Hopeful Sun (Mastering High & Low Moods)
Hopeful Sun (Mastering High & Low Moods)
Enlightenment Prompt #16
Even winter sun
comes every day without fail -
how can I lose hope?
The bus is on diversion. Please wait for further instructions.
You'll hear this surprisingly frequently if you are a regular bus commuter in London. The bus that was taking you to a promised destination is now going somewhere else. This somewhere is announced through a bad speaker with a thick accent and is mostly incomprehensible. Sometimes a diversion works in your favor (if the driver cuts out part of the route and speeds through to your stop) but most of the time it involves heading off on some arcane, unknown route. My policy is to relax and go with it, to see where we end up. I’m getting just good enough at London geography that I can sense if we’re veering off course too much and I need to switch buses.
This morning my bus was diverted down Regent Street, an attractive, curved street that leads to Piccadilly Circus. My redirection meant that I saw the sun emerge from behind the clouds and bathe one half of the street in golden light. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
The contrast of light and shade (called chiaroscuro in art), is a part of our everyday visual experience, made more visible by strong light. Our minds are no different. Strong swings of positive and negative emotion can help us become aware of the inner tides that push and pull us and directly effect our daily lives.
Positive thoughts are good but when they verge on elation, then it's never long before our mood and energy plunge downwards and we find ourselves feeling terrible and surrounded by the shadow of negative thoughts. This is because we've let the rollercoaster carry us too high up, and what goes up must come down in an equal and opposite fashion (the law of yin and yang).
In a similar way, when you’re feeling low, don’t cling to the slightest positivity and make it everything, try to sit with it and let the positivity radiate gradually, slowly over time, so that it can make the most positive impact in your life.
The trick, as you may have already deduced, is balance and harmony: not too much, not too little. Seek to keep the positive and negative forces in balance.
Think soft swells of water and low hills instead of powerful waves and high mountains. High mountains fall away to low valleys. Powerful waves return to great, dark depths. Have a great Monday!
Spring is coming! Get ready to be reborn with the rest of nature.
