This past week I was met with a few pieces of bad news, and while I am trying to keep my thoughts upbeat and positive, the dark thoughts do come to the surface more often than I would like. Have you ever found yourself in a dark place mentally or emotionally, where it is hard to pull yourself out? We all go through these dark times, unfortunately. But is there any value in going to a dark place with our thoughts and feelings? Can we change anything at that moment? Most likely, no. Perhaps it can motivate us to change something going forward, like voting if we have been lax in that area in past elections but are not currently happy with the country’s politics, or joining our neighborhood watch group to help detect crime in the area. But most likely, in the present, there is nothing we can do except allow the bad thoughts to bring down ourselves and those around us. And I say “allow” because we do allow it to take over our mood and occupy room in our mental head space. We don’t have to, if we just fight a little harder for the good and happy emotions.
This next poem was inspired when one day I was in a perfectly fine mood, and then I suddenly started thinking about all the bad stuff in the world: politics, crime, illness, etc. All of these things piled on, and I quickly found myself in a dark place, and it took a while to climb out of it. I asked myself how I could possibly be happy or laughing when so much bad stuff was happening all around. Talk about taking on the weight of the world! That is not my job or responsibility, but yet I let these things impact me and my jovial spirit that day.
The darkness is not kind. It’s like the neighborhood bully or the cranky neighbor at the end of the street that everyone tries to avoid. It chases the light away. The darkness wants us to live in the shadows, but that is not a good place to stay for very long. Life is too short, and there are too many good things to be happy and joyous about. So, the only good thing I can say about these little trips into the darkness is that it really helps us to appreciate the light when we finally allow it to return.
Out of the Darkness
Why do our thoughts suddenly drift
To a place that’s less than sunny?
Why do thoughts get consumed
With stressful things, like money?
How are we in a dandy mood
Then instantly things can shift?
Suddenly the dark mood arrives
And starts to create a rift.
It kicks the good mood to the curb
And sends gray clouds our way
With the goal to remove the light
And darken up our day.
In this tense and complex world
Where life can be so cold . . .
Where we honor youth and beauty
And disregard the old . . .
Where we witness the injustices
Of things we can’t control . . .
While doing our best to shield ourselves
From things that dim our soul . . .
It’s so easy to get caught up
In these things that bring us down.
It’s too easy to see the negative
And bad things all around.
But it takes effort to be happy.
It takes effort some days to smile.
Happiness is not a switch
Or a quick turn of a dial.
We have to make an attempt
To push the bad away.
We have to do our best
To let the good outweigh
Because if we stay too long in darkness
And embrace the doubt and fear,
The brightness that we yearn for
Will be less likely to appear.
-K.A. Bloch-
