Compassion is knowing our own darkness well enough that we can sit in the darkness with others.
And it is a relationship between equals, never a relationship between the wounded and the healed.
— Pema Chödrön
When I’m feeling ashamed at what I’ve done – an ordinary, human course of events in which I’ve made a choice I regret – the last thing I need you to do is to tell me what I could have done differently.
The judgement inherent in your advice prolongs my shame, and increases the distance between us.
Speak to me instead from that part of you that knows you could find yourself in a similar situation.
And, please, show me you see my humanity, and that you share it too.
