So many of us are shocked by the loss of the brilliant actor Philip Seymour Hoffman yesterday.
Writer Jenna Hollenstein, however, captures neatly a sense of not just a sense of Hoffman’s talents and grace, but a feeling of personal connection. From “The Open Letter to Philip Seymour Hoffman I Wish I Sent,” posted yesterday on her blog, Drinking to Distraction:
“I wanted to invite you to meditate, to have the experience of sitting with that seemingly solid and immovable discomfort without reacting with drinking or shooting up or even going down the rabbit hole of habitual thoughts. To watch how the pain changes, even if only minutely, from moment to moment. I wanted to tell you that it doesn’t get easier, but it does get better.”
Read the full post here. You can also read Jenna’s excellent piece, also titled “Drinking to Distraction,” here on the Shambhala Sun site. …And some extra perspective from the Centers for Disease Control: “Deaths from drug overdose have been rising steadily over the past two decades and have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States. Every day in the United States, 105 people die as a result of drug overdose, and another 6,748 are treated in emergency departments (ED) for the misuse or abuse of drugs.'”
