Sadness is necessary ....

Have you ever heard of Ted Talks? I use them a lot in my training at work and subscribe to their email newsletters. I sat down today to watch this one that was in my inbox when I got to work. The timing of it was incredible, and I couldn't believe it when I reached the end of the 5 minute video. It was like it was made for my blog!

This blog is dedicated to the subject of suffering in the form of unsuccessfully trying to have a child. I have repeated over and over how the major lesson I have learned is that suffering in some form or fashion is inevitable and is, in fact, what makes us all human. It is the force that bonds us to one another if we allow ourselves to feel sadness and suffering rather than fight against it by denying our feelings, succumbing to society's expectation to "suck it up" or expressing anger instead of our true feelings of sorrow or grief. This video addresses that very notion emphasizing not only the naturalness of sorrow but the necessity of it.

I think the video speaks for itself, so I'll be quiet now and let you watch it. But those of you who are here because you are suffering, remember that you are not alone in your sadness. That all of us suffer sadness from time to time. Allow that sadness that inside your heart at this very moment to just overcome you for a moment. Just sit with it and let it be. Cry and explore the way your heart and body feel. Then imagine that everyone in the world is feeling the exact same way. Feel how that knowledge allows you to love others - even the most unpleasant of people - because you know that their actions are motivated by that profound sadness that you are feeling now. Then go forward armed with that knowledge and be a shoulder for them to cry on. Relate to them and watch the world become a little more gentle and a little sweeter.