It’s usually the most cliched, age-old sayings which hold true significance and stand the test of time. That’s why I keep returning back to the analogy of the clouds as a symbol for life’s ongoing continuity of uphill battles and downward spirals. But first, let’s take a few steps backward. As many of my most avid readers may know by now, pain is no stranger to me. In fact, most of the very successful people I‘ve ever crossed paths with have also accepted this one fact – that our joy today may precede the darkness around the corner, which is waiting its turn and of course vice versa. Instead of this scaring me, this simple fact allows me to relish in the experience (no matter how transient) of emotion at large. I relish in joy when it arrives, but am also getting a lot more skilled at letting her go once her stay is over. Then, when sadness visits there’s a bit less resistance from my end and she stays for as long as she needs too. And the cycle continues.

In the depths of my own depression and darkness, I remember sitting outside one day and looking up at the gloomy sky. The sun was neatly hidden behind the glamour of an anticipatory rain. The atmosphere felt quieter – the birds and insects rushing to seek shelter; the thunder felt like it was soon coming and the air just smelled different. Gloomy days always force me to pause and pay attention.

In that single moment alone, something deeply profound struck me. I KNEW, without a single doubt in my mind that the clouds would eventually recede and the sun would shine again. Of course, I couldn’t with any certainty (aside from the weather report) predict WHEN this would happen, but it had happened hundreds of thousands of times in my life prior, for me to know that THIS TOO, WOULD PASS.

The significance of this age-old cliched saying? Well, I think it resembles life and pain at large. When thrust in our deepest turmoil and darkest moments, it’s pretty normal to feel HOPELESS. It’s pretty normal to become impatient with pain and rush it out the door, as soon as we can.. But here’s the interesting part. Just like the absence of the sun during my epiphany didn’t necessarily indicate that the sun was not there, so too can the same principle be applied to our pain..

An absence of hope for you while in the depths of despair doesn’t indicate that there is NO HOPE.

IT just cannot be accessed RIGHT NOW.

The absence of joy for you right now doesn’t mean that joy is not THERE.

It just cannot be accessed RIGHT NOW.

When we see things through the lens of their temporary nature, we learn to view both pain and joy in balance, recognising that our experience of the weather is forever changing, but it doesn’t mean that the sun has abandoned us. In fact, even on the cloudiest, gloomiest and darkest days, we know that the sun has simply taken a backseat, waiting for her turn to arrive again.

We have to go through the dark, deep, lonely and gloomy nights of despair, in order for us to turn our faces to the sun again and feel its true warmth..