But though life can teach us that although the events of our day are out of our hands they should never be out of our hearts, that instead of becoming bitter our lives can yield to the wisdom that only from the heart a creative response can come forth. When the answer to our world remains hanging between our minds and our hands, it remains weak and superficial. When our protests against war, segregation and social injustice do not reach beyond the level of a reaction, then our indignation becomes self righteous, our hope for a better world degenerates into a desire for quick results, and our generosity is soon exhausted by disappointments. Only when our mind has descended into our heart can we expect a lasting response to well up from our inner most self.
Henry Nouwen.
Today let our hearts be awake. I think when we have resolved our own personal history then we don’t react in quite the same way to injustices we see, because the sting has been extracted once we have let it work its way through our psychic system.
We may recognise a trigger and have insight into what it is, we feel sadness and pain maybe anger and rage which we integrate and absorb. When we have worked it through we make our peace with it. This is showing compassion for ourselves.
When we have made peace with our hurts we use the pain as a fuel to protection and deeper understanding. We become a force for good in this world.
It hurts to be hurt. Hurt people hurt people. But we can learn to see with the heart and use it to inform our minds. So we longer inflict hurt on ourselves or others, and no longer allow ourselves to accept relationships with people who hurt without putting up protective boundaries.
