We have demonized pain and suffering so often that flight seems to be the only option. Rarely does anyone tell you it is a good idea to stop running and be still, that instead of fleeing from sorrow you could come closer to it, befriend it, feel and understand it. Finding the commitment to stop running from pain is the first step in cultivating compassion. Your willingness to turn toward suffering rather than away from it is the beginning of approaching the world with greater kindness and tenderness. To listen to the cries of the world, you are asked to be still, to let go of your arguments, judgments, fault-finding, and the effort to make the difficult disappear.
— Christina Feldman, Compassion