Question: What events or situations have been the source of your greatest life losses and suffering? I really want to know as I want to engage with only those capable of true empathy lest my worst fear is made manifest: This loving joyous, optimistic girl becomes bitter stone.

The death of my father at 61, and my cat two days later. You never get over it. But then, my dad died doing something he loved and my cat was 17. I don’t think my suffering can compare to many others’.