Monday, April 12, 2010

Sorrow v. Happiness

Today my whole family is sorrowing. We've had a tragic loss and it's hard to get my head around it. I desperately don't want to believe that this could happen to us again, but it has happened. I know that the source of this kind of trouble is depression, despair, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

Ironically, I am reading a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I only just started it last weekend and it's interesting so far.

"One of life's small pleasures is putting something in its proper place; putting the shoe polish on the second shelf in the linen closet gave me the archer's satisfaction of hitting a mark." p. 33.

So I'm going to bed tonight after having picked up the stray shoes, dishes, mail, and random pieces of paper, and I've delivered them all to their proper places. It's not enough to silence the grief, but I've learned that you can be sorrowful and essentially happy at the same time. And I've learned that it is getting through each day, doing each day's work as it comes, that leads to a full recovery and a light heart. It seems like the whole world should stop at such a time as this, but the fact is that the dirty dishes and unpaid bills start to pile up and people keep needing clean clothes to put on in the morning. Taking care of daily life helps keep a person sane.

3 comments:

  1. agreed. in fact, it is only those things that keep me ok sometimes.

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  2. Watching Calysta, I am learning some really good lessons. She takes time out from time to time to get teary and cry a little, then moves on to a different subject and the sun comes through again.

    It's quite illuminating.

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