In real life, the “cupcakes” we give and receive in relationships can be almost anything—money, time, attention, actual cupcakes, or compassion for our difficult feelings. That last is the most important cupcake of all. If we turn toward someone with our difficult feelings—sadness, anger, hurt—and they tune in to our feelings without judgment or defensiveness, it helps us to move through that feeling, like a tunnel, to the light at the end.
