Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Often times we hear the saying, “what goes up, must come down.” As someone who’s had their fair share of traumas, this phrase has been real throughout my healing journey. I call it, doom and gloom energy. It is a fear around things being good, and then not enjoying them when they are good, because you’re too busy waiting for what is going to go wrong and screw it all up! As I have explored this and still explore this within myself and clients, I have come to realize that yes, Newton was on to something when he said "what goes up, must come down", but no, what goes up doesn’t always need to come down with a crash landing. Transitions from one chapter or experience to the next, can be relatively smoothe and peaceful. Rather than a Newtonian approach, what if we looked at this concept in terms of airplanes.

Do you label your feelings as good vs bad? Do you push away the painful and only welcome the pleasant? Do you offer each of your emotions and experiences the same amount of energy? Do you ever feel grateful for your anger? Most of us, the answer is a simple no. We prefer the feel good over the fear based. It can be said it's better to be in a state of positive emotional health, more than in despair and suffering. Still, a full range of feelings is an inevitable part of the human experience and each unique emotion has the potential to teach us something worthwhile. For many, we welcome positive emotions with open arms, and kick and scream when negative emotions such as anger, disappointment, and sadness, are felt. If the end goal is one of acceptance and self-love, shouldn’t we have as much acceptance for our perceived weaknesses and uncomfortable emotions, as we do in our celebrated emotional triumphs and perceived strengths? We can only truly be at peace with ourselves, when we are able to experience peace even in the midst of uncomfortable emotions.