If we can't face our losses, we can't be present either fully to everything that is. When people have cut off or not made peace with some part of themselves, they miss out on other aspects of life.
Krista TippettRead
Depression can kill you. It can also be a spiritually enriching experience. It's really an important part of my theology now and my spirituality that life is not perfect, and I grew up wanting it to be and thinking that if it wasn't, I could make it that way, and I had to acknowledge that I had all kinds of flaws and sadnesses and problems.
Interpretation
Depression can lead to growth and understanding about life's imperfections.
In this quote, Krista Tippett reflects on the dual nature of depression, recognizing it as both a potential threat to life and a catalyst for spiritual growth. She shares her journey of accepting life's imperfections and acknowledges her own flaws, suggesting that understanding and embracing these aspects of life can enrich one's spirituality and worldview.
In practice
During a mental health awareness event to discuss the importance of acknowledging emotional struggles.
If we can't face our losses, we can't be present either fully to everything that is. When people have cut off or not made peace with some part of themselves, they miss out on other aspects of life.
For every shrill and violent voice that throws itself in front of microphones and cameras in the name of God, there are countless lives of gentleness and good works who will not. We need to see and hear them, as well, to understand the whole story of religion in our world.
In many ways, religion comes from the same place in us that art comes from. The language of the human heart if poetry
Humanity needs this technology as much as it needs all other technologies that have now connected us and set before us the terrifying and wondrous possibility of actually becoming one human race.
I know not anything more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed.
Many a genius has been slow of growth. Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.
If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.
I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
A great hallmark of mental wellness is the ability to be in the present moment, fully and with no thoughts of being elsewhere.
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