I’ve been reading a wonderful book called Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair. Written prior to and published shortly after September 11, 2001, it’s as applicable as ever to today. Prescient, even. Author Miriam Greenspan notes the “critical importance of emotion to individual and collective well-being.” She calls our ability to relate to emotions (in particular to the ones we tend to think of as “negative”) an essential part of living a good life. She suggests that these so-called “dark emotions” offer us healing wisdom, if we can learn to listen.