In the quest for peace full living, we have to embrace all of life—not just the parts that are amazing or delightful or make us happy. For some of us that awareness can be a tough pill to swallow. For a long time I believed that if I just shoved the bad away—then buried it under piles of wonderful experiences and beautiful memories—it would actually go away.

I can be like a hoarder, indiscriminate about what I’m adding to my already full life.  Sometimes I invite sorrow to take up permanent residence in my heart because I’m unwilling to let it go.

There were times when I was able to hold disappointment, grief and sadness at bay for a long time. Then, when I least expected it, the heartache rose up, assailing me from all fronts. No matter where I hid, or how hard I tried to avoid it, confrontation was inevitable. Now, I understand that if I don’t deal with hurt and sorrow it will come back to haunt me. Knowing that, however, doesn’t mean that I always manage to do that. Sometimes tough concepts have to be taught over and over, don’t they?

I’ve learned that there’s not a magic balm that soothes all pain and that not all hurts will be healed in this life, but they can be given less power when we move through them.

Accepting and moving through the painful parts of life is not easy for many of us.
We often don’t want to deal with the darkness.
We may think that if we simply ignore the pain, it will be eradicated, but it won’t. It will linger and become part of us.
We may feel that if we do the hard work, and forgive the injustice, that it is erased. It is not obliterated, but it is moved through.
We may believe that if we get beyond the hurt, we’re saying it didn’t matter. It does matter, but we’re choosing to not let it define us.
Accepting and healing the hurt, the disappointment, the abandonment or the being let down, does not make it cease to have importance, it simply gives us permission to move on to a better place.

Sometimes, the pain hanging in the air is so heavy that it seems I should be able to grab hold of it and hurl it far away,
but when I lunge for it, it simply moves—challenging me, taunting me.
I cannot simply throw it away because
I have to move through it
and own it
and speak to it
and heal it.
In those moments I realize that I have been imprisoning myself.
So, I greet the pain.
I sit next to it.
Then, I embrace it and I weep with it,
so I can let it go.

Peace full living requires being okay with all of your life. Acknowledging, and then working through, does not give the pain more power, but it does give your spirit more power,

and grace
and self-love
and joy
and room for peace.
Kay

©2016 peace full home™/intentional living

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