acceptance
#944

The best thing I can give
The best thing I can give to others is to liberate myself from the common delusions and be, for myself and for others, free so grace can work in and through me for everyone.
– Thomas Merton, Journal entry – June 29, 1968
#941

and free!
fear
R. Rohr – A true believer is never grounded in fear. If honest self-knowledge is not good and important, then Job, Jesus, the desert fathers and mothers, Augustine, the Philokalia, Hildegard, Thomas Aquinas, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Ávila were on the wrong track.
joyous
nevertheless religious

From For The Time Being by Annie Dillard
great compassion mantra
They suffer too
Usually when we suffer we think we’re the only person who suffers, and that the other person is very happy. But in fact, it’s likely that the person who hurts us also has a lot of pain and doesn’t know how to handle his strong emotions. Breathing with awareness, we generate our energy of mindfulness, and we can have insight into how to handle our suffering and that of the other person’s suffering with compassion.
– Thich Nhat Hanh