Sometimes, the human “experience” can get to be a little much … it gets a little “heavy” … a little “trying.” Yet when we take a minute to listen … to learn … to ask … we are presented with countless opportunities for compassion. When we observe, we see. When we look, we notice. When we listen, we hear.
We may see one child struggling to master his multiplication facts, as another tries to make sense of sight words. A young girl who feels everything a bit too intensely. We witness addiction and battles with food. We notice a mother who can’t let go. Or a child who feels her life is worthless. Another girl wrestling with number sense. A mother trying to coach her child through a diagnosis she doesn’t (fully) understand herself. Someone trying to help (but not enable). Sick kids. Fear. Terror. Low self-esteem. Financial woes. A beautiful girl saying she’s ugly. A woman losing her husband of 60 years. A dad passing. A mother of three feeling stretched too thin. A misdiagnosis. A missing diagnosis. A woman caring for a husband whose health is failing. Someone who has lost their way … someone who can’t see “the light” or “the point” anymore. Missing self-confidence. An ongoing battle with depression or a long-term illness … someone who “flees” or “avoids” all together … someone who can’t do crowds anymore (or “people”). The “goal-less” woman … the one in a constant state of “survival” … the one who has forgotten how to dream or create or encourage others …
The list seems endless … a never ending “tug” on the heartstrings … every day we’re confronted with infinite chances to just look and notice and actually SEE others … their struggles, their challenges, their battles … we’re given endless opportunities to consider a different viewpoint … countless chances to walk around in another person’s shoes for at least a moment or two here and there … it just takes a real LOOK around … a quick ask of the right questions … truly listening …. and perhaps even an offer to help … to cultivate compassion …
Yes, it all gets a little heavy at times … yes, it can get a little “trying” … but, amidst it all, each and every day, we are given the gift of compassion … the gift of the human experience …
“Let our hearts and hands be stretched out in compassion towards others for everyone is walking their own difficult path.” dieter f. utchtdorf
Our Life Well Lived - Leanne Hintz 
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