On Monday morning, I was scrolling through social media, as I normally do, when I saw a post from Elephant Journal's creator, Waylon Lewis. He had announced his engagement and the happy news of a baby on the way. I was overjoyed with the story, but the following day I came to find out it was an April Fool's joke.
A few years ago, I would have found this to be highly offensive. Joking about pregnancy, in my opinion, is in poor taste. But as I sat with my emotions, I realized he had a point. We need to be able to laugh at ourselves, at least once year. So I ask, why are we becoming so sensitive? I believe we need to have compassion and love for those who are struggling and going through tough times. We all have experienced these times in our lives; death of a loved one, loss of a job, a divorce, or some other life changing event.
When we begin to find offense in everything that people do and say, are we taking everything personally? I understand the need to educate each other on acceptable terms when referring to race, nationality, and sexuality (I'm sure I'm leaving some big categories out, but don't take it personally.) What I am discovering is that in order to live a life with less suffering, we need to not take everything so personally. Not everything that people say and do is because of you. People are living in their own dream, their own reality and they do things for themselves.
After I watched Waylon's video explaining his yearly April Fool's joke, I commented on it and I actually thanked him. He responded with much love and kindness. I have learned much from my loss and even though it was emotionally difficult, I have come out on the other side. I am able to find some humor in my loss. We need to be able to laugh at our seriousness and realize that people don't post/say/do things to directly cause harm or suffering to us. We cause our own pain and suffering, just as I had. Once I realized that his post had nothing to do with me, because I don't know him and he doesn't know me, so why am I taking it personally?? AHA moment! Those moments bring so much clarity and awakening to the soul, so we can hopefully, suffer a little less.
Namasté,
KC
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