Helping

[tariki]

As a spin off from another conversation here, I would just like to speak of the Mental Health Forum that I participate on.

Link:- https://www.mentalhealthforum.net/

If anyone at all wishes to tread the Bodhisattva Path (😄) of helping others, it is fertile ground. Myself, I think often we must recognise that we are "broken" ourselves before we try to help others, in the tradition of the Buddhist nun Pema Chodron:- 

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognise our shared humanity.

 

The thing is, there is no hiding place on the Forum. If anyone were to try the "go home and pull yourself together" spiel, or the "accept Jesus as your own personal savior" you would be told to put it where the sun doesn't shine. 

 

It is a busy forum and the stories there, the Introductions, can make the heart wither. I have to dig deep to try to offer anything reasonable, dredge the words up from the darkest recesses. Yet in doing so, I find that I can often help myself, and get to know myself better. 

 "In protecting oneself one protects others

In protecting others one protects oneself"

(Buddhist Text)

 

So the invitation is there. 

Just to say, my screen name there is Telegram Sam, my avatar a piccy of Marc Bolan of T-Rex. What's in a name.......etc etc etc

(There is a debating section, very active, very interesting, and also places for lighter entertainment. It is a warm place, welcoming)

Thank you