Mind your language when comforting friends

Friends and a cup of tea help

Keep sociable

In a survey by AXA insurance company, more than a fifth of those questioned said that they were at a loss to know what to say when faced with a friend or colleague in a crisis.  Humour and philosophy were more welcome to someone in difficulty than being given hearty advice like 'get a grip'!  Rather late on in my life, I begin to see how clumsy 'good' advice is and also that everyone is working their own stuff out;  you can only really keep them company and be nice company too.  The little report by Patrick Kidd on this subject is on my favourite page of the newspaper, where there are little bits of random rather interesting things; Nigella and Gordon Ramsay tussling over roast potatoes, a recipe for pasta and then on the left, a sad fact that people are going to see their GP because they are lonely and don't see anyone from day to day:  Kate Jopling, director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, is quoted as saying "far too many people are feeling so lonely, and are so at a loss about what to do about it, that they end up going to see their doctor."
So clearly when you have finished meditating, get out there and be nice, make someone happier than they were before they saw you.  This will also help doctors who can get on with mending wounds and curing illness.  Meditation definitely shouldn't be a selfish thing, it should be a way of making us more useful by becoming more tuned in to others.