The tide goes in. The tide goes out. It comes and goes. The pattern of rising then falling tide repeats although each change is never quite the same across a range of highs and lows. There is also never only high tide. A lower tide will always come. I love this metaphor about the cyclical nature of things and the impermanence of any one state or condition.
As human beings, we experience a wide range of emotions, feelings, and sensations from pleasant (bliss, joy, excitement, gratitude, appreciation, endearment, etc.) to unpleasant (anger, sadness, malaise, jealousy, selfishness, pain, etc.).
I wish I could feel the positive emotions all the time, but I do not. I also sometimes feel the unpleasant ones that are uncomfortable.When I experience symptoms of depression, anxiety or grief, these states often occur to me as permanent states, like I am stuck in them forever. But, if I am honest with myself, feelings of joy and excitement often feel more permanent, too, like I have achieved a new way of being in the world that I can hold onto.
I find that awareness of the impermanence of things and the reminder that “It comes and goes” is a helpful reminder to the impermanence of feelings, sensations, moods, energy levels, and general well-being. Everything changes in time. We are never always only happy or always only sad. As such, rather than resisting where we were at in this moment if the feeling is unpleasant, another option is to acknowledge feeling the unpleasantness in this moment with the understanding that at some point in the future, the feeling will change.
Feelings, moods, etc. all ebb and flow. They come and go.
Kindly,
David