Serious conversation seems to be following me no matter how often I try to escape it. It isn't that I don't want to have the discussions that leave you feeling emotionally drained or with a heightened sense of being it is just that most of the time "life's too serious to be so serious." And it is in those exact moments, where I am too blatantly reminded of my own issues, that I am always so quick to turn away from and stare at the sunshine. But one conversation that I had with the ladies just recently really resonated with me, and funny enough just now my gal Oprah brought up the same exact issue and reminded me just how important a lesson this is to learn.

The lesson, everyone's pain is the same. That's it. Simple right?! Yet so hard to recognize. If we could only grasp the concept, that my deepest pain, no matter what it is, is no more or less than your deepest pain. If today I lost my job and that is my biggest pain and today you lost your wallet and that is your biggest pain then that is where we both are. There is no room to judge whose pain is worse, there is no criteria for hurt, there is no reason to need to step upon someone's sorrow to acknowledge your sorrow as worse. As I sat and listened to Elly tell me this over breakfast with our third point to the E trio seated beside her, I think the concept finally took root. She gets it, she lives it, and in her Oprah-esque moment, she made a believer out of me. Give it a try, we'll work on it together...