Compassion naturally flows from the heart of my inner being.

Anyone who does this for a living — nurses, carers, whoever is on the helpline at three in the morning — will tell you it runs low. Not because they stopped caring, but because feeling is metabolically expensive and there is a finite amount available before Tuesday.

Running dry is not a character defect. It's a supply problem, and it responds to sleep and to being looked after yourself, rather than to shame.

The natural state is real. Like everything else that flows, it needs feeding.