Hold on

understanding the ebb and flow of thought

This past weekend, one of my daughter's classmates took her own life.

It was both shocking and tragic.

My heart breaks for the child who thought her only answer was to end her life.

My heart breaks for the family (and community) left behind to wonder what could have been done to prevent this...what could have been done to help?

This is the second suicide in our high school this year.

That fact alone is sobering.

As if to further punctuate the level of mental stress experienced by our high school students, last week, The New York Times featured an article highlighting the creative efforts undertaken by some to offset this stress.

A group of students had hand-painted small rocks inscribed with messages of hope and perseverance and carefully placed them around the High School and across the center of town.

These creative and beautiful efforts, however, desperately need to be paired with a true understanding of how the mind works...and how we experience life.

We need to help our children and ourselves deeply understand that...

life is only ever experienced from the inside-out;

we feel our thinking.

Our feelings are not the result of our circumstances or other people or things...ever.

Thoughts ebb and flow through us...continually.

There are times when we feel burdened with an abundance of heavy thought.

In such times, we find ourselves in a low mood.

In such times, we rarely, if ever, have clarity.

In such times, the world looks unsafe and unfriendly.

In such times, our 'problems' seem insurmountable and insufferable.

In such times, we feel trapped in a vortex of never ending mental anguish.

But...

if we hold on...just hold on...

and allow our mind to do what it is designed to do...

we find that the heavy burden of thought inevitably and effortlessly gives way to a

lightness of thought.

In such times, we find ourselves in a high mood.

In such times, we find ourselves able to see, feel and think with greater clarity.

In such times, the world looks safe and friendly.

In such times, our 'problems' no longer seem insurmountable and insufferable.

In such times, we feel free and capable of handling anything and everything.

 

Like the tides, our thoughts ebb and flow...moving and changing, circling and shifting.

Our feelings are a clue to our quality of thinking. 

When feeling low...hold on.

Ride the feeling until it passes through you. 

Know that what you think in such a low state is an illusion filtered through the lens of despair.

Do not trust it with your life.

Hold on.

New thought is coming.

It always does.

Hold on.

 

 

 

Lana Bastianutti