Hug Corner: Thought for the Week 2/27/17

February 27, 2017

From “Healing After Loss” by Martha Whitmore Hickman

Help thy brother’s boat across, and lo! Thine own has reached  the shore.

—Hindu Proverb

One reason self-help and recovery groups are so effective is that they enlist us in helping one another—so that in each transaction two people are helped and our coping muscles are strengthened in helping another through the familiar rapids.

To help another is to forget, for a few moments at least, one’s own primary consuming need. We gain a little perspective in knowing we’re not the only one. 

And, having a similar need, we understand one another, are bonded together in ways that only those who have traveled the same pathway can be. We don’t need to explain ourselves. The other knows. He or she has been there. 

Initially, in these pairings we will be the needier. Someone who has been there can be our guide, our hope inducing model. 

Then, after a while, we will take our turn as the guide. But even then, the sorrow that lingers will lessen as we bring life-giving hope to another: See, I made it through. So can you

I am grateful for those who reach out to me, and for the opportunities I will have to reach out to others.

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