Sayings of Parker Palmer

 Become less afraid of other

people’s suffering. Become more 

willing to be present to it in a 

faithful, abiding way because 

one is no longer treating it as 

a sort of contagious disease that 

you too might catch. 

One has been hollowed out by 

one's own suffering, which makes

 space inside of one for the suffering 

of other people. One is better able 

to offer an empathetic 

presence to them.

One starts to develop a sense of community which, in an odd way, begins to normalize
 the problem.

Empathy born of  suffering says to one; “We’re all in this together/ this is part of the human experience.” 

Now you enter the company of

 those who have experienced some 

of the deepest things a human being can experience. So you start to make meaning of it, it seems to me, by realizing that this incredibly isolating experience 

"DEPRESSION" (it’s isolating to

 a greater extent 

  than I imagined survivable)

ultimately it reconnects you  w/the human

 community in a 

 deeper/wider

/richer way.

🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑

After each  depression

 I noticed 

my capacity 

to be  in challenging 

/intimidating situations 
had grown.

once you’ve survived depression

you can say to yourself, “What
 could be more daunting than 

that? I survived depression, 

so the challenge in 

front of me right

 now doesn’t seem 

all that fearsome."

When I’m not threatened I’m more likely to speak from

     a soulful place/ not an ego-defensive 

 place. My message is

 more likely

 to be well 

received 

even if it

 is critical.

Depression becomes an experience against which other things 
don't look    
so bad.      

 Since we have 

    experiences 

of facing into things 

that are pretty tough that’s a real asset

 /something of 

               real meaning.🐚

It’s important 
a person’s 
experience of depression/ becomming 
the darkness
   /be well  

integrated  into his/her self   image/self   awareness. 





If there is any residue of shame or a sense of being personally flawed then the ex-perience may not be ready to be shared
/it could in fact be unhelpful 
or dangerous to do so🐚