“One must have suffered oneself to help others” – Mother Theresa
The girl in school who is trying desperately to find love because she doesn’t feel loveable is labelled a slut.
The person who is insecure and socially awkward but still needs connection uses substances for confidence and is labelled a druggie.
The person who feels so worthless inside he can’t admit his failures so he borrows money he can’t pay back and is labelled a thief or a scam artist.
The person who turns to food for comfort is labelled fat and lazy.
We have all been on both sides.
“He’s a thief.”
“She is promiscuous”.
We have all eaten the comfort food, or purchased something to make us feel better, or had a drink to calm down or lighten up.
Maybe we didn’t go to the same extreme as another, maybe we didn’t rely heavily on one thing for fulfillment.
Maybe not as many people found out.
When we look for external comfort, we know on one level that we are doing something wrong, but we can easily justify what we are doing on so many other levels because it helps us feel whole in the moment… until someone finds out, or until we feel the void again.
I see very few people able to fulfill themselves, and yet almost everyone judges someone else who uses an outside source to fill the emptiness, or the void within themselves.
Our biggest mistakes are the pieces of ourselves that keep us humble and allow us to understand the darker sides of humanity… but only if we allow ourselves to understand our own.
Our biggest mistakes, failures and flaws are our most beautiful pieces because they are what makes us fully human.
You have to sit with your pain and let it transform you instead of trying to dull the pain and fill the void externally.
You have to stay with yourself until you understand the truth of who you are, instead of wishing you were something you aren’t.
You have to find compassion and forgiveness for who you’ve been and for who you couldn’t be.
You have to love yourself for who you are and who you aren’t.
Only then will you not judge or be judged.
Only then will you be healed enough to live fully, presently, and compassionately
Only then will you be able to fully accept and love others.
“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.” ― Mother Teresa, A Gift for God: Prayers and Meditations