Rhythm

Life has a rhythm…..

…..a heartbeat….

…..a brainwave….

The ebb and flow of a tide, the eternal cycle of night and day, of life and death and the changing of seasons. A continual rhythm moving back and forth, up and down,: sinking and rising with the movement of time.

When considered, it is a very simple rhythm, but as the flow plays out over time, it creates an undulating wave-like pattern. At any time in our lives we can find ourselves at a certain point on this wave, either heading upwards towards a peak or downwards towards a trough.

When we are at a peak, the world may seem like a brighter place; everything going our way and our lives there for the taking. Comparatively, when we are in a trough, we may feel alone, down on our luck and unable do anything right. But wherever we are in this wave of life, we can see that both the peaks and the troughs are naturally occurring parts of the same rhythm. We have moments of strength following moments of doubt; times of joy follow sadness and surges of energy chase fatigue. The sunrise follows the sunset.

Each up and each down is essential to the overall progress of our lives and results from the same function. Neither is sustainable, lasting or permanent. What goes up must come down, what goes down must come up.

Take a point of the curve which is falling, heading now towards a trough, and consider your life in a bigger picture. Even at this point of falling, we are still moving forwards, still heading in the right and natural direction. No matter what: we learn, we grow, we age.

It’s a simple but universal truth that there can be no up without the down: no forward movement without the rhythm of a continual up and down. To stay still is to stagnate. Therefore to go up, we must sometimes go down, to excel we must sometimes fail, to win we must sometimes lose and to wake, we must sleep.

This rule is applied to all natural things, whether it be our emotional state, our physical wellbeing or any other aspect of our lives. We’ve been accustomed and conditioned to following these natural rhythms all our lives. They are inevitable and essential, both familiar and comforting.

If then, everything in life has a rhythm and we are naturally disposed to dealing with the ups and downs of life, why is it that sometimes change can cause us such terrible and absolute distress?

Rhythm has a natural flow, it ebbs and flows in smooth succession. We are able to deal with change when it follows this rhythm because the rate of change is slow, predictable and expected. Sometimes, however, something happens to us that falls from outside our own natural rhythm. The unexpected death of a loved one for example, is a natural occurrence in itself and part of its own rhythm, but not necessarily part of our own. Abrupt changes like this can distort our natural rhythm and cause us great conflict.

When something happen to us from outside of our own natural rhythm, whether it be an emotional tragedy, a sudden physical injury or a professional set back, it is almost inevitable that our rhythm will be disrupted.

When these disruptions occur, they may manifest at a time when we are at a natural peak, causing us to fall abruptly to a trough, bypassing the slow natural ebb that should have taken us there. This abruptness in itself can be more traumatic that the original event and the effects of which can even outlast the cause.

Alternatively, we might have found ourselves at a natural trough when our rhythm is disrupted. Suddenly, with no further to fall on the natural levels of our own rhythm, we fall well below what is normal and take a blow which completely transcends the boundaries of our experience and comfort. In such cases, it is easy to understand that we are unable to bring ourselves back to normality. When the rhythm is broken, we become lost and it can take a great deal of effort and time to come back from such a fall.

Several things can be done in such cases to revive the fallen. The key is to restart the natural rhythm once again. This can be done by redeveloping and maintaining normality; living life as it was led before the occurrence in as many individual areas as can be achieved. Maintaining the same diet, socialising with the same people, continuing to go to work, watching the same TV shows, for example, can assist in restoring rhythm. Although each element may be insignificant individually, together they form a regular pattern and a familiar environment which will stimulate and jumpstart the natural rhythm. A slow flow back towards a peak can begin.

It is not in knowing how to come back from a fall or knowing how to deal with jump-starting a rhythm that is of the greatest importance. It is the recognition and understanding that everything in life has a rhythm, whether it is one of our own or that of someone else’s: we are all unavoidably impacted by their ups and downs. Through this knowledge we give ourselves great confidence, being self-assured of constant progression, be as is it may, via a winding path. Embracing change, for better or worse, in all its inevitability, allowing ourselves to flow with, not resist, the rhythms of life.