One of my favorite healers (and human beings) used the phrase ‘generosity of sadness’ in our last conversation. I thought it was so poetic and beautiful that I grabbed the closest notepad and wrote it down.

I didn’t know what it meant.

Perhaps I still don’t.

But it felt like something in my mouth demanding to be chewed.

After passing by that notepad several times a day for a few weeks (and faithfully chewing), here’s what arrived:

We often see the less pleasant emotions as taking things away from us – our happiness, our peace, our wellbeing. Sadness, anger, grief and worry are like thieves in the night, adeptly making off with our good silver and fancy new devices.

I get that.

Peering from a slightly different angle, however, I began to recognize that sadness (and all its sneaky friends) actually has much to offer.

Sadness reminds us of our humanity – our frailty, our weakness, our impermanence. To be touched in this way allows for compassion, empathy, and, yes, generosity to find their way in as well.

It pleads for us to ask the big questions, even if they have no answers. It shakes and prods us into seeking relief, which almost always means a new way of being. Sadness can be the companion that (willingly or not) drags us into our next best self by ripping open our desires, our drives and the unstoppable impulse to grow.

If nothing else, sadness can illuminate what lies unresolved, in the same way a gentle touch of a childhood scar can spark an important memory. Being able to ‘watch’ with a new, more mature, more aware perspective is how we heal the past.

Love your sadness as the gift it is. Let it work its mysterious magic.

And then get up, congratulate yourself on your newfound glow, and shine that light somewhere it’s needed.

The Universe can’t wait to see what you’ll do next.