Compassion Hurts. Practice it Anyway...

“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.” -Andrew Boyd
Keeping an open heart in the face of life's pains...hurts.  No doubt.  The world's pain is not separate from the pain of each of our hearts, although we may sometimes think so.  Some deeply sad events unfolded in the lives of people close to me, these past days...and, their sadness touched me.  The instinct is to turn away...but Rumi famously advises that we turn towards the wounded place...as this is where the light enters.  So, I found myself feeling grief, for people I love, who were hurting...yet not owning the grief.  Not my grief...no.
Grief felt like a force...like the rain.  A force of nature that comes, stays til it has spent itself, and then moves on.  It had a weather-like quality to it...not solid at all.  Being soft and allowing the grief in, although it hurt...felt strong.  It felt like an act of love.  Because...this is being human.  It's not a solitary act...We are all in this together.  
Opening the heart in the face of sorrow is an act of bravery....of radical courage...and this is exactly what the world needs.  So I'm challenging myself...to keep my heart open.  Even when it wants to close.  Especially when it wants to close.  
Can you feel it?  <3
So much love,
Jessie A.