It’s possible to grow bigger than our pain.

We can't escape hurt. It’s part of being human. But sometimes, we’re not ready to feel it yet. We’re too little. Or it’s too overwhelming. Or it’s not safe. So we figure out ways to cope. Smart ways. Adaptive ways. Ways that work in the short term, but in the long run can be even more painful than whatever it is we're running from. When we’re ready, we can start to get to know all the ways we’ve learned to protect ourselves from hurt. By bringing compassion and kindness to our suffering, we can learn to give ourselves the safety we need to be fully alive and fully engaged in a complicated, uncertain world.