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Chapter 1: Navigating Sadness



Navigating Sadness is the third meditation for Chapter 1: Emotional First Aid Kit.


Emotions give us amazing insight and information about ourselves or our needs, and sadness is of no exception. Sadness can be deeply uncomfortable and often times more unpleasant to feel than anger. While anger can sometimes provide us with a sense of strength and motivation, sadness does not. In fact, it's the opposite. Sadness brings us face to face with our heartache. It often asks us to stop, rest and isolate. It is a vulnerable state which doesn’t always feel very safe.


Somewhere along the way, we may have learned that outwardly showing our tears left us open and exposed to misunderstandings, invalidation or emotional neglect. Anger then becomes the safer option and camouflages the reality that we are actually in a lot of emotional pain. When someone chooses to unlearn the perception of vulnerability as weakness, it really is a journey for the bravest of souls because it goes against the norm. In truth, a lot of societies are still quick to label depression as laziness, to assume crying children are spoiled or view a gloomy mood as annoying. However, it bears repeating, that emotions are simply information. Being sad is not a moral failing. Being happy might be more pleasant, but it is still just information, like any other emotion. There are so many people out there who lead with empathy and kindness, it's really just about finding them, and of course being one of them ourselves.


We are the architects of our wellbeing. We can start being curious about our experience of sadness today and begin the process of changing our relationship to it in the long-term. Sadness is simply a response to something we’ve been through (or are currently going through) and it is a way our body communicates our needs to us. Instead of trying to run from our sadness, we can learn to lean into it and see what needs are being asked of us. It may be something as simple as rest and self-care, or perhaps we are desperate for support from our community, or perhaps some time alone to process and understand a difficult situation.


Sadness is also just the frontman to a whole category of all kinds of different flavours of experience like grief, dissatisfaction, loneliness, disappointment, despair, hopelessness, regret, shame, embarrassment, etc. Knowing how to name our experience of sadness, in a lot of detail, is a way to acknowledge our experiences and to validate them for ourselves. It is a way for us to be wholeheartedly seen and heard, which is a universal need for every human being on this planet.


Trust your sadness. It is real and it is valid.

You are the best source of knowledge for what you need to feel better.

Take good care of yourself.


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Chapter 1: Emotional First Aid Kit

  1. Self-Love

  2. Navigating Anger

  3. Navigating Sadness

  4. Resilience

 

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BREATHING IS ACTION is a meditative affirmation podcast for teens and adults. For everyone, everywhere. Let's be the change we want to see in the world!

 

Writing, research and production by: Macie Leblanc-Smith

Editing by: Macie Leblanc-Smith, Marc-Olivier Plouffe

 

Music: Serena by Bireli Snow on Epidemic Sound

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