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Posts Tagged ‘Compassion’

Quote of Note: The Dalai Lama

Posted in Quotes, tagged , , , , , , on September 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

My message is always the same: to cultivate and practice love, kindness, compassion, and tolerance.

—His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

How do we bridge the gap between appreciating a quote like this and actually applying its wisdom in our day-to-day lives? We constantly encounter opportunities to avoid “cultivating and practicing love, kindness, compassion, and tolerance.” Like with that guy at work who always has the answer, and never stops talking. Or the distracted driver who almost caused an accident when she cut you off. Or the staunch conservative/liberal acquaintance who readily shares their political or religious views with you, but gets angry when you try to do the same. And on and on.

As many more eloquent than I have said, our most powerful defense against being emotionally tossed around by people and circumstances is our power of choice. Today, before going out into the world, I’ve resolved to stay peaceful and tolerant no matter what the day brings. Join me in this – not because of the Dalai Lama’s quote, or because I peppered it with paltry pop psychology. Do it because it feels good.

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The Nature of Joy, Part II: Compassion

Posted in About Me, Spirituality, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2008| Leave a Comment »

An artist's depiction of the 4th chakra
Compassion is to joy as as air is to life.

On a spiritual and emotional level, I stumbled and fell last weekend. The preceding week offered many challenges, not the least of which was my partner’s possible job loss as part of a sweeping layoff at his company. After getting the news Friday that he’d still have a job on Monday (thank you Universe) the pressure was lessened considerably. Unfortunately it returned in earnest on Saturday morning when we found the sanctuary of our home had been violated by a thieving vandal.

I sank into victim mode in a big way on Saturday. I didn’t meditate, read, or take any constructive self-care measures to help myself shed the negativity I was feeling.

This morning I finally sat and meditated. My guide came through and told me the following:

Do not expect that you will not stumble and fall. You will, time and again, as everyone does. The issue is what you do once you’ve fallen. If you have compassion for yourself, you’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move forward. 

Suddenly so much of how I tend to derail myself (and why) made sense to me. It is not reasonable for me to expect that I’ll never feel down or experience events that shake me from my center. The only thing I can control is how I respond to these things. In this particular case, this means having compassion for myself and validating my feelings without letting them leave me in a tail spin.

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