i had a moment like this 2 years ago. i was recovering from a break up and wanting someone to hold my pain for me b/c i was so tired of holding it. then, while i was driving, i just thought why am i holding onto the pain? why would someone else hold it when i don't want it? what would happen if i just let it go? and in that moment i felt it go.

i still think of this moment when i'm "suffering" and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. but i think when you are ready to let it go, you will be able to. sometimes pain is necessary to gain a new strength but we all have the power to sit with the pain and come through the other side. even if we don't know it when we're in it.

thanks for sharing.

that last line made me tear up...

Lovely, and so timely!

Lovely, and so timely!

What thoroughly beautiful image and stunning words.
"Let it go, just let it go."
Thankyou

Hi Andrea,

I'm a friend of Christine Miller's in LA - I've been reading your blog for several months now. In fact to be honest - I think your blog may have been the start to my path to meet my, now, not so new, wonderful friend Christine :)

This is a beautiful quote. And thank you for the post as a reminder to me! My life is often a festival and in the rush of finding my way to the next festival, I miss what is happening now. I'm soooo ready to let the burdens go... and happy to report I am well on my way!

Much love to you and hope to meet you one of these days.

Marisa

I love this quote! I was just reading a post on another blog about how the writer was feeling happy for no real reason and she was wondering what was wrong with her!

I've had the same thing happen. I think there is sometimes guilt over feeling happy, especially when it is just out of the blue happiness. Holding on to suffering certainly alleviates the happiness guilt. The only problem is we end up miserable!

I like the idea that life should be a festival. We need to appreciate and savor every bit of happiness that comes our way. And if we can help it, try not to wallow in the sorrow, at least for too long.

right on.
on many occasion your joural has inspired me.
delurking to say thanks for being a beacon.

I agree that life is supposed to be a festival. But that doesn't necessarily mean it should be always fun, easy and without suffering. Suffering is a part of life. Sometimes you really can't let it go that easily, but you can learn to deal with it. Besides, a festival is a mixture of everything. Life should be just that. A little bit of suffering, lots of laughs, lots of fun, and everything esle you can think of.
Thank you for the quote :-)

Hi Andrea and readers,

Essentially I agree with this quote -- I think that we do/can become attached to our suffering, prolonging it; sometimes it's just a matter of "changing our mind" about something that causes the shift out of the suffering..... sometimes not though. I think it depends on the nature or cause of the suffering.
I have to question, "existence wants your life to become a festival" especially when I see that the author is Osho. I was involved in an Osho/Rajneesh community about 15 years ago and watched many people trying to live their lives by this philosophy. In truth (from what I could see) their lives were anything but a festival (more like a strange carnival). I guess it's all about balance -- too much of anything can cause disharmony. As far as I'm concerned, Osho CAUSED a fair bit of suffering especially for some of the children of his followers who lost their parents to the "festival"
Sorry if this is a bit negative -- just needed to say it.
C
PS -- love the photo!

when it comes down to it, this is true:)

Oiw.. Andrea... I *LOVE* this!
Life is absolutely a festival.
We are not determined by our experiences, but how we deal with them.
That is what I believe.
Bx

Honestly, I'm not certain how I feel about this quote and I guess I'm the only one. Sometimes I feel like it's OK to take a little time to let go of your own personal sufferings, even if you are bitter in the process. A scab doesn't just go away. This quote almost makes me feel like I'm taking too long to get over things that have happened to me. And to add to that, it makes me feel like it's my fault for them happening. I don't know; maybe I'm just reading it wrong.

On a more positive note, love the picture! :)

I love the beautiful tomato festival you've captured here! And it is indeed a very pretty quote. Thanks for sharing it.

I've been thinking about suffering lately, mainly because there seems to be so much of it in the world and I've been experiencing much personal grief. I talked to my naturopath/midwife/supreme goddess friend about it. She shared something with me that has made a dramatic difference in my life. She is also a Buddhist and told me about a practice in Tibetan Buddhism that involves using our personal pain as a healing tool for others. I don't remember what it's called and I'm not always best at paraphrasing. But the gist of it is that we first acknowledge that the world is filled with suffering that we don't see. Then when we are in the throes of grief or pain or anger or frustration or whatever is bringing us down, send an aspiration to the world that the suffering we feel is enough to ease the suffering of others. Then breathe it in deeply, all of its black yuckiness, and exhale just as deeply a white healing light. It's amazing. I've found that when my grief catches me off guard and I remember this, I think "Oh yes, I know what to do with this now." Strangely, then my pain seems like a blessing.

Thanks for all the healing words you send out to your community, Superhero Andrea!

I have learned this lesson over and over again...

Andrea, first you freaked me out--I thought WOW what synchronicity for you to post this quote, the same quote i had read and copied and posted in front of my monitor at work on Wed... and then it occurred to me that maybe you get the same astrology newletter in email that I do, which is where I found the quote.

Isn't it an amazing one??? I really have to mull over it as it really spoke to me.

Lately I have been feeling that the easiest way of being happy is just deciding that you are so. Like telling your muscles to relax. You can't relax them just by feeling, but when you tell them to and say the words in your head, they relax. I am happy. Could it be that easy?
(Also, I needed this quote today. Things haven't been feeling very festival-like lately. Thank you.)

Thank you so much for this. I'm saving this quote and remembering it as I go through some transitions of my own to let joy rule in my life.

I am so happy I stumbled onto your website! I will echo the others comments and say I really needed to hear this today. I lost my father three weeks ago and I know that I have been holding onto his passing and the pain it caused in me in a not-so healthy way. I mean, I know the grieving process is just that, but allowing suffering to take me over is just like... unnecessary... as Osho puts it.
So, thanks. And I look forward to exploring your whole site and oh, congrats on the impending little one! Woo hoo! A boy!

LOVE IT!!!!

The truth is that existence wants your life to become a festival."

i love this andrea you beautiful girl!!

This resonnated with me. And I thought of sending it to a friend who suffers with depression and anxiety but read it again and thought, "What? Now she reads this and has to feel crappy about feeling crappy, like it's her fault and she could just feel better if she just let her suffering go." Maybe I'm overthinking with this supposition but it's another perspective on this quote.

i needed this today. it has been a rough week. wow...this really spoke to me. i will call you soon. know you are on my heart always, my friend. thank you for this. xoxo love u.

these ARE the truest words I've read in a long long time...

thank you SO much.

i love the imagery of my life as a festival! avram davis of chochmat ha lev says that our purpose in life is to feel joy and bring joy. and for some reason, the photograph of the apples in the bins brings me joy, so thank you for sharing it!

beautiful...