“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.”
― Iain Thomas

This article was inspired by a short email we received this morning from a new course student:

Dear Marc and Angel,

There’s so much meaning and value I want to foster in my present life, and yet a tragic past continues to drag me down.  I feel like I have weights tied to my ankles.  It’s the heaviness of grief that still sneaks up on me.  Truly, I’ve been through a lot – the toughest and most heartbreaking of which was losing my husband in a car accident when he was only 35-years-old.  And right now, six years later, I’m at a point where I’m trying to make the best of a bad situation, but I wake up on some mornings and just can’t seem to let go of the way things were “supposed to be” in my life.

Anyway, I know you can’t solve all my problems, but I was hoping you could shine some light on my situation.  I could use a little perspective today.  Do you have any wisdom you could share?

Sincerely,
A Struggling Student

Our reply (an open reply to all who are trying to make the best of a bad situation):

Dear Struggling Student,

Angel and I just finished reading your email, together, and we sincerely wish we could start by giving you two of the biggest, longest hugs imaginable.  But since that’s not possible at this very moment, let me tell you about an unexpected phone call I received in the middle of the night last night.

My phone rang just before midnight.  I didn’t answer.  Then it rang again a minute later.  I rolled over, grabbed it off the nightstand, and (more…)