Communication - starts from our own Depth

     “If we’re not at home with the depth of our feelings, we’re likely to skirt the deep feelings of others. Do we love ourselves / others only when we / they are feeling fine?”
     “Don’t we often try to secure happiness by fortifying ourselves against imperfection?”
        Barasch MI. “The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness.” Berrett-Koehler, 2009.

     “If caring for patients and families starts to feel like hard labor rather than a labor of love, clinicians need and must begin to take steps and talk to others and discover ways to begin the work involved healing the healer from within.”
         Showalter SE. Compassion fatigue: what is it? Why does it matter? Recognizing the symptoms, acknowledging the impact, developing the tools to prevent compassion fatigue, and strengthen the professional already suffering from the effects. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 2010; 27(4): 239-42.

     There is “… a longing for ways of speaking of the human experience of depth, meaning, mystery, moral purpose, transcendence, wholeness, intuition, vulnerability, tenderness, courage, the capacity to love … it arises from the hunger for authenticity, for correspondence between one’s inner and outer lives. … there is a desire to break through into a more spacious and nourishing conception of the common life we all share. … trust, loyalty, and connection, find place and resonance.”
          Parks SD. Big questions, worthy dreams. Mentoring young adults in their search for meaning, purpose, and faith. John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco, 2000.

Fall in Nova Scotia