Do not run from yourself.
If you feel things deeply, if the world has weathered you, if you are going through something that is uncomfortable or painful, or hard- you often have to decide between allowing yourself to numb their experience of the world. A lot of human beings tell themselves that it is all too much, that is all too inconvenient, to deal with the depth of their circumstance. And it is often not their fault. In a world that has given us so many ways to kill our pain-- through television, or prescriptions , or the sensationalizing of being cool and favorable over being inquisitive, and authentic, it is almost a subconscious thing we do. We try to protect ourselves from pain, but if I have learned one thing this year, it is that pain demands to be felt. It will show up in other ways if we do not deal with...