This morning, I wanted to share with you a beautiful and intimate moment of compassion. As you know, Gus has megaesophagus, an incurable disease that blocks the passage of food and can cause malnutrition, starvation, and pneumonia.

After his meals, Maria and/or I need to sit with Gus upright for 10-20 minutes so that gravity might help pull his food down into the digestive tract, and not be trapped by the pouch in the enlarged esophagus. This morning, Gus was in Maria’s lap while I prepared breakfast.

I heard a beautiful and soulful chant coming from the living room and was curious and puzzled, I went into see what it was, and I was struck by this very  beautiful and very intimate scene – Maria was playing healing changing and vibration music – Krishna Das – and Gus seemed to be quite deeply into it.

I could feel the power of this moment all the way into the kitchen, and the closer I got, the more beautiful it seemed, the stronger the sense of healing I sensed in the room. I don’t usually post videos like that, but I asked Maria for permission and she agreed.

I’d rather that Gus was healthy, but compassion is a gift, he has drawn us closer into empathy and love and connection. That is the bright sight of difficulty, it shows us the way to being human, and gives us the opportunity to learn  how to love.