Thoughts on Healing

Recently, my new friend Frederica (Freddie) sent me an inspiring article entitled, "Healing Through the World's Hurts" by psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan. Here are some excerpts that particularly resonate with me:

"It is not the dark emotions themselves that hurt us but our fear of them, our belief that they are negative, and our inability to bear them mindfully. There are no negative emotions, only human emotions. But there are negative attitudes toward emotions, and negative consequences of emotions we cannot tolerate."

"'There is nothing so whole as a broken heart,' goes one saying. The world breaks our hearts wide open - and it is the openness that makes us whole. We cannot and should not expect to be completely cured of grief, fear, and despair in a broken-hearted world. We learn to accept suffering and vulnerability as a normal part of life, and how to use our suffering for the good. Because we are vulnerable, life hurts. We are not here to be free of pain. We are here to have our hearts broken by life, and to transform our pain into love."

(I took the photo above in Pori, after snowfall a few weeks ago.)