Life on Earth isn’t necessarily meant to be hard or easy, or a happy life or a sad one.
That’s too much of a label.
I believe that on the other side there is so much love that we choose to come to a planet like Earth for the diversity of experiences that are available here, for the purpose of soul growth and expansion. I think it’s harder to attain that level of expansion, and more specifically in the areas Earth offers, on the other side.
We come here for the experience, for the classroom that is Earth.
We are all in a play… assigned a role, a gender, a personality, and different traits. We grow up with the family, friends, professions, interests, etc. that we have… all of it comes with the role we are playing. That is the context, but like an actor we can do whatever we want with it. It’s our creation, and we get to make of it what we will.
When we leave this lifetime we leave behind the character we played, and move on as our eternal soul to the bliss we know on “the other side.” We move on to our next adventure.
I believe there are many planets and planes of existence we can experience that all offer different experiences for the soul’s growth. I’m sure there are others that are much more gentle than Earth.
But we chose to come here for a reason…
Again, not because it’s hard or easy, but because it offered the landscape that we wanted to interact with in order to grow and expand.
The Role of Feelings
Finally, this brings me to our feelings… a subject that can be scary for many of us because we don’t want to feel “that”. In fact, we do a lot to avoid feeling the “bad” feelings.
We ignore them, we repress them, and sometimes consume substances, or engage in habits that help us feel differently. Better… at least momentarily.
However, if we are able to detach from what we are experiencing and recognize that it’s all a part of the experience, it makes it easier to sit with our feelings (all of them). So the next time that difficult emotion washes over you, you can tell yourself, “I am here for the experience, and this too shall pass.” As everything does.
Observe the feelings but know that you are also separate from them. This is the biggest trap—identifying with the feeling and believing that it is you, and you are it.
What is actually happening is that you (Carl, Mary, etc.) are feeling sadness, anxiety, shame, worried, but you (Carl, Mary, etc.) are not sadness and you are not anxiety, nor any of the other feelings. Just like you are not happiness. Sometimes you feel happy. Sometimes you feel sad. Other times you feel any of a variety of other emotions. There are no wrong emotions. All emotions are okay. The more you can be present with them and separate yourself from them, the less they will control you.
There is a difference between recognizing that you are feeling an emotion, and letting emotions control your life (how you show up in the world, interact with others, yourself, etc.)
They are feelings, and you are experiencing them. How you interact with them is up to you. That is your personal power. Start by simply noticing the separation.