Compassion

"In cultivating compassion we draw from the wholeness of our experience – our suffering, our empathy, as well as our cruelty and terror....Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others."  -Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

Today, one of my elderly patients unexpectedly emulated the most compassion towards me. We haven't seen one another in over a month and acknowledging that summer was fading away, she cheerfully wished to me, "I hope you've had a good summer!" I am hardly close to this lady, but her comment triggered sadness and next thing you know, I'm in my chair telling her about the surprise loss of my mom in August. This woman, styled with pink and purple highlights in her otherwise piercingly white hair, met me in my sorrow. She expressed with such empathy, "Oh dear, I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry."

I am telling you, it was not her words--for I have heard those words plenty of times over the last two weeks--rather, it was in her tone and in her eyes. I could sense that she was drawing deep from a well of past relationships. I appreciated that moment a lot today. I appreciated her.

I aspire to be that compassionate to others.