This morning's Wall Street Journal's Review section had the above titled intriguing adaptation/preview of a new book with clever writing on an issue I've raised before. Here are excerpts
[quote]In our super-positive society, we have a zero-tolerance policy for negativity. But who feels "Great!" all the time?[/quote]
For many of us, the "new normal" is less than optimal, yet we deal with it most of the time. It does not mean that we can't get depressed or discouraged or think about "In another Life, I would be ....".
[quote]A corollary to the idea that we must all be happy and positive all the time is that we must all be "healed" ....
In time, to your friends, you will appear to have recovered from your loss.All that really happened, you'll think, is that the hole in the center of your life has narrowed just enough to concealed by a laugh. And yet, you might feel a pressure for it to be true.. As it happens, we human beings are able to live just fine with many holes..[/quote]
I especially liked the closing paragraph, which to me summed up our existential dilemma: for many of us, the cancer has permanently taken away many aspects of our or loved one's former lives. Yet we still are at our core, the same person.
[quote]The truth about healing is that you don't need to heal to be whole. And by whole, I mean damaged, missing pieces of who you were, your heart - missing what feels like some of your most important parts. And yet, not missing any part of you at all. Being, in truth, larger than you were before.[/quote]
Keep the Faith
Charm