your daily rock : share the burden

August 7, 2013 in Daily Rock, General

I think human beings are hard-wired for community. And communities are hard-wired for helping, for holding space for each other, for sharing our burdens in order to lighten all of them in that moment.

If we don’t share our burden, we are prisoners to our own shame. If we don’t open safe spaces for others to be in community with our burdens, and for us to be in community with theirs, we are caught in the prison of trying to dazzle others with our talents rather than acknowledge our shared poverty and see those as a source of new life, to paraphrase Henri Nouwen.

Sharing our burden with another feels like an imposition, but it is a true gift.

Share one of your burdens today, speak it aloud, and open space for someone else to share theirs with you. Give that sharing process your full attention.

Love,

(These beautifully painted rocks are created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.