People often come to therapy for good answers to troubling questions about life.
This book, which was recommended by my good friend and fellow therapist Megan …
… is giving some good answers to the question of how to deal with painful feelings in ourselves and others. Here’s what I’m reading this morning:
Though all emotional healing requires it, listening to pain is difficult — and the greater the pain, the more difficult it is to listen to. The dark emotions are uncomfortable; they are also contagious. Their energies flow through and between and among us without regard for the boundaries we erect to keep ourselves separate. If we are unable to tolerate some discomfort, it’s hard to listen to dark feelings in ourselves or others. Our best, most compassionate intentions are thwarted, our connections marred by the shadow of intolerable emotions. We become inured to the incessant cacophony of the world’s suffering, limited in our authenticity and responsiveness. And we suffer from not knowing the darker side of ourselves.
Greenspan, 2004, p. 15
Often a good answer to the unrelenting grief, fear, and despair in the world is to take a break from all that. Those breaks can be moments of deep breathing or getting away for a vacation. A good answer for me, here and now, is taking two weeks off from work, starting this Saturday, and flying to Portland, Oregon to visit my college roommate Maria.
Do you see good answers in any of my other images for today?
The Daily Bitch often has good answers, don’t you think?
Here’s my good answer to my own question of what music you would like to share with others:
I look forward to people’s good answers in the comments section, below.
Gratitude is a good answer for everything, so thanks to all who visit my daily blog, including YOU.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 