16/01/2023
Today is Blue Monday... allegedly the most depressing day of the year, especially in the Northern Hemisphere where there is still early darkness... π
I have a musing on this as it is both my interest and my profession π Please scroll on if ramblings aren't to your taste ππ
I'm going to borrow words from the maestro...
..βWhat is hell?
Hell is oneself.
Hell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections.
There is nothing to escape from
And nothing to escape to.
One is always alone.β
β T.S. Eliot
There is another way of reframing this - we don't have to be alone - the problem is not just connection (we are often uber connected in this virtual world of ours)...
..It is in the belonging. We need to feel we belong... that is the wellspring from where our chakras, our energy centres, align... β€
We can restart anytime... and January is a good time for that - not just dry January, not just resolutions (which can also be a set up for binges or failures for some) - just a simple intention to refresh... β€οΈβπ©Ή
βFor last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
T.S. Eliot
The real joy comes in realising sadness will return ... and leave again... and so on... we are tidal... we are complex π©·
I have limited faith in the enduring power of positivity. Feeling positive is nice... but if we don't stay positive, we can feel we've failed - yet again... π
I believe we need to connect to a deeper spirituality that is a polar opposite to our click click instant culture... it is the reinstatement of the lost loved object - a psychoanalytic concept, rooted in the unconscious ... is this getting too wordy?π
..In a snapshot - it is coming home - internally...π
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
T.S. Eliot
We may need help to do this... Good loving, kind relationships; fellowship; therapy or treatment which is innovative and high gravitas; or simply finding belonging with family, friends and new interests...π
Or, put simply... we need a route map home π‘ β€
We can start today... I can start, again, today...π
(The picture is mine - looking up on a wintry day and seeing beauty in my local park in Hampton... finding home where I once resisted it π€)