"We take great pains to avoid painful truth and when we have no other choice but to stare it in the face, we still deny it, rationalize it, or contend against it.

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Assimilation of negativity is a way of describing what happens when the unbearable experiences of our lives are brought within the mainstream of our conscious selves. It is another way of saying realism. Realism has never been a mean achievement. It is a hard-won asset. And it differs from cynicism, with which it is sometimes confused, by only a slender thread —the thread, I believe, of God's grace. Assimilation of negativity refers to a person's willing, painful embrace of the sorrows of life, of himself and his flaws, in coexistence, almost union, with his confidence, aspirations, and joys."