We can hold both.

In fact, it is essential that we do.

This past morning, as I do every Sunday morning, I found myself enjoying my magical yoga class. I still take yoga classes live on zoom with teachers that I fell in love with just as the world shut down in 2020. 

While I wouldn’t call myself a yogi, I have found that the addition of yoga in my life has had a profound impact on me.

For 90 minutes every Sunday morning, I quiet the noise in my life,

and allow my emotions to flow through me. 

Our lives, not to mention the world around us, are so full of noise. In fact we have been so conditioned to it that we are now addicted; and most of us are not able to break the addiction. Often, the thought of quiet, and stillness, is terrifying for people.

For so many of us, the noise in our lives is all consuming, and confusing. 

We find ourselves scrolling through social media, one minute laughing at adorable puppy videos, while the next minute weeping at pictures of senseless and tragic loss. 

Perhaps you are like me. 

I am a deeply feeling person and my feelings are BIG.

When I feel joy, love, excitement and gratitude, I feel them BIG. 

And when I feel fear, sadness, discomfort or despair, I also feel them BIG.

In recent years I have increasingly experienced multiple feelings at once, and have learned that finding peace and presence in my beautiful life requires holding the tension that comes from experiencing these many emotions at the same time. 

On this particular Sunday morning, as I listened to my yoga teacher’s invitation to focus on my breath and allow my emotions to move through my body, I could feel the warm and wonderful presence of gratitude for the amazing life I have created begin to grow and spread, in addition to an optimism and excitement about what’s possible.

At the same time, in the room next to mine, my partner was on a zoom call with his best friend from childhood who lives in Israel and whose children are deployed in the war. I could hear them talking, and amidst my feelings of gratitude and excitement, I could also feel my fear, sadness and despair at what is happening around the world.

It was a profound moment, once again reminding me of how very much we are all holding. 

I know the complexities of our lives can feel like a lot, I hear often from friends, colleagues and clients how their personal, professional and societal challenges seem to never let up. If it is not one thing, it is another. It sometimes feels relentless, and overwhelming.

What makes it even harder is that we naturally allow the more uncomfortable, and dark emotions to define the quality of our lives, even if we work hard to push through and ignore them. They lie under the surface and become the lens through which we look at everything that is happening to us. 

It is so important that we learn how and give ourselves permission to hold as much light as we can amidst the darkness.

Any time that we are experiencing significant change,

deep grief and loss,

or uncertainty and discomfort;

we are also allowed to, and should actively seek to experience hope, optimism and dare I say joy.

Our greatest opportunity is to fight for our joy.

We must never give up on it.

Levity is a beloved partner to gravity. 

Let’s support each other to find it wherever we can.

“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”  Sir Francis Bacon