The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

That we go numb along the way is to be expected. Even the bravest among us, who give their lives to care for others, go numb with fatigue, when the heart can take in no more…. Perhaps the noblest private act is the unheralded effort to return: to open our hearts once they’ve closed.’

Mark Nepo

“Hearing the Cries of the World”

 Parabola Magazine

(via abiding-in-peace)