Empathy
Yesterday my child fell off of mama and daddy's bed while sleeping... which is like a 3-4 foot drop. Apparently, she had her fingers in her mouth because she now has a deep bite mark on her middle finger.
It was very hard watching her go through the pain. To comfort herself, she wanted to pop those fingers back in her mouth but there was an annoying band-aid in the way. Of course our hearts were breaking because we wanted to do what we could to take the pain away.
Much later after the fiasco was over and my mind was free to go elsewhere, it hit me: What if I widened my circle so wide that anyone's suffering broke my heart that much (or even half that much)?
Category:
family,
general spirituality
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5 comments:
You have to tell us later how Kalli fares on Halloween night in that Elmo costume!
Bless her-
there isn't anything like watching your child go through pain...you want to take it away, bear it yourself.
Trev, your circle IS wider than most already..your compassion and honesty, endearing. We all have much to learn from you.
I remember what Wayne Dyer said once (paraphrasing here), "there is no state or depth of poverty I can go to that will, in any way, help the poor; there is no amount of sickness I can bring into my life that will, in any way, heal another; there is no amount of suffering I can feel, that in any way, will set another free.."
Now that your circle is ever widening exponentially, affirm your gifts and talents, your very being opening up to say, “Oh Mara, you cannot imprison me again, the rafters are broken, the ridgepole is sundered. I have seen the builder of the house!"
There is all the suffering in the world to alleviate. There is no suffering anywhere that needs your attention. :)
Not having a child myself, I can only imagine. I appreciate the compassion of your spirit.
Tommy gave you a frimmin' little koan, at the end, there.
Celeste - You bet. ;)
Tommy - That is amazing stuff. Lots to think about. That Dyer quote alone is something to seriously consider (I've never heard that before)! I'm going to have to sit with those last words for a while... powerful.
Jon - As always, I appreciate your encouragement and response...
I like that Tommy implied that suffering will fix itself, without attention. Good closing question, Trev, I responded with my thoughts over on my blog, fwiw...
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