When Sadness Arrives and Watching It Leave

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always.”

— Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948)

SADNESS is a universal quality of emotion we all feel from time to time, and it is important to put in context. Sadness comes and then it goes. What comes always goes eventually. And when we say, “This too shall pass,” we say a truth, whether it is a good thing or a sad thing that passes. All things pass. When sadness arrives we might as well be ready to watch it leave as we accept its presence, come what may.

And accepted sadness is wonderfully marvellous, for when have we ever accepted sadness blissfully? This seems such an anachronism during a sad time. But sadness accepted has already made the way for its leaving.

Investigating the Injustice within the Sadness

There seems to be a correlation between injustice and sadness.

Feeling sad, of its own volition, seems a very unjust state of being. Much sadness is due to relational concerns – betrayal, disappointment, resentment – all based in the perception (and probable reality) of injustice.

Sometimes these injustices remain, clinging to our psyches for a time. It doesn’t mean we are sad all the time, but there is never too much a departure from a prevailing depression.

Sometimes there is no need to investigate the sadness – it just is what it is. We accept it and we are favoured somehow. But then there is the vacancy of emotions that springs from emptiness. We just don’t know why we are sad; we just are. Some investigations prove fruitful, whilst others are futile.

Experiencing its Arrival; Observing its Leaving

The less we cruel ourselves for feeling sad – resisting the “toughen up, princess” approach – the more we can just cut to the chase and accept what is. Feelings from deep within ourselves that are heard and validated as real and worthy of attention are healed with relative ease.

We only have to see how we go when we share our deepest selves with a caring other – when we experience healing’s lightness – to know the effectiveness of gathering and garnering the truth.

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When we say, “This too shall pass,” we say a truth, whether it is a good thing or a sad thing that passes. All things pass. And the injustice in our sadness is ultimately reconciled by God, because the Lord of Life always wins.

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.

Photo by Matthias Haltenhof:  www.matthiashaltenhof.de/portfolio/