Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

*Do you experience insomnia or have restless sleep?
*Do you experience unexplained aches & pains or illnesses?
*Do you experience stomach pain &/or digestive troubles?
*Do you drink coffee as a regular “pick me up” or alcohol as a regular way to “unwind”?
*Do you find yourself regularly fantasizing or daydreaming?
*Do you sometimes joke about being “ADD” or “ADHD” or “OCD” or “Bipolar”?
*Do you eat sweets more than three times a week?
*Do you experience guilt, shame or embarrassment more than once a month?
*Are you ever “really, really tired”?
*Are you hyper-focused on your physical health &/or your physical appearance?
*Do you engage in adrenaline-inducing hobbies, “dangerous” activities &/or reckless
behaviors?
*Do you have difficulty concentrating on the “task at hand”?
*Do you have a dampened empathy for others’ pains & problems?
*Do you sometimes feel simply “empty”?
If you answered a few of these questions in the affirmative, please avoid getting down on
yourself. After all, it’s tough enough dealing with the sadness in our lives without making
ourselves feel sad about feeling sad … Remember that these queries do not identify your
“areas of weakness” – nor do they identify your “faults”. You are not in any way
“inferior” or “less than” for succumbing to these subtle manifestations of melancholy …
You are simply a human being responding quite reasonably to eons of fear-based
programming.
That having been said, sadness is a rather devastating addiction; one that definitely needs
facing — and cleansing — if we are to ever live a life of deep-seated Meaning &
Contentment. I think most of the consequences of feeling sad are common knowledge to
most of you, so I won’t go into detail about the increased risk of illness and injury and
irritability that melancholy always brings. I will, however, remind you all of one critically
important – and often overlooked – consequence of allowing sadness to creep into your
life: As long as you choose to remain sad, … you will never choose to be Happy.
“Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.” ~ Kahlil Gibran
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