The Ups and Downs

Sometimes you need to go through ups and downs, highs and lows, to get back to peace and serenity in your life. We can learn much from the activity found in nature. It acts as a mirror to how our lives work as well. For example, sometimes there must be a raging storm in the ocean. The waves crash harder and rougher; they often appear menacing and dangerous. This is due to a logical combination of events; a build up of wind currents, a mixture of animal and plant life below, rain, etc. Just as when suddenly it may seem a friend or loved one suddenly seems to be upset, angry or whatever other emotion they are conveying, everything is understandable if it is given time and patience to be understood.

Every reaction, every emotion is understandable given enough of this compassionate attention; everything. After a couple years of studying in a Master's degree program for psychology, being a volunteer for a suicide hotline and my own experiences in life in general, I know wholeheartedly this is true. Even the most seemingly far out reaction in any given moment, has an explanation.

Take a moment to imagine a time in your life when you were someplace where the atmosphere was happy. People were celebrating and yet for some reason your mind would not let you be happy. You were thinking about the job interview you didn't get, the ex-significant other who broke your heart, etc. When someone came up to you and told you to cheer up, maybe it annoyed you a bit. Well, magnify that response if your mind had been on something even more tragic.

What my true desire in this world is a movement toward more understanding and less fear. I believe people will suddenly say “What's wrong with that person?” or say that person's “crazy” has a emotional disorder, etc because they fear what they do not understand. If a party is going on and suddenly someone starts crying maybe that person thinks they caused it, or maybe the reaction embarrassed them, etc. In some way the unexpected reaction made them feel uncomfortable; a feeling they want to remedy immediately.

Our society has our minds filled with a constant influx of information, technology, etc. We often don't have time to even stop and pay our bills on time much less think about why a person's emotions don't seem to be in sync with the atmosphere in an environment. But, if we want to feel fulfilled we need to make time to understand one another. We also need to take time to take care of ourselves. We cannot let others bring us down, but we cannot turn our backs on those just because they are going through rough times.