“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” -Dalai Lama
(Photo by Patrick Hendry)
The literal meaning of compassion from its Latin roots is to suffer together. When we practice compassion, we hold space for another’s pain with an open heart and without blame or judgment. Compassion can be expressed with words, thoughts, or actions. Sometimes the action is a silent prayer or to simply sit with someone, to listen and hear them in their hour of darkness. We are conditioned to make grand gestures, but the most powerful form of compassion can be silence and stillness.
Compassion is love and comfort. The compassion we receive in our times of suffering relieves the burden and gives a strong sense of support, of being held, almost like a child. It strengthens our resolve and gifts us with a new perspective. On the other hand, when we are compassionate with others, that act somehow eases our own troubles as well. The sharing of suffering becomes the sharing of healing.
Eckhart Tolle warns of masking compassion in the forms of pity or feeling sorry for someone’s situation. Pity denotes separation and a sense of relief that you are not in the situation. Feeling sorry can add to the suffering rather than neutralize and transmute it. True compassion is a connection to the oneness and the humanity that we all share when one suffers.
It is often most difficult to have compassion for ourselves. We may have patience and understanding and ability to support others in a variety of ways; yet when it comes to our own suffering, we are quick to blame and expect that we always know what to do and have it together. Just as with others, we must allow times of quiet and still and also allow ourselves times to be held and supported by others.
Compassion is centered at the 4th (heart) chakra. At times of openness and clarity, we can feel compassion flowing and a desire for suffering to end. Lack of sleep and feeling rundown reduces our capacity to feel compassion from moment to moment, and the Dalai Lama reminds us that anger and hatred, the greatest hindrances to compassion, must be removed.
This shamanic healing is an invitation to healing the heart, to opening the fourth chakra by releasing any anger and blame and judgment towards others or yourself. As your heart opens, love and compassion flow through you so you may experience peace even in the midst of suffering.
Affirmation: I embody love and compassion in all interactions with myself and others.
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What would you like to achieve with the healing on Compassion? Take some time to answer these questions, and submit the form before Wednesday’s session so we can hold your intents in the shamanic healing.
MONDAY MEDITATION
COMPASSION MEDITATION
by Elizabeth B. Ebaugh, LCSW-C, LICSW
This week we will explore compassion and self-confidence. To prepare: Close your eyes and breathe into your whole being at once, as if you can touch every part of your being with your breath, with no part left out. Now breathe into the center of your cranium, the space between the center of your ears, and your nose and the back of your head. As you touch into this space, experience the quality of understanding, and let your breath pass through this quality of understanding.
Now breathe into your upper chest, deep into the core of your chest, touching the space right in front of your spine. As you breathe into this space, experience the quality of love in your chest, and let your breath pass through this quality of love.
Then connect with your pelvic center through your breath. The space about an inch below your belly button and deep inside, right in front of your spine. As you breathe into your pelvic center, experience the quality of self, and let your breath pass through the quality of self in your pelvic center.
Now listen to these words of Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse:
We are grateful for the dark earth that cradles the seed. For the waters that bring forth the green leaves.
For the stars that bring form to flowers,
For the sun that ripens the fruit,
For the beauty and goodness and wonder of life and death,
And all the relationships that bring us together at this place, at this time.
Let us explore new ways of living,
Letting go of that which keeps us from learning,
May we be open.
Let us use our gifts freely,
Knowing that our life exists because of all beings.
Let each of us know intimately the wholeness of our being,
Sending love to every home in this community, this state, this country, and our troubled planet.
May our love fill the smallest particle to the largest space.
May we be generous.
Let us see ourselves as the child without food, separated from her parents,
The woman without a home, the man without tears, the land poisoned and sick, the oceans rising, the sea coral dying, and all the myriad forms of suffering.
Let us not look away from our pain,
But have the courage to face it fearlessly.
Let our love manifest in simple acts of caring,
And in words that soften and warm the heart.
May we be kind.
Let us appreciate all the life with which we share this precious earth.
All beings, bathing in the same moonlight, touched by dawn’s subtle colors, sun struck at noon, laughing, crying, singing.
May we appreciate our lives.
The word compassion comes from two roots- “com,” which means “with,” and “patience,” which is often translated as “suffering.” However, if you go back further in the origin of the root “pati,” you will find the meanings “enduring” or “experiencing.” Therefore, when I think of compassion, I think of “experiencing with.” We can “experience with” another- the wonderful stuff and the hard stuff of life. And we can experience the wonderful and hard stuff of life with ourselves.
To begin, let’s practice cultivating self-compassion with an exercise using the phrase “Of course.”
Now, think of a time when you were having difficulty finding compassion for self. Perhaps when you felt you made a mistake you judged as stupid or a time when you just didn’t show up the way you wanted to. Now, put your hand on your chest, placing your whole palm gently in the center. And breathe until you feel even a glimmer of kindness for yourself and the normalcy of your experience. And then say to yourself, “Of course. Of course I am having this issue, this experience, because I am human. Of course.” Stay with this “Of course” until your sense of kindness for self grows stronger and you can experience yourself as your best ally.
Accepting our own humanity brings a greater sense of confidence. The word confidence means “to have full trust.” And full trust is simply the felt trust that you can deal with whatever happens next. Dealing with it often includes learning from it.
Now let’s practice cultivating self-confidence with self-compassion.
Self-confidence and self-compassion can only be present with humility. Winning or not failing is not the goal. The goal is to bring the best we have in the moment to every situation and to know that win or lose, “I am up to it,” and at the very least will learn from every experience.
So, let’s go back to a time that you may be judging yourself, or even experiencing some shame. An experience that you are having difficulty letting go of. And now place your hand on your chest with the full palm supporting you and say to yourself, “I was up to it. Of course. I am human, and I am open to learn from every experience.”
Sit for a moment in the compassion and confidence for self you have just cultivated. Experience that sense of compassion and confidence in your whole being. Imagine that you can transmit these qualities to your family and friends like a nectar streaming through the pores of your skin. Then, extend your transmission to your community, your city, your state, and then the whole global community of humanity.
As we cultivate compassion and confidence in our being, we become ambassadors of compassion and confidence everywhere we go, just by being more of who we truly are.
(Image by Helena Cuerva)
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