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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that dawn follows dark. Life often cycles through

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Speaker 1: ups and downs, and when we are feeling our worst,

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Speaker 1: it is helpful to remember that the odds are good

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Speaker 1: that we will feel better at some point in the future.

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Speaker 1: This episode is first airing around the Winter solstice, which

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Speaker 1: is the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. My church

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Speaker 1: has a Longest Night service which is designed to help

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Speaker 1: people who are mourning commemorate the holidays with the knowledge

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Speaker 1: that this can be a hard and lonely time. But

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Speaker 1: there is a reason that this commemoration is on the

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Speaker 1: longest night, because that is the longest that the night

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Speaker 1: will get. After the longest night, the days start lengthening.

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Speaker 1: There is more light each day in places toward the

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Speaker 1: polar circle, where there is twenty four hour darkness in winter.

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Speaker 1: Once the sun rises for the first time in January,

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Speaker 1: the days lengthen rapidly, from a few minutes on that

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Speaker 1: first day to several hours within the first few weeks.

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Speaker 1: It is a noticeable and intense brightening of the world.

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Speaker 1: I find this to be a helpful metaphor, because happiness,

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Speaker 1: like the light on this planet, tends to ebb and

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Speaker 1: flow at different times. When we are in the depths

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Speaker 1: of sorrow, it is hard to believe that anything could

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Speaker 1: ever be different. But the nature of a low point

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Speaker 1: is that it is indeed a low point. The odds

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Speaker 1: are good that some happier moments will happen in the future.

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Speaker 2: I am reminded of one of Tolstoy's wise phrases from

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Speaker 2: War and Peace, purer and complete sorrow is as impossible

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Speaker 2: as pure and complete joy. Natasha grieves, but she is young,

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Speaker 2: and the world still has its many beautiful things. There

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Speaker 2: are kind people, and there is merriment to be had,

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Speaker 2: even if there are shadows that temper this enjoyment. So

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Speaker 2: it goes with many things in life. Some research has

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Speaker 2: found that people tend to go through a marked midlife

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Speaker 2: drop in mood, but then experience a rapid increase in

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Speaker 2: happiness in their fifties. If you are feeling unreasonably dissatisfied

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Speaker 2: with everything in your life in your forties, that is

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Speaker 2: a hope worth holding on to. I once read a

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Speaker 2: fascinating study that followed couples who were considering divorce, not

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Speaker 2: for abuse or abandonment reasons, but because their marriages felt miserable.

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Speaker 2: Some couples went through with divorce, some didn't. Of those

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Speaker 2: who didn't, five years later, many were actually decently happy

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Speaker 2: in their marriages. They had simply gone through a really

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Speaker 2: low point, and then with time, they had climbed out

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Speaker 2: of it. Dawn follows dark. To be sure, one can

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Speaker 2: see that this truth means that even if you are

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Speaker 2: feeling blissfully happy right now, that probably won't last either.

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Speaker 2: Into every life, some darkness falls. You can waste your

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Speaker 2: happiness dreading it, but that won't preserve your happiness or

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Speaker 2: forestall tragedy. Best to enjoy the good moments, knowing how

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Speaker 2: precious they are. But this realization is comforting. When times

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Speaker 2: are darker, most likely the days will get lighter. Something

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Speaker 2: wonderful will happen in your future. Pure joy may not

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Speaker 2: be possible in life, but pure sorrow that lasts forever

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Speaker 2: really isn't either. You can just keep going with faith

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Speaker 2: that the light you can't see now is there waiting

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Speaker 2: on the other side of this longest night, ready to

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Speaker 2: warm you in time. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 2: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 2: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 2: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 2: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then

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Speaker 2: Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at

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Speaker 2: Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast

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Speaker 2: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 2: It's a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.