{"id":18445,"date":"2005-04-29T10:55:08","date_gmt":"2005-04-29T14:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=18445"},"modified":"2020-08-17T10:25:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T14:25:32","slug":"pathways-melancholy-an-opportunity-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2005\/04\/29\/pathways-melancholy-an-opportunity-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Pathways – Melancholy, An Opportunity for Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melancholy:<\/strong> described in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary as a pensive sadness, sad or gloomy.<\/p>\n

The past few days I’ve felt melancholy, in a funk. I continued to do all those things that one feels
\nthey must do each day just to survive. I put a smile on my face when I needed to. I tried to
\npractice what I preach. But for this brief period of time I really wondered if I was falling back
\ninto that scary depression thing. Why? Why would this black night of my soul visit me again,
\nwhen I have so much to be grateful for.<\/p>\n

Who knows? About all I know for sure is that at the end of this funky period something in me
\nwill have changed. And today, I’m wondering…I’m actually excited about what that change
\ncould be. Hopefully, I’m a bit more tolerant of contentious issues, or if not tolerant, ready to
\nstand for all I believe in. Maybe I’ve gained a greater understanding of myself and the world
\naround me. Just maybe I’ve become a little less hard on myself. It seems I’m always demanding
\nperfection of myself, rather than being satisfied that I have given my best in any situation.<\/p>\n

Or is it because I always want more? Every facet of my being is constantly struggling for more –
\neducation, acceptance, tolerance, dignity, gratitude, health, beauty, money. And on the list goes.
\nDo we not, as a human race, continually strive to become more than we already are? Is our
\ncommunity not struggling to become more than it already is?<\/p>\n

Maybe the key to change is to accept that we should never be satisfied with the status quo! Hah!
\nJust maybe this is the way of this crazy world of our. Right? What is it that makes us think that
\neverything must go our way? What is it that makes change so hard? For me, I believe we are
\nalways changing, every second, every minute of our life, and these funky periods are a reminder
\nthat we need to accept whatever that change is and keep striving for more. Actually, we are
\ngiving birth to something new in our lives. Birthing is hard work. Just ask any parent.<\/p>\n

This latest dark night of my soul was another opportunity for me to grow and change. I didn’t
\nask for it. I certainly questioned it. Was it the weather, was it some part of my diet that needed
\nchanging, did I need to organize my time better, or was I upset, worried or fretting about
\nsomething I had no control over. Lots of questions and no answers…until I accepted that this
\nfunky period was a precursor to change.<\/p>\n

As soon as I accepted that something great was in the works, I became excited. Life is never
\nstatic. We are continually in a Cycle of Renewal, whether we are considering the weather, a tree,
\na community, a business, a career, or a relationship. We move through cycles. Just for today, I
\nam learning to live and work with this timeless rhythm in a way which will transform me…to be
\ncreative, to be organized, to be healthy, to be accepted, to be enlightened and so on. I accept I
\nwant to be the best I can be at whatever I’m doing. No matter how mundane, or how challenging
\nthe situation, I accept that whatever is happening in my life, it is worthy.<\/p>\n

Wow!! Til next time…this is Joan. In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there
\nlay an invincible summer (Albert Camus)<\/p>\n

Joan Brooks makes her home in Wawa, Ontario. Comments are always welcome and can be made through email:
\njoanbrooks@shaw.ca, telephone 856-0652 or by writing to Box 682, Wawa, On P0S 1K0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melancholy: described in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary as a pensive sadness, sad or gloomy. The past few days I’ve felt melancholy, in a funk. I continued to do all those things that one feels they must do each day just to survive. I put a smile on my face when I needed to. I tried …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1920],"class_list":["post-18445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-pathways"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 09:12:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18446,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445\/revisions\/18446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}