Don't 'Keep Calm and Carry On'... fall apart and build yourself back up!!!

I've been thinking a lot about an article I read on 'why lying broken in a pile on your bedroom floor is a good idea' and a yoga student of mine summed it up last night. We live in a culture where we are proud to 'Keep Calm and Carry On', despite the challenges we meet along the way. We try not to burden others with our problems and we try our hardest not to let the cracks show. But she agreed with me that this is the worst possible thing to do! It teaches us that we shouldn't feel sad, confused, unhappy or whatever we are feeling that isn't 'perfect'. It teaches us that if we do feel like this we should pretend that we don't so that other people don't see our vulnerability. But sometimes that vulnerability is our strength. It is true, honest, real, and facing up to it allows us to accept it. 
Rather than 'carrying on', allowing yourself to break down is empowering because it allows you to build yourself up again, and that's when the fun starts! My favourite line from a song is 'when you have nothing you have nothing to lose'. Embrace it because when you are broken, when you have nothing... you have all the possibilities and nothing holding you back!
There is a Hindu goddess called Akhilandeshwari, 'The Goddess of Never Not Broken', who teaches us this important lesson. She is in constant flux, breaking apart, spinning herself into a whirlwind in an attempt to get closer to God, and riding a crocodile as a symbol of the fear inside us, our reptilian brain. Rather than give in to this fear she rides it. And rather than hold it all together, she embraces the breaking apart and uses her fear to literally ride forward in her life. 

So, I don't think 'Keep Calm and Carry On' is a very good mantra! Fall apart, embrace the fear, and move forward every time!!! Life isn't about carrying on it's about change, and without challenge there wouldn't be any change.