A Grudge – to hold or not to hold – that is the question

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked, Gibran

Pain is an inevitable part of the human experience. We came to life so we shall experience it as part of living. However, to what extent we allow it to consume us, is a choice. 

Pain can be the biggest teacher of joy. Knowing it’s harsh gnawing within can make you look for its expanding opposite without. And when you know the sharpness of its blades you learn ways to soften the pangs of its thrusts. As Gibran beautifully puts it…

When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight….

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed

As we go on in life things will happen that will aggravate, hurt, and harm us.  But we shall need to remember that these emotions are not here to stay – because they can consume us in the ugliest of ways. 

Love is the only emotion that is here to stay- love is the only energy that needs to keep flowing for as long as we are alive.  Because love heals- and empowers. And nothing feeds love more than appreciation – or a consistent ability to see the good and let go of the bad. And you let go of the bad only when you eye it with compassion and understanding. 

If l choose one value to teach my daughter, it would be appreciation- for herself, for others, for life. I want that when she has to walk away from a person or a situation, she walks away with love. I want her Not to remember ‘why’ she had to walk away but only that it feels good to be away. In other words, I want her to only seek peace and never hold a grudge. 

While pain is inevitable, happiness is possible. But a person who doesn’t have appreciation will never know how to be happy.