{"id":86,"date":"2010-10-18T06:54:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T06:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html"},"modified":"2010-10-18T06:54:30","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T06:54:30","slug":"transforming-sadness-into-gladness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html","title":{"rendered":"Transforming Sadness Into Gladness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>QUESTION<\/b><\/p>\n<div><b><br \/><\/b><\/div>\n<div>Is it possible to prevent sadness just only by knowing the problem is in me?&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<b>ANSWER<\/b><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>True spiritual work is not to &#8220;prevent&#8221; sadness or anger, anymore than a true musician or artist tries to prevent a new impression from coming into the moment of creating whatever is at hand. If one senses the truth of this idea, then it&#8217;s best to remember the following insight and ponder it&#8217;s importance because within it is a secret of great magnitude for those who aspire to know the nature of freedom: <i>resistance is negative attraction<\/i>. This means that getting negative and &#8220;not wanting&#8221; some state that presses into us is the same as unconsciously strengthening both that state <i>and <\/i>the level of self that thinks the rejection of a problem is the path to freedom from it.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Add to this last idea the following: all things have a reason for being&#8230; or they wouldn&#8217;t exist. This holds as true for &#8220;dark&#8221; thoughts and feelings, imagined problems, etc., as it does for the light of awareness through which these same conditions may be properly seen, realized, and released. So, the task&#8230; the real interior work that leads to liberation&#8230; is not to push these impressions away as they appear in one&#8217;s consciousness, but rather to bring them into the light of our awareness, bringing them into the greater Presence that exists when we are present to what each moment presents to us inwardly and outwardly. If we will do this, then the light of this awareness (which is &#8220;heavenly&#8221; in its origin) acts upon the negative state and transforms it, creatively, into something authentically nourishing&#8230; much as does the bright sun turn dark earth into a nursery ground for the flower that will grow in its light.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QUESTION Is it possible to prevent sadness just only by knowing the problem is in me?&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,7],"tags":[45,11,86,155,15,21,224],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sadness-depression","category-self-remembering-awareness","tag-anger","tag-awareness","tag-consciousness","tag-depression","tag-freedom","tag-resistance","tag-sadness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Transforming Sadness Into Gladness - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transforming Sadness Into Gladness - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"QUESTION Is it possible to prevent sadness just only by knowing the problem is in me?&nbsp;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-18T06:54:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@guy_finley\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Transforming Sadness Into Gladness - Letting Go with Guy Finley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Transforming Sadness Into Gladness - Letting Go with Guy Finley","og_description":"QUESTION Is it possible to prevent sadness just only by knowing the problem is in me?&nbsp;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html","og_site_name":"Letting Go with Guy Finley","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","article_published_time":"2010-10-18T06:54:30+00:00","author":"Guy Finley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@guy_finley","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html","name":"Transforming Sadness Into Gladness - Letting Go with Guy Finley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-18T06:54:30+00:00","dateModified":"2010-10-18T06:54:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#\/schema\/person\/1e80afed42f91bae3eb4ca59666c1d16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2010\/10\/transforming-sadness-into-gladness.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Transforming Sadness Into Gladness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/","name":"Letting Go with Guy Finley","description":"Holistic, Mental Health and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#\/schema\/person\/1e80afed42f91bae3eb4ca59666c1d16","name":"Guy Finley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/308\/3082f4cd4990377da62358c5c69fd4e1x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/308\/3082f4cd4990377da62358c5c69fd4e1x96.jpg","caption":"Guy Finley"},"description":"Bestselling \"Letting Go\" author Guy Finley's encouraging and accessible message is one of the true bright lights in our world today. His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. For more information about Life of Learning Foundation, Guy Finley, and their life-changing messages, visit guyfinley.org. \"Guy Finley is...one of the leading experts at the forefront of human potential.\" -Nightingale Conant \"Guy Finley has helped millions live fuller, more peaceable lives.\" -Barnes and Noble","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.guyfinley.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","https:\/\/x.com\/guy_finley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/author\/gfinley"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}