Empathy

I don't know if it's possible to have too much empathy for the world around us. Add concern, sympathy and heart and that can lead to a lot of pain in one's life. Thus, I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse.

I tend to let the woes of the world over come me at times, pulling me down, and at times, take the life out of me.

I talk a lot about finding balance in life, probably because that's one of the hardest things for me to do. I look at the world around me and see the woes before I see the victories. I think because of the last few years of pain concerning family situations, it's become my norm. But as Shannon and Lin commented in previous blogs, it's that pain that I have felt that allows me to feel more deeply, the pain of others.

As I look at the political adds, opinions, anger and frustrations, I hurt....wondering why we have forgotten how to be human, show love and compassion and get along.

As I watch the screen above the highways showing 12 more people killed on Tennessee roads today, I hurt.....knowing so many families and friends have lost someone so special in a blink of an eye.

As I watched the couple at the pharmacy, who had walked for miles in the heat from the shelter, only to find that their prescription wouldn't be ready till tomorrow, I hurt....wondering what brought them to that point in their lives and how they must view their world.

As I watch hundreds killed everyday in foreign countries, I hurt.....wondering when will the madness stop.

I realize all these things are a part of life, a part of our journey. I realize we have to take the good and the bad and realize it all makes us who we are.........

But.......
I still struggle to find that balance......
I still struggle to see the joy before the sadness, the good before the bad......
I still struggle to not let my empathy....and sympathy.....and concern.....and heart, take away my own joy and uniqueness, my own purpose and fulfillment, my own hopes and dreams......
I still struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel, knowing it's there, just hidden by the darkness.

So I continue my quest to find that balance in life, to not let the hurts take away from my healing, to let laughter fill my voice where no tears seem to flow.
I continue on my Journey of Life, hoping to reach out, to make a difference, to share my heart, to dream of better days and to continue to Live my Life......the Best I Can......