going through? Why not stick to my initial goal and be light and inspiring? It is especially hard when I get feedback for pieces in my blog when people say to me, you seem to know just what to say to me when I most needed it, you have helped me work through a problem I was facing, you inspire me! These are burdens indeed! Not bad ones, I am grateful to even have a little power to inspire, to make someone feel good about themselves and their own surroundings, to give hope that this world can really be beautiful.
My dilemma is that in this process I am not giving a true and whole representation of myself. My life is not always light and inspiration, like everyone else I have my moments where getting out of bed is difficult, my life is just like everyone else’s with joy and pain, and lots of sunshine and plenty of rain. My dilemma is how do I in my writing stay true to the balance of life?
I am not saying that my life has an extremely dark side of it, or that even if it does that I am willing to share it. I am just wondering if my not talking about negative issues makes my representation of the world too one-sided? This is obviously not my true reality, just the part I have chosen to share. Though lately the balance is trying to push through, more and more the pieces I want to write have are the other side of me, I sound like I have a multiple personality right? No, am just learning to understand all of me embrace all of me, the good and the bad and now am wondering if I can represent both to the world? Is it appropriate?
As you can see I have not yet made a decision and I have by asking a series of questions been able to avoid the topic in my head yet another time. I think I will continue to toy with this idea until it goes away and stops bugging me, or until it becomes such an overwhelming thought and it breaks its way through on to the pages of my blog. I think the time is not right and it has not yet consumed me so …………..onwards and forwards for mirth and inspiration!
* Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, 1980
“Let the strength spring from inside you
and dont expect to tap into the strength of others;
Condition yourself to beat disappointment
but also take time to cry…
Do not restrain yourself! Crying has its secret powers too,
it sets the natural stage for convalescence and healing.”
“Remember to show God how much your heart
is bleeding burning and choking;
after all, he is the only one
who really needs to know..”
==PKG==
HOPE FROM DISILLUSIONMEN
Pete, that is absolutely beautiful! I think I would like to be the first to commission you to do a piece of poetry to suit each of my pieces of writing. You need to put more of your work out there it is really good! Thank you for getting me on this piece and for giving me further inspiration!
How can you know light without knowing darkness? We all have those days and i its helps to know that you aren’t alone. We have a choice in choosing the face we want to share…triumph and defeat darkness and light…none can exist without the other as each depends on the other for its very existence
Great work my friend…. I have those places of joy and pain, along with the days that I carry my own type of “rain ” stick so to speak . For me the rain is when I feel the need to give those around me a piece of my mind or literally speak up about an issue that has been long on my plate or running around in my mind. As a mom and a teacher I note that I have to be available to pass on joy to my daughters and the students whom I teach. This passing out plates and plates, cups and cups, along with bowls and bowls of joy for me is exhausting. I give out at times and go to a dark place or what I call my quiet zone. I have to recharge my battery of light so to speak …. maybe this is one aspect of what you do when you see or feel that you are entering your ” darkness.”
In my opinion, some matters of the heart are best shared to the trusted few, and only inspiration shared to many.
After all, in the words of Alan Cohen…….“Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused”.
Without you writing about the joy and pain couldn’t understand it better
I welcome mirth and inspiration any day :)! As you rightly say, at the right time, and when it feels right, you will share the ‘darker’ pieces too. The joy , the sorrow, the light, the dark…they are all like different pieces of the never-ending dance with life (if I may use your words); each piece comes in its turn or else we might lose the rhythm. Keep going!