Stacie Later, LCSW
For my graduate education I attended Loyola University Chicago, a Jesuit university. A part of my draw to the school was the Jesuit values and principles, with the holistic encompassment of education being a transformative experience. My classes sometimes started with a spiritual message, and then the professor would use it to launch into the lecture and then the message would be directed into the class discussion.
A message I have noted from a class with one of my dearest professors is, “The human heart is never completely born. It is being birthed in every experience of your life, everything that happens to you has the potential to deepen you. It brings to birth within you new territories of the heart.”
I’ve been meditating on this message again, and it’s one that I think back to often. We are always undergoing new experiences, and we can grow into more of the human we are meant to be. Perhaps when we as humans experience feelings of emptiness, despair and uncertainty within our hearts, it is a new territory expanded waiting to be discovered, explored and nurtured.
May your experiences expound on your heart, deepen your potential and capacity for compassion, strengthen and empower your ability to grow as a human.