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<v Marnie Castor>Let's take a moment.

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This is Marnie Castor
with KUT Public media.

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My teenage years were brutal.

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At some point I was so lost.

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It felt as though the light
went out on everything.

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Concurrently, I had a class
in comparative religion.

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I learned about certain Eastern
philosophies where it is believed

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that the human condition is fraught
with varying degrees of heartache,

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loss, longing, illness, pain,
all summed up in one word, duka.

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I also learned that according
to this philosophy, there's a

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prescribed path that leads us outta
suffering and towards enlightenment.

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A state in which we wake up
from the dream of separateness.

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I took these teachings to heart, did the
work, and little by little I got better.

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When dawn broke on the dark night of my
soul, I was endowed with a parting gift.

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Compassion.

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I was blessed with a keen understanding
of pain, but not just my pain.

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Human pain.

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In perennial wisdom, it is said
that growth comes from shock.

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Birth is painful.

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A seed must burst out of its casing
in order to grow towards the light.

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The mystic poet Rumi says, heartbreak is
a treasure because it contains mercies.

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Take a moment to inhale and to exhale.

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Allow your suffering to be the
means To awaken compassion.

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You can find Take a moment
on kut.org or the NPR app.