The life of each of us is a wonderful treasure chest where colors blend in great harmony. But often the treasure chest is broken and the harmony of colors is lost, primarily because that fundamental unity between Body, Mind, and Spirit has been lost.

Three essential components that are visibly expressed in the vital needs common to all, in the feelings we experience when our needs are or are not met, and finally in the behaviors determined by what we feel.

Unmet vital needs awaken in us feelings of discomfort, bitterness, frustration, resentment... and these feelings can lead us to withdrawn, hostile, aggressive behavior, reproachful behavior, or even to acts of hatred.

On the other hand, if our needs for autonomy, authenticity, creativity, trust, protection, empathy, and so on are met, we experience feelings of affection, relaxation, enthusiasm, and freedom, and our behavior toward others will always be more affectionate.

For the great force of love to always exist in us and within us, it is necessary – as Chiara Lubich says in her book “The Art of Loving” – make us one with those next to us, that is, understanding each other's world, sharing thoughts and dreams, and living with the greatest possible transparency in mutual acceptance.

If a lack of trust and esteem from others ever makes us restless or irascible, confused or indifferent, we must courageously find the strength to communicate to others our need to feel loved, to be able to enjoy the trust of others, and, with humility, ask for their help to rediscover that understanding that seemed to have disappeared.

Likewise, if we are the ones who have aroused feelings of resentment, anger, or bitterness in the other, we must have the courage to ask for forgiveness and help the other understand our fragility as well.

Even toward those who commit crimes and act with hatred, we must avoid expressing moralistic judgments directly—good or bad, guilty or innocent, capable or incapable, hateful or lovable—but rather value judgments based on our own experience and knowing that situations of injustice, prevarication, hoarding, or violence can always trigger reactive feelings and judgments in all of us.

Marshall B. Rosenberg in his book “Non violent communication- A language of life” (“Le parole sono finestre oppure muri” [Words are windows or walls]-(Italian edition) tells how, when faced with a Palestinian who had called him a murderer, simply for being an American, he listened deeply to that man, in whom he had noticed his inner suffering, and asked him several questions, to understand from what deep violence and injustice towards his people had determined that verbal aggression.

The man felt understood and opened his heart, pointing out everything that had led him to believe the Americans were supporters of an unjust policy. A real relationship developed between them, and that day, which was the end of Ramadan, Rosenberg found the man inviting him to dinner, and they remained friends.

If a human being, driven by anger, resentment, and hatred, deprives another human being of life, we have a moral duty to understand what unmet vital needs gave rise to such violent feelings capable of disturbing that person's inner harmony and producing such devastating and harmful effects.

And that is what is being attempted today in some (too few) penal and re-education institutions, which have based their actions on the human and spiritual rehabilitation of those who, blinded by negative feelings, have committed serious crimes.

Only then can there be an awareness of the mistake made and, therefore, the possibility of healing the person's psychological illness, and then rejoice together when they ask for forgiveness for the wrong they have committed.

Viktor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy, writes in his book "Man Who Suffers" that "Even from the negative aspects, and perhaps especially from them, meaning can be extracted, thus transforming them into something positive: suffering, into service; guilt, on the other hand; death, into motivation for responsible action."and thus overcome one's own guilt.