Trâm

“When someone listens to you it can feel so much like love, some people may not know the difference. Part of being a good listener is knowing your limits and setting boundaries. Not listening because you don’t agree with someone, you’re self absorbed, or you think you know already what somebody will say makes you a bad listener. But not listening because you don’t have the intellectual or emotional energy to listen at that moment makes you human. At that point it’s probably best to exit the conversation and circle back later. If you half-listen to someone or listen as if you are skimming through a book, the other person will pick up on it.”
― Kate Murphy, You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters

“Not all bad things
Are big bad things
Not all sad things
Are big sad things

Sometimes they just come and go
Just visitors
And we don’t need to be
Afraid of them”
― Meg Grehan, The Deepest Breath

“Can you choose one person to practice wondering about? Can you listen to the story they have to tell? If your fists tighten, or your heart beats fast, or if shame rises to your face, it’s okay. Breathe through it. Trust that you can. The heart is a muscle: The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.”
― Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

“Grief is the price of love. Loving someone means that one day, there will be grieving. They will leave you, or you will leave them. The more you love, the more you grieve. Loving someone also means grieving with them. It means letting their pain and loss bleed into your own heart. When you see that pain coming, you may want to throw up the guardrails, sound the alarm, raise the flag, but you must keep the borders of your heart porous in order to love well. Grieving is an act of surrender.”
― Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love