Loving Kindness

I have a friend who is where I used to be. . .in a cocoon, and afraid to come out. She doesn't know it is so much better facing fear rather than fearing it. I came across this quote today and I'm passing it on because it will help me to remember the gift of loving kindness I can give my friend (instead of irritation, questions and judgment). "Fearful mind is the mentality of those who are still taking pleasure in hibernating in the cocoon of comfort. People come up with long lists of reasons they would like to hibernate. They complain that the world has not provided enough hospitality, so therefore they have to stay in their cocoons. Philosophers, psychologists, musicians, mathematicians, cooks, and seamstresses alike — all kinds of people with all kinds of mentalities — may have their own answers as to why they should be left in their own particular cocoons.Those of us who have left the cocoon and joined the warrior’s world always treat such would-be warriors gently. We respect them, but on the other hand, we don’t just let them lie in their cocoons forever. We gently take the cocooners out of their cocoons and we place them, instead, in the cradle of loving kindness.” — from Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery (Shambhala Publications),