Get Close to Pain

I write a lot about forgiveness and letting go because I believe these tactics are critical to bringing us through our pain. But today I want to write about pain itself, and why we all need to get close to pain. Getting close to pain is pretty much the last thing anyone wants to do. We humans avoid it in all kinds of clever ways. Perhaps we overindulge in food, drugs and sex. Or we might throw ourselves into the role of parent, friend, family member or employee, and in doing so we ignore who we are. We can also abstain from […]

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The Appropriate Compass

For the past several hours today, I followed a discussion on Facebook about this guy who took his 9-year-old son fishing for sharks in a kayak. The discussion was initiated by someone who posted the story and asserted that the father was an “idiot” for engaging in such a dangerous activity. Another poster suggested that the father was an experienced angler and asked that others not be so critical of parents’ individual choices.

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