Courage gives us a voice and compassion gives us an ear. Without both, there is no opportunity for empathy and connection. Again, I’m not talking about bravery or heroics, I’m talking about ordinary courage—the courage to tell our story from the heart. It took courage to call Dawn and tell her about the cookies. Dawn had to practice compassion. She had to be willing to make room in her world for my painful experience. In the next two sections, we’ll explore these ideas of courage and compassion separately, but I first wanted to emphasize the importance of how they work together.
