It takes very little to see that if longing and beauty go hand in hand, then trauma and shame are more than willing to make sure that none of that ever lasts, and in some cases makes sure no handshake ever happens. For truly, as sure as we are people of desire, we are people of grief.

From our brains to the rest of our bodies, from our inner lives to our relational realities, our grief so fills our minds that we hardly notice that so much of life’s work consists of managing our grief, looking for trouble so we can head it off before it finds us. Given the brokenness and pain that seem so ubiquitous, no wonder we mostly see ourselves as problems to solve rather than beauty waiting to be revealed.

Join Pepper and Curt as we unflinchingly name our grief—without forgetting that we were made for so much more.

This episode is further discussion on chapter 4 of The Soul of Desire by Curt Thompson, MD.