Helping our patients hold uncomfortable thoughts or feelings like holding a crying child with love and compassion

If one holds a crying child with feelings of worry, fear, helplessness, anger, and frustration, it’s an awful experience.

If one can hold a crying child with feelings of love, care, and compassion, it may lead us to a very different place.

So what’s my point?

The “feelings” with which we use to solve our problems matter. It matters deeply. It can make all the difference between a terrible or a wonderful outcome.

So next time we or our patients have an uncomfortable thought or feeling, consider holding it like a crying child, but with love, kindness, care, and compassion, and let that guide us, rather than the anger or helplessness.