I know a lot of people who have been having a rough time lately. I've got a couple things to share that I hope might help you. One of the things the yogic teachings ask of us is to learn how to "be with what is." I think that this presents a very interesting idea: namely, that you are not defined by the experience you are having.
You are not an emotion. You are not a thought. You are not a hand or a foot or a movement or a desire. You are always more than all of these things combined.
In the experience of being alive we can sometimes feel like we are drowning in circumstance; like we are submerged in the sea of emotion, or maybe clutching to an ideal that keeps us stuck. When this happens, can we remember:
You cannot be happy. You cannot be sad. Because you are always more than. Let's instead think of being in the company of joy. Or in the company of sorrow. But it will never define you. Because you are bigger than anything that can happen to you or around you. When we think of being in the company of experience we can see the space between ourselves and events, between ourselves and intensity, between ourselves and success, between ourselves and loss.
We get to have the experiences, not the other way around. Because we are infinite, and long outlive the brief moments of any event.
-----------------
I am in the company of sorrow, whose presence is affecting and strong. I try to be good company. I listen to it, I give it the chance to express itself, I offer it my point of view when it asks, and even allow it to try and engulf me when it gets petty and stubborn. Because I am burning a ferocious and punishing love that won't be ignored. So I will be with it. I will let it rage all it wants until it exhausts itself and dies, leaving whatever wreckage and scars it wants. Because none of it will define me. I am always more.
My heart is not broken. It works very well.
