Amber Night

“Empathy is a choice. And it’s a vulnerable choice, because if I were to choose to connect with you through empathy, I would have to connect with something in myself that knows that feeling. In the face of a difficult conversation, when we see that someone’s hurt or in pain, it’s our instinct as human beings to try to make things better. We want to fix, we want to give advice. But empathy isn’t about fixing, it’s the brave choice to be with someone in their darkness—not to race to turn on the light so we feel better.”
― Brené Brown, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

“In death, just like in life, sometimes there is a reaching out. One soul stretching across the darkness toward another. It can be a scary feeling if you are the one doing the reaching. A lonely feeling. But when, out of the blackness, you feel that other soul reaching out to you too... well, that is the best feeling. Believe me. At the end of it all maybe, it is the only feeling.”
― Dan Gemeinhart, Good Dog

“I saw a tree dancing in the wind, and it said to me, ‘I’m not doing this to entertain you, but to remind you of what life is - a dance in the wind!”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Song of a Nature Lover

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations