Heart Food

I was reading from Jesus' so-called "Sermon on the Mount" this morning and was contemplating:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
-Matthew 6:19-21

Misplaced affections are our common and constant struggle. But other than disaster striking (divorce, health problems, etc.) I've found it really difficult to keep my heart consistently interested and attached to the "right" things. Elder Paisios suggests we participate in other folk's disasters:

Someone asked father Paisios:
-Elder why do we continuously forget what we read?
-It is because our heart does not participate. The same thing applies to our prayers. Before praying to God, we should prepare ourselves; we ought to be able to make the pain of our fellow men ours, and put ourselves in their position. This way, our heart softens and God listens to the prayer springing out of it. Our heart must participate in everything we do, in all our actions; then, we can never forget them.
-Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, pg. 111

Apparently, suffering is "heart-healthy." A timid heart that avoids suffering is doomed to scrounge around for life by attaching itself to all kinds of trivial stuff. But a courageous heart that embraces the suffering it encounters with faith in God, is somehow mystically nourished. I don't know about you, but I find this somewhat counterintuitive and more than a little difficult to put into practice.