A Soulful Journey

 "When a family member dies the entire family is distraught." We might think that only the closest relations, or the person who wept the most, requires solace and attention. Not so, says the Talmud. ----------------   ----------------- "When a friend passes away the group of friends is deeply pained." We tend to think that a friend's death is mutually carried by each person close to them and that shared pain is divvied up and diminished.  Again, not so.  The peer group agonizes over the loss of its friendship circle.

 "A dentist is a person who puts two instruments in your mouth and then asks you a question." It is humorous but it is important to understand they want to put you at ease. We should all give that gift of making people feel better about who they  are and where they are.

  "...some patients, though conscious that their condition is perilous, recover health simply thorough their contentment with he good ness of the physician." - Hippocrates In this sense we are all potential healers of broken souls.  Use your power wisely.

"Whoever wishes to give consolation to the bereaved must think carefully about the words he is to say.”   - Zohar It is easy to pithy and say things by rote that at best are meaningless, at worst cause anguish. Think first.  Always listen, consider and think first.

“ Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” – George Eliot This is a true friend and one worth cultivating for life.

A little girl lost her front teeth and spoke with a lisp. One day her grandmother was reading the Bible to her, from an old translation. The grandmother read such words as “sayeth” and “doth” and “hath” and so on. After a while the little girl said, “So God must be missing His front teeth too!” From the smallest things comes the greatest comfort.

What can be said of comfort? It is found in the most unlikely places. It is not in the shopping bag that we have brought back from the mall, or in the shiny car in the garage. It is not in the sudden splurge to excess. Comfort is found in the ordinary. From My Porch You are a forest, street trees I know, For in these winds that through you blow You are a forest deep and deep. It is not that I am putting my senses to sleep, It’s just that I need a forest so.” ~ Sada Applebaum

After a while the cell phone loses its luster and we peer at the ads for the latest additional gizmo that will entertain us. By the time we have exhausted the newest model with the features that made it seem wondrous at first, they have now become necessary, almost vital to our lives. How did we ever live without them? The same is true for all the inventions that make their way into our lives. From televisions to radios to GPS’ to texting and on, what was once a comfort grew to be a necessity. Every now and again it is good to do a reality check by asking ‘Who is the master and who is the servant?’ “Comfort is a stealthy thing that enters the house as a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.” ~ Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibrain