Kindness. Respect. Patience. Grace. Character matters more than anything, especially when the world feels like it’s on fire. Take a breath. Don’t be a jerk.

When criticism gives way to fear and stereotypes, it ceases to be about truth and becomes a mirror of our own insecurity. The urge to control those who think differently is never about conviction—it is about the fear of being seen, and the refusal to understand what that reflection might reveal.

I was at the Institute of Living (Hartford, CT) for the Bicentennial Lectureship award & the Radical Recovery symposium yesterday & today, and I am so impressed by the excellence of care and research at IOL and the culture of dialogue and openness that @javeedsukhera.bsky.social has facilitated!

Rage baiting wins clicks, not change. There’s real suffering out there, and shouting across divides won’t heal it. We need to get serious about listening, collaborating, and finding constructive solutions beyond partisan noise.

Your humanity is not defined by your passport. Borders may divide land, but they should never dictate worth.

We should never fear saying that every child deserves to live. That every family deserves safety. That every human being deserves dignity and the chance to hope. These basic truths should not be controversial. Compassion should never require a disclaimer.

The internet rewards outrage and vanity, not depth or humanity. Do not mistake algorithms for community or metrics for meaning. Real life is full of messy conversations and learning how to agree to disagree.

Selective empathy is moral blindness. It’s when compassion depends on who suffers, outrage on who’s harmed, and silence on who speaks. True empathy isn’t agreement, it’s feeling another’s pain even when it challenges your comfort or loyalty.

Two mothers cry beneath the same sun, The ground drinks salt from both their tears, Grief travels like smoke, Crossing fences and languages, Finding lungs that did not light the fire.

One of the most painful aspects of the last few years is not just the violence… but how easily empathy has withered in its shadow. Too many have come to believe that acknowledging another’s pain somehow erases their own. Callous indifference has proliferated like a virus…

Would I find, in that relentless beating, in that deep drawn breath, the same proof I carry, that we are both tethered to the same air, the same fragile fire, whether we want to or not?

Families do not need to be dragged into political circuses or fed misinformation dressed up as science. They need honesty. They need research that brings clarity, treatments that bring relief, and support that brings dignity. Not partisan political theatre.

Hope in hard times isn’t wishful thinking. It’s the choice to act with purpose when so much feels out of our control. Hope gives us agency to author our story instead of letting circumstances write it. Hope means modeling clarity and intention, showing others that their choices matter too.

Free speech means free for everyone—not just those who think or look like you. If you want to fire or dox people for their views, you’re not a free speech advocate, you’re a hypocrite.

Choose your words carefully. Are you making the world safer or more violent and dangerous? Polarization grows when we treat our own views as inherently good and others’ as inherently bad. This mindset erases complexity, shuts down dialogue, and deepens divides.

In healthcare, trust is sacred. Critique makes us better. But baseless or partisan attacks corrode trust and strike at the covenant between medicine and society. Illness and healing aren’t partisan. Our work is for the greater good, and we must protect that trust with vigilance.

When people fear your power, they’ll try to tear you down. The answer isn’t to shrink. It’s to stand taller, trust your voice, and keep speaking.

There is agency in refusing to be flattened into a caricature. There is power in choosing depth over distraction. And there is freedom in staying rooted in our humanity, even when the world around us tries to strip it away.

School shootings are not a mental health issue. They are a gun issue. As a child psychiatrist, I see kids struggle every day—but their struggles don’t put AR-15s in classrooms. #GunReformNow

Hyperpolarization destroys trust, silences nuance, and fuels division. Dialogue builds bridges, restores humanity, and paves the way for real progress. A healthy society depends not on louder voices, but on deeper conversations.

The most important thing we can do is love deeply and let ourselves be loved without conditions. Love brings people together and creates a community where we can give and receive space, kindness, and understanding.

The keepers of the lie fear the lantern’s light. So they chip at its frame, dim its glow, and let the darkness swallow it whole.

The world needs your fire. Just make sure you’re not burning yourself to keep others warm.

When we divide the world into good and bad sides, we give ourselves permission to stop seeing each other as human. Choose a different path. Choose to transcend. Choose to be love and light. Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.

If your first response to your neighbor’s suffering is to question its authenticity, not to offer care, then the real loss isn’t truth…it’s our shared humanity. When we turn our hearts away from compassion, we lose the threads that bind us and our humanity begins to unravel.

Connecticut now has the strongest #mentalhealth parity enforcement legislation in the country. Proud to host state leaders for today’s bill signing and contribute to this important bill.

There is a particular kind of grief that comes with losing our elders. The slow fading of a generation that carried our stories, our roots, and the sounds of our childhood. May those who have passed be remembered with love and light.

A reminder to every immigrant compelled to display your gratitude for your new home: Your greatness is not granted by borders or nations. It lives in your resilience and your humanity. You bring richness and strength to every place you touch. No one can choose you to be worthy—you already are.

Home is not just where we are from but what we choose to build line by line brick by brick memory by memory even across borders. Happy (complicated) #CanadaDay

When support is demanded instead of invited, it stops feeling like solidarity and starts feeling like control. Allyship is not about absolute agreement. It is about mutual respect. If one can’t say “I see things differently” without being labeled a threat, then the space was never safe.

True solidarity is not about purity tests or forced alignment. It is about holding space for complexity, grief, and divergent truths. Centering only your own pain while ignoring others does not advance your cause. It erodes trust and weakens relationships that can foster healing.

There are moments when the veil thins, and truth stands naked in the light. Some feel their soul begin to shake, others blindly chase power and might.

I’ve joined TikTok! www.tiktok.com/@drsukhera?_...

You are not merely what you produce. You were always sacred, even when the to-do list remained undone. May you offer your nervous system Unconditional permission to unclench. To breathe. To be.

This Eid, my prayer is for the world to uplift the dignity of those suffering and bring ease to their pain. Wishing all those who celebrate a Happy Eid.

In a world overwhelmed by injustice, we must remember: our pain is deeply interconnected, but it is not interchangeable. Healing requires the courage to hold space for every form of suffering, without collapsing one into another. Each grief is sacred. Each loss deserves its own dignity.

Blessed are they who still the storm with quiet, steady hands, Who temper wrath with mercy’s voice and calmly take a stand. Their strength is not in striking back, but in a softened face The noble few who choose to love, and walk the path of grace. - Javeed Sukhera

Marking the start of #mentalhealthawarenessmonth at CT State Capitol with leaders including Gov Lamont Lt Gov Bysiewicz Sen Anwar and Comptroller Scanlon.

This Canadian is grateful for a livestream of CBC with @rosiebarton.bsky.social on election night. Watching anxiously from afar. 😬

“Do not fall asleep inside your enemy's dream.” - John Edgar Wideman

On #YomHaShoah, I stand in solidarity against all forms of hatred and violence. I stand with those fighting against discrimination and intolerance, and I stand in agape love with my Jewish friends and colleagues who continue striving for a better, more just world for us all.

What is home if not a place that exists only in interstitial memory? A mirage. A blurry image of something that will never materialize. A destination one will never reach.

do you know what it means for your existence to be defined by someone else’s intentions? - @clintsmithiii.bsky.social

“It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them…” - Anne Frank

Every physician carries the residue of our work in our veins We carry the sorrow We carry the grief We also learn to let it out We learn to laugh and cry at the same time We learn to love and be loved We learn to give ourselves space and grace Thanks to #thePitt for a brilliant season

When our world seems to be pulled in many directions, our collective well being depends on holding to a moral center that affirms the humanity of every individual. Even when voices around us claim that the center is lost, it can still be reclaimed.

New #MedEd paper alert: Research isn’t just intellectual. It can be emotional, disorienting, and deeply personal. Let’s talk about the emotional labor of research—and why it matters. A thread for anyone who’s ever felt undone by their own data: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Wishing a light filled #EidMubarak to all those who celebrate!

I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread. —Langston Hughes

Day 17 reflection - Imperfections are part of life. Fasting teaches me to practice grace and space for myself and others. Not everyone is always at their best. Judge one another gently. “If placed on our backs, the burden others’ bear may cause us to stumble too.” #Ramadan2025