I wrote yesterday about how responses to my losing-my-way post had softened my heart. When people reached out to me with such compassion and kindness, my heart, which was so tense and knotted up with little lightning sparks sizzling and snapping, relaxed and took a deep breath.
The anger and frustration and agitation melted. What was left was sadness, deep pure sadness. And with the sadness, I felt a flood of compassion, both for the people who reached out to me and also for myself.
The judgment and blaming and criticism closed my heart. I was not in my happy place. But oddly, the sadness felt good. Not fun good, but peaceful good. I realized that I can be sad in my happy place, because the sadness does not separate me from others.
If we can tolerate our sadness, just sit quietly with it instead of running away from it, we can tap into deep wells of compassion – for ourselves, for those who comfort us, for those who, like us, feel sad.
If you want to make others happy, practice compassion. If you want to make yourself happy, practice compassion. – The Dalai Lama
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