| COMPASSION |
| "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." ~The Dalai Lama~ |
COMPASSION COMMENTARY: Compassion literally means: “The desire to spare.” Compassion is a
stand-in-another's-shoes kind of empathy. Compassion seeks understanding, rather than judgement.
When you exercise Compassion you are able to lock elbows with knee buckling pain and see someone
through. Compassion is more than sympathy, which feels "sorry for", its more than pity, which looks
down upon. Compassion is the deep loving care which holds a dying child in its arms seeking to alleviate
their pain, even unto death.
Compassion understands that human beings are fallible. It knows that most suffering is mostly man
made. Yet it doesn’t point fingers, but rather embraces. It is a soul essence and rooted in
Lovingkindness. All of us are born with it, because it is a component of Love. However, many of us are
afraid of it, because it requires us to open our hearts to the truth that pain is part of existence.
I do want to add a warning to this teaching. People who are fountains of Compassion often run dry. This
happens because they don’t understand that Compassion is for all of humanity, including themselves.
One can get hooked into what Pema Chodron calls “idiot compassion,” or in our culture it is called “co-
dependence.” This mistake comes from forgetting that you are included in the Compassion equation.
When you give another “idiot compassion,” you are giving them the permission to treat you like a
doormat, which only serves to encourage selfishness in the person you are trying to help. Co-
dependence doesn't cultivate that person's ability to heal, but rather encourages self-absorption in those
you are trying to help. Remember, trying to rescue another only works, if you are pulling them out of a
fiery building. When it comes to their choices, you can give them all the love and support your heart
can hold, but it is their responsibility to enact change. Remember this...the only life we can save is our
own. If you want to further understand the characteristics of Compassion, I suggest the teaching by
Pema Chodron called, “Awakening Compassion.”
Compassion requires deep listening, acute seeing, and a connection to the needs of self and others.
Through the Practice of Kindness, Empathy, Openness, Non-Judgment, and Service (which I write about
later in this practice) one can bring forth their Inner Compassion again. I will go out on a limb here and
say that without Compassion healing isn't likely to take place. It is imperative that we reignite our
Compassion for self and others because without it we will forever be lost in a sea of suffering, self
absorption, and apathy.
stand-in-another's-shoes kind of empathy. Compassion seeks understanding, rather than judgement.
When you exercise Compassion you are able to lock elbows with knee buckling pain and see someone
through. Compassion is more than sympathy, which feels "sorry for", its more than pity, which looks
down upon. Compassion is the deep loving care which holds a dying child in its arms seeking to alleviate
their pain, even unto death.
Compassion understands that human beings are fallible. It knows that most suffering is mostly man
made. Yet it doesn’t point fingers, but rather embraces. It is a soul essence and rooted in
Lovingkindness. All of us are born with it, because it is a component of Love. However, many of us are
afraid of it, because it requires us to open our hearts to the truth that pain is part of existence.
I do want to add a warning to this teaching. People who are fountains of Compassion often run dry. This
happens because they don’t understand that Compassion is for all of humanity, including themselves.
One can get hooked into what Pema Chodron calls “idiot compassion,” or in our culture it is called “co-
dependence.” This mistake comes from forgetting that you are included in the Compassion equation.
When you give another “idiot compassion,” you are giving them the permission to treat you like a
doormat, which only serves to encourage selfishness in the person you are trying to help. Co-
dependence doesn't cultivate that person's ability to heal, but rather encourages self-absorption in those
you are trying to help. Remember, trying to rescue another only works, if you are pulling them out of a
fiery building. When it comes to their choices, you can give them all the love and support your heart
can hold, but it is their responsibility to enact change. Remember this...the only life we can save is our
own. If you want to further understand the characteristics of Compassion, I suggest the teaching by
Pema Chodron called, “Awakening Compassion.”
Compassion requires deep listening, acute seeing, and a connection to the needs of self and others.
Through the Practice of Kindness, Empathy, Openness, Non-Judgment, and Service (which I write about
later in this practice) one can bring forth their Inner Compassion again. I will go out on a limb here and
say that without Compassion healing isn't likely to take place. It is imperative that we reignite our
Compassion for self and others because without it we will forever be lost in a sea of suffering, self
absorption, and apathy.
| REPEAT ASPIRATION EVERY DAY FOR 7 DAYS WEEK 1 ASPIRATION: "Today, I aspire to listen deeply in order connect with the wisdom of my inner Compassion for myself and others." SUPPORTS ~DAY 1~ “Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.” ~The Buddha ~DAY 2~ “Fear grows out of the things we think; it lives in our minds. Compassion grows out of the things we are, and lives in our hearts.” ~Barbara Garrison ~DAY 3~ “The major block to compassion is the judgment in our minds. Judgment is the mind's primary tool of separation.” ~Diane Berke ~DAY 4~ “In separateness lies the world's great misery, in compassion lays the world's true strength.” ~ The Buddha ~DAY 5~ “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” ~The Dalai Lama ~DAY 6~ “Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us.” ~Pema Chodron ~DAY 7~ REST AND REVIEW Now, without judgment review your week. This week there were times I was able to really feel my compassion when dealing with the pain of myself and others. Now breathe in how it felt. Then breathe out the wish for everyone to share in feeling Compassion for themselves as well as others. Now, look at your short-falls. This week I there were times I felt apathetic to my needs or the needs of others. Breathe in your painful emotion and breathe out the wish: May all those who feel apathy be spared from this feeling. Feel free to use your own words in this practice. |
| APRIL I |
| REPEAT ASPIRATION EVERY DAY FOR 7 DAYS WEEK 2 ASPIRATION: Today, I aspire to include myself in the Compassion Equation, in order to be of more help to others. SUPPORTS ~DAY 1~ “It is lack of love for ourselves that inhibits our compassion toward others. If we make friends with ourselves, then there is no obstacle to opening our hearts and minds to others.” ~Author Unknown ~DAY 2~ “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” ~Thomas Merton ~DAY 3~ “By compassion we make others' misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also.” ~Thomas Browne, Sr. ~DAY 4~ “When you make that one effort to feel compassion instead of blame or self-blame, the heart opens again and continues opening.” ~Sara Paddison ~DAY 5~ “But if we have the energy of compassion and loving kindness in us, the people around us will be influenced by our way of being and living.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh ~DAY 6~ “Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.” ~Pema Chodron ~DAY 7~ REST AND REVIEW Now, without judgment review your week. This week there were times I was able to see myself in a compassionate light. Now breathe in how it felt. Then breathe out the wish for everyone to share in feeling self-compassion. Now, look at your short-falls. This week I there were times I was found myself caught up in self-denigration. Breathe in your painful emotion and breathe out the wish: May all those who feel self- hatred be spared from this feeling. Feel free to use your own words in this practice. |
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you are moved to
compassion this
video created by A
Gossamer Heart.
Please use this link
to visit us at our
YouTube Channel.
| ENDING PRAYER When the light catches the tears in another’s eyes, where hands are held and there are moments without words, let us be present then, and alive to the possibility of changing. Let us seek to make another’s well being the object of our concern. Let us seek to be present to another’s pain, to bathe another’s wounds, hear another’s sadness, celebrate another’s success, and allow the other’s story to change our own. ~Author Unknown~ |