There are days when I have an unexplainable blanket of sadness covering my entire being.

There is no rationale reason, nothing has triggered it, I just feel sad.

My old reaction would be to judge it; to discount it; to push it aside. I would pack it away in a little box, tape it shut and toss it down into the basement and lock the door to deal with at another (future) time.

Except that at some point, your “basement” starts to get a little crowded, cob-webby, and maybe starts to smell a bit…You recognize that there is stuff you need to deal with and unpack, but the thought of opening the basement door sends you spiralling into a state of panic, anxiety, or a freeze state where you become numb.

How did we get to this point?

Why have we dedicated so much “real estate” of our being to stored emotions?

Do you let your toilet get backed up? Hell no!

So why do we pack it all up and put it in the basement and force ourselves to deal with it in a flood? Or worse?

It’s fear. 

Fear of facing emotions, sensations, and any other energy state that is outside of our “comfort zone.”

Our comfort zone is what we know, what we can count on, what we can predict. It’s safe. And that’s a great place to be, but not when the basement is flooding.

How can we create a space that can hold a healthy level of emotions until we’re ready to step outside of our comfort zone?

By recognizing and honouring the emotions when they surface, and allowing ourselves the conscious choice to feel them, pack them, or release them.

I choose to honour the emotions, and today, I honour my sadness. I let the sadness envelop me like a protective shroud.

I listen, I hear, and I sense the story of the sadness. I get curious about the sadness and notice the energy of the sadness, and then the sadness becomes beautiful, rich, and vulnerable.

I stay with the energy, I let it flow through my system, and travel where it wants to go—I let my body follow. I get to witness the transition; the pendulation; the dance.

I get to release.

Through the process of allowing, of opening up to the unknown on the other side of the comfort zone, of being vulnerable to your emotions and energy—you evolve.

There is no happiness without sadness; no light without darkness; no good without bad.

By honouring the sadness and all the other emotions, you get to experience life.

This is embodied living.

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