Sandpaper and its critical role
TOTAL READ TIME: 4 MINUTES
I launched 2 Minute Lift – short reads to flip our script, in April 2021. The intent is to serve as an uplifting forum where we pull up the virtual couch, share a cup of coffee and turn over life’s experiences, hopefully seeing them with new eyes. Sometimes we contemplate easy things, like potluck meals or a spontaneous road trip. Oftentimes, we devour more delicate topics like my mother’s deathbed wisdom or my favorite sermon.
Even though our interactions were meant to be light, lately, you’ve caught me writing a lot about suffering. (To fact-check me on this, I’ve written about it here, here, here, here, here and here.) I’m just as surprised as you are.
This has been bothering me for some time. Why am I writing about sadness, grief and loss when my intention was to lift us up? Why do I touch on those moments that I really don’t want to talk about… the ones that are lodged deep in my heart?
I found my answer when devouring a masterpiece book called Sandpaper for the Soul by Lorna Howarth. It’s a book for both you and me. It’s a book for your mother, your daughter, your aunt, your sister and even your brother. It’s a universal story yet uniquely personal.
I was captivated from page one and you will be too. You’ll meet and fall in love with Rain, a Sri Lankan girl whose life was designed against her. She dares to dream and darts through obstacles, despite her fears. You’ll also fall in love with Nora, an English woman whose life attempts to test her grit and capacity for love. Fate pulls these two women together through a magazine and a sewing machine.
I’m not going to draw you into the book – that’s what page one does well. What I will share is the book weaves together the ebb and flow, beauty and pain, celebration and setback, and love and loss. After the last page, you’ll carry their stories with you in a soft and subtle way. You’ll want to love harder, laugh louder and even be okay with your own pain.
Howarth’s book reminded me of what we are doing together today, in this community, on our couch with our coffee. We are all celebrating our own life – our ebb and flow, beauty and pain, celebration and setback, and love and loss. That is why I have been drawn to write about suffering in its many forms.
“Suffering is what makes us human and humane, because it sandpapers our souls to perfection.”
– Lorna Howarth, Sandpaper for the Soul
Human suffering is the common denominator of all human beings. We all experience grief, pain and loss. The question “Why?” echoes throughout the universe. “Why do we suffer so much on this planet?”
I’ve come to the conclusion that suffering is necessary for our human evolutionary growth and expansion. Suffering is necessary to increase our capacity to love.
Sandpaper for the Soul has increased my capacity to love – plain and simple. I hope this is reason enough for you to have interest to read it for yourself and gift another to a friend.
In the meantime, you can expect we’ll continue to explore this magnificent roller coaster of life, both its ups and its downs. Lorna Howarth clearly knew this and created a masterpiece canvas to expand our hearts. Pick up your copy today!