“If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as a feather. Through an illness, an accident, a loss, or a fright, one way or another, we are all faced with incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental, and more compassionate and generous. Yet some of us learn the lesson and manage to become milder, while some others end up becoming even harsher than before. The only way to get closer to the Truth is to expand your heart so that it will encompass all of humanity and still have room for more Love.”
— Elif Shafak, “The Forty Rules of Love”
This is the thirty-first rule of love from Elif Shafak’s book The Forty Rules of Love. You can look at it as a reminder to view the things that hurt you as “softeners” for the heart. And even as “fragrances.” Because the scent of love, spread by people with soft hearts and strong faith, is unmistakable.
