Joy is Allowed.
One member of my family recently said to me… “you have always seemed very wise to me, although, a little tortured.”
I have wondered. Am I tortured? Or just attuned to the collective grief?
But then, I thought about joy. And I think most people would agree, I’m a pretty joyful person. I realize, it’s all true.
I am joyful.
And tortured.
Tortured, because I can’t help but feel what’s going on around here (as in, the world)…and I bet you feel it too.
Yet, I find myself both joyful and grieving in a harmonizing calibration. The more I allow the grief to move through, the more I allow the joy to fill in behind it. I am equal parts joyful and tortured. This feels natural and liberating to me.
I know that you see my liberation and that you see my grief, my rage, my fear, and my joy. Because I see yours and that’s the only way it can be.
Together, as a collective, we are grieving, and we are celebrating the joy of living. This is all happening as one.
“We heal together,” a recent book by Michelle Cassandra Johnson, explores this important balance between suffering and joy. There are many gems inside this book, but this passage struck me in particular.
“Something happens to us through a process of conditioning, socialization, and experiencing trauma that makes us believe there is no place for joy. To me this suggests that many of us are taught or trained to resist and deny our own joy, either because we do not think we are worthy of experiencing joy, or we are taught it is wrong to feel joyful.” (p.121)
Boy I see this too. Most of us have gotten the message one way or another…joyful is not allowed. We are supposed to be in pain because we are not all free. I get that. It’s true. We aren’t free until we are all free.
And.
Grieving transforms into Joy.
As we grieve, we transmute that suffering into joy and even, bliss. This cleans the screen of consciousness, and an expansion of clarity emerges. This joy produces hopeful outlook and positive, productive, capacity. Without joy, we can’t see the clear truth and act accordingly to make a difference in the world.
“Acknowledging (our loss) individually and collectively breaks something free and releases bracing in the body, spirit, and psyche. This allows our prana to flow freely in the body. When our prana flows freely in the body, we are able to connect with the divine force that exists in all beings, and we are better able to see what is causing our collective suffering and effort to find freedom.” (p.24)
So, we grieve, we release, we stop bracing…and then…love flows in, and we see clearly what needs to be done. Seems pretty intuitive to me!
Allow the Grief.
Allow the Joy.
It is all allowed in this human experience.
And remember, though it has been a long winter, Spring is arriving.
And Joy is Allowed.