YIN AND YANG

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin. ~anonymous~


I received this, above, from a dear friend today. This passage hit hard at this particular time in my life.
It's as if some of the sentences were written just for me.
However, I do realize that we all - humanity- go through the same things at some time in our lives. If we didn't,then have we really lived? Experienced all that life has to offer- good and bad.
I once told someone very dear to me that with pleasure comes pain- the yin and yang of life. Without the pain would the pleasure be as sweet? I think not.

I think the key may be to experience the pain without allowing it to paralyze us. Feel it, mourn, become stronger, learn from it, move on. Hopefully, in time, the painful memories may give way to the joyful ones- Receding into the background to allow the brighter, more loving, and happier memories to take center stage.
In the past I have been able to do this. I will do it again. I am doing it again.

My heart is still open. It will never stay closed for long.


Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow