Suffering, Joy, and Entrainment.

I have had a tough month. I'm finally on the other side of it now, but for a while there I thought my problems were beyond my set of coping skills. In my convalescence I was able to be still and observe. And in my observation there was one common theme that kept itself right in front of my face.
Availability.
The people who made themselves available to me. My ability to not be available to much of anyone or anything, but trying to remain available to myself and my own very basic needs.
The kind of availability I was reduced to was that which requires you to be present in the moment. Just be. If you are sick, just be sick. If you are eating, just eat. Just being mindfully present. The kind of availability my closest friends showed me was a matter of being there. Just showing up, in person, on the phone, lending an ear, showing support. That kind of availability that requires such hospitality to accept things and people just as they are, without trying to cure, control, or fix the problem. To just be there with your heart flung open.
It is the highest attainment of the human heart. And like beating hearts, there is an ebb and flow, there is a rhythm. Like fish in a pond, or crickets that will slowly shift to chirp in unison. Or giant flocks of birds that seem to all move as one unit. When we open our hearts to one another we do the same.
Its called "entrainment"... to adjust (an internal rhythm of an organism) so that it synchronizes with an external cycle, such as that of light and dark. Or when two or more rhythmic beings gradually alter their movements until they are in sync. Take this zoology term and apply it to human nature and what you get is compassion. To be in sync with one another is to show love. And it is beautiful.
Being available creates intimacy with one another, a bond is formed by showing compassion. When suffering is shared, the weight is divided. And when joy is shared, it is multiplied.