History is roughly divided into two camps – those who thought sadness was OK and those who thought it was terrible. In 1590, the poet Edmund Spenser even went so far as to endorse sadness as a marker of spiritual commitment. He was totally prepared to accept that life would feel bleak at times – this meant you were doing it right. “We started striving for ‘happy’ above all else.” So we were allowed to feel, but we’d better feel happy. Accepting sadness as a key part of our human experience makes us more compassionate to ourselves as well as others.

Source: The Guardian May 08, 2021 11:01 UTC