When One Door Closes, Another Opens

"The journey is the reward." -Chinese Proverb

Life can be a struggle, if not a continuous one. There are tons of things that create conflict within our lives. Those problems stimulate whatever need we are trying to fulfill, or lack there of, at the time. They occupy our mind, and occasionally, do so excessively. Such is the stream of life, and the flux of an emotional current that exists, not only inside us, but outside as well, everywhere and in everything. There is a constant state of balance this universe and all its life tries so hard to achieve. Oh, how we fight it.

What is a mood swing, if not something we created in order to feel better about being actionless when it comes to the ebb and flow of our emotions? Something to justify the days we wake up and tell ourselves, "I am in a bad mood," in order to serve as an excuse for our behavior and miserable existance? Happiness is somewhere out there, doing its thing, being what it is, simply being. Is it so hard to remind yourself of that fact, even if you have to borrow it out of thin air? There is no bad mood. Your mood is exactly how you want to feel. Yes, we are not perfect, and yes we forget this. Yes, our emotions do get the best of us, because we are human, lovely, imperfect, humans. That is why we must practice this discipline and hone our minds to become aware of this internal conflict, so on those days we wake up and feel bad, we can remind ourselves, to simply be happy. It is more than ok to smile when life is not grand. But, as I said already, life can be a struggle.

Sometimes, we make it one without being conscious of it. It does not have to be so. Can life not be a beautiful struggle? Yet, we are constantly obstructing ourselves. Why? Surely, a debateable question, the answer being a well of complexitiy and depth one can drown in trying to understand. But that is just it. That route we take, the searching of that understanding, the path on the way to the answer, is the answer itself. Which route do you take? Some take the path less traveled, while others simply walk the one most frequented. It does not matter which one you take, as long as you choose. Have faith your choice will take you to the end, and most importantly, allow yourself a chance to smile along the way.

And so, we pick our conversation up where we last left it. Almost forgotten, but no not lost. All the words we sometimes take for granted. All those words we have never felt. "What conversation?" you ask. The conversation of life, my friends. The one we are not listening to, the one we are all missing.

Up until now, I never considered the weight of words by themselves alone. I think a lot of it became lost in translation over the years… spoken word, written word, it was all a blur… an array of mixed images and memories, the primary focus being trying to communicate an experience to the person standing next to me, and if they nodded their head in understanding then that was all I needed. This, inevitably, created a situation where mere words were never utilized as the tool of communication since, in spoken word, between peers, no one really cares or questions the word ‘felt’ in context because the message was understood. It is just accepted in passing and never given any thought. This practice creates bad habits and numbs the awareness and expansion of knowledge… to think, how much impact I have lost through all of this, how much impact all us are missing because we never consider the words we are using and what they truly mean. Couple this with sentence structure and how ideas are set up and presented… in my case… you have a recipe for disaster.

In conclusion, comrades, dear friends, family members, and strangers, I bid you, take a moment, consider your words and the reasons they are chosen. Consider their beautiful meaning, and to what purpose they may serve you. Expand upon your message. Expand upon the meaning you are trying to convey. Give yourself a chance to be heard, and to be heard well. Give yourself a chance to make a lasting impression, for we can never progress from that which we do not understand, and we can never grow unless we fully experience every drop of the nectar that is Life.