There are two sides of time. There is this one and that one. What I mean by that is that a part of us exists right inside of time itself, on this side, and another part of us, the one subjected and imprisoned by time, is on the other side.
There are days and there are those little seemingly insignificant moments throughout any day when you have a real opportunity to separate yourself from the clock that holds you prisoner, and to look at everything from a different reality, from the other side, to look at life from an infinite perspective.
I have learned recently that being down or melancholy offers a far deeper opportunity to enter into the mysteries of all existence, than being up and on top of things. Not that being up, with it, and on top of things is not the goal and the penultimate experience. It’s just that we seem to become less sensitive to the whispers of life and our creator. It seems that being down, experiencing suffering, going through doubt or turmoil, connects us to our mortality. It points us to the inevitability of our own death, and in a purposeful way demands of us that we take the next breath with more meaning.
I have learned to accept and embrace the down swings. I have learned not to fight those periods of sadness and melancholy that come around as timely as when the new moon turns to a full moon. All those thoughts and pangs of confusion and existential angst seem to be there for a reason. They were planted there for a reason. They come for a reason and they also linger and aim to slow us down. Yes, when you are feeling down, unworthy, and useless, you manage to slow down.
You begin to ask yourself what you are doing? Where this is going? How long will it take, and what the reason if any there is for anything and everything. There is a level of great depth and beauty in those quiet moments of desperation on this side of time. Time stands still on this side of things, while it rushes seemingly nowhere, on the other side.
We need to learn and love to be on both sides of time. We have to embrace our moods and sufferings not as sign of failure, but as example of our human nature. We are truly courageous people when we accept our suffering. When we accept the cost for living. When we embrace everything that enters our lives, yet we continue to strive joyfully forward.
Yes. Joyfully.
Sadness and melancholy and everything else that might be overwhelming your life at the moment are different from depression or mental illness. Not all the things that bring us down keep us there. We need to learn to distinguish and learn to tell the difference. Some of our darkest moments may be hidden gifts that too many people mistakenly hide from. An opportunity many run away from.
There are two sides of time. This one and the other one, and we have to learn to live and breathe comfortably no matter where we find ourselves.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Clement Gerbaud via unsplash.com
