Threshold

What is the threshold of the heart?  What I mean is - how much of one emotion can the heart hold before the contents are too much to bear?


Often, we find ourselves overwhelmed with emotion.  That emotion might be positive - such as that found in the birth of a child, the beginning stages of love, or following some altruistic act.  Other times, that emotion will be negative - such as the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship.


Essentially, the two feelings that most often exude from our inner self is love or hurt.


Mother Theresa is credited with discovering the paradox - 

"If you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."

I have  to question this very wise woman in this instance.  Mother Theresa is suggesting that hurt has its own threshold.  That the human body, psyche, being is only equipped to handle a certain amount of hurt before he or she can hurt no more.  She continues to suggest that at that point, the lid of hurt is closed, but the chamber for love can still be filled - never-ending.


What is so powerful about love that the heart can handle infinite amounts of this very powerful emotion, but not as much of it's counterpart?


To look at the paradox from the negative - when someone loves until it hurts, perhaps the ability to love begins to falter.  Perhaps at that point, the hurt becomes so overwhelming that it begins to eat away at the love we hold inside until we are all encompassed with hurt.


Isn't that the basic identifier of depression?  Don't we become so overwhelmed with hurt that it begins to translate into worthlessness, hopelessness, and despair?  Don't we feel at that point that we might never love or be happy again?


The decision is in the resolve of the person.  Like so many things, the threshold of the heart is open to interpretation.


I, for one, refuse to sit in a pool of negativity.  I refuse to believe that hurt will eat away at my happiness.  And by vocalizing that belief, I have empowered myself to move past the pain and strive toward a happy place - full of friendship, family, and love.


Our ability to navigate these troubled times lies in the support of said friends and family.  The smallest act of kindness will prove monumental in the mind of the hurt.  Never forget that each of us have once been in the grips of hurt.  Never forget how difficult it was to navigate away from.  Always remember to love unconditionally... and never judge.


I have deflated the chamber of hurt in my heart.  As the pain begins to drain away, I feel lighter.  I feel the chamber of love filling.  Maybe not with a romantic feeling, as was once there, but with a feeling of contentment.  Because above all, this period of my life has lead me back to the person I once was.  An optimistic, bubbly, out-going, happy person.


I'm glad to have her back.