I am often not a very outwardly emotional person. Even after a particular gravity defying ultimate play, unexpected creation of an awesome new guitar riff, successfully accomplishing a new thing, or the deep sadness of bereavement, my being defaults to calmly dispassionate. I do experience deep emotion within my soul, sometimes feeling tears might be imminent, or a “woohoo” and a fist pump might suddenly burst out, but seldom do they arrive.
Experiencing my emotions is something I am actively working on. Embracing them can help us process them more clearly and healthily engage with what we are feeling particular emotions about. Sometimes we need a good cry to work through something. Other times it is appropriate to actively acknowledge and celebrate our successes. Note: In certain situations, such as playing sport, it is important not to celebrate in a way it seems like we are happy about other peoples mistakes.
Tonight I was blessed to be invited to a show by a wonderful crew of talented circus performers. Having seen a few similar shows this year I had an idea of what the show might be like. (Hint: one particular word to describe it rhymes with “zantastic.”) The show was wonderfully well put together. The performers all had their own moments to shine which they took beautifully while leaving space for each other to shine too. Watching the show with a couple of friends helped in outwardly acknowledging each bit of awesomeness – of which there were many!
After the show, as sometimes happens, we waited outside the theatre for a particular performer we knew. It was really cool talking with them about the show, how wonderful it was, and how awesome it was to see them performing so brilliantly. I was overcome by the awesomeness of it all so found it difficult to find the right words to articulate what I wanted to say. To give me some time and space to think, I decided to take a walk along one of my favourite places to be at night, before I made my way home.
While walking along the waterfront I experienced something I haven’t experienced for quite a few years. I was so overcome with joyous emotion the beginnings of tears started to well up in my eyes. Seeing such tremendous gifts for performing, shared with a supportive audience, and obviously enjoying performing with everyone else, is a beautiful thing. This joy reminded me of lyrics within a song I recently started writing; “I don’t know what to do with this emotion except feel it.”
Celebrate the wonderful gifts of the people around you. Tell them how wonderful it is to see them diving headfirst into uncertainty, giving their energy to the possibility of creating magnificent wonder. We all have things we love doing. Spending time doing them is a must. Sharing in the joy of others and allowing them to share in ours is a great way to invest our time.
Embrace your emotions. Join with the joyous, share in the sadness, experience the exciting.
Be good, keep good, and sleep good, dear readers. Peace.
Hard lines, heavy times, and handblocks 