Joy and Sorrow

'Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
 And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper your sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives?


When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful, look again into your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.


Some of you say, 'Joy is greater than sorrow,' and others say, 'Nay, sorrow is the greater.' 
But I say unto you, they are insperable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.'



From 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran.

I discovered Kahlil Gibran back in 2000 when I was in India for the first time and his words have often helped me out over the years. I happened to flick through The Prophet yesterday and came across his take on Joy and Sorrow. I was going to take just the phrase out I've put in a different colour, since this speaks to me the loudest right now, but it was all so beautifully expressed and so wise, that I copied down the whole section.

After a night of no sleep, I needed these words today. Amazingly... somehow...tough though it was, I managed to get through the day without having a meltdown. Andy left for work an hour later and my mother took the girls for a bit in the afternoon which obviously both helped alot. But even so, significantly, the emotion of guilt ('I'm a bad wife and mother') was pretty much absent. And I'm doing okay.