What if Irony is Judging Others for Lacking Empathy?
“I want to kill him,”
she said,
her heads down,
referring to her co-founder.
“Tell me how you’d do it.”
I asked,
“What?”
she looked up
puzzled.
“I want to hear your plan.”
I responded.
“Ha ha ha!”
she laughed out loud.
I smiled,
noticing her shoulders relax
and tension release.
We tend to associate
progress
with forward movement.
But sometimes
stopping
and not moving at all
can be progress,
if that’s what’s required
for us gain the clarity required
to move
not merely forward,
but in the direction
we desire.
We are born
to need
the support of others.
This is more obvious,
when we’re near birth
or near death.
In between,
we may pretend
we don’t need
support
or we may think
we’re weak
if we do.
When we acquire
power,
the kind that allows us
to feel
as if we never have to expose
our vulnerabilities,
or the kind that allows us
to punish
anyone who dare come near
our vulnerabilities,
may we be careful
with that power,
because it can easily take over
our mind.
If fear accompanies
the prediction
of a negative future event,
we fear
in so far as we believe
we’ll live past
the negative future
event.
Once we realize
that we may die
prior
to the negative future event
much can change.
What if
happiness
is simply the momentary absence
of our tendency
to predict
the negative.
When someone leans on us
we sometimes mistake them
for falling,
which inspires us
to rescue them.
But all they really need
is for us
to support them
while they lean.
p.s: My gratitude goes out to Pinky Parsons for inspiring this post.
If our tension
was created by our resistance
to fear.
By loving our fear
we can also
release it
Expressing gratitude
need not be
to pay someone back.
It can simply be
to practice the simple
yet often neglected act
of appreciating
instead of taking
for granted.
When we feel
isolated
in our pain,
we can think that our pain
is unique.
No.
We can think that our pain
must be
unique.
…
Because we may think that
it is the only way,
we
can matter.
…
But when we feel
connected
with an other’s pain,
we may realize that our pain
is not unique.
No.
We may realize that our pain
need not be
unique.
Because we can see
that the pain of those
with whom we feel connected
matters
to us,
which means
so does our own pain,
by virtue
of the connection
in our pain.
