The Wild & Beautiful That I Know

What I know

Boxes are best used for storage and moving

not ideas and people

Fear is best experienced in small doses

and reserved for the known

We are meant to dance on the head of a pin,

boldly leap across great chasms

and embrace the raging fire within

Life is to be lived without reservation

experienced with curious daring

and relished with unbridled courage

The world is a wild and beautiful place

This I know.

How many times does fear paralyze us? We fear what we do not know — the contact with an intimate stranger, sharing an idea at work, the forgiveness of an estranged friend.  Instead of living without reservation, we place ideas and people in boxes convinced that the ideas will not work or the person will never change.

The world is a wild and beautiful place where the seemingly impossible happens at least twice each minute. But, our eyes are screwed tightly shut. We cannot see the miracles unfolding in each moment. We fear what may happen instead of meeting life with curious daring. We miss opportunities to connect with another by saying I am hear (here).

I am hear (here)…what would you say? I am listening.

In that moment of connection, we dance on the head of the pin together. Faster and faster we spin gaining speed. Hand in hand we shoot across the chasm into the realm of compassionate living. We land not in a box but in the beauty of the wild where we live without reservation.

Loving, laughing, living we are the gusto of compassion,

Vanessa

Vanessa F. Hurst is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is an Intuitive Coach, Community Builder, and Author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent &Action and A Constellation of Connections: Contemplative Relationships

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

Compassion & Grief

“How could you leave me?”

“I feel empty.”

“I am afraid at what lurks in the bottomless pit of sorrow.”

Those words or similar ones are echoes of the despair that accompanies grief. Instead of listening to the cries of grief, we run from here to there filling our self with activity. We do anything so that we do not acknowledge the grief that simmers inside of us. But, this grief does not go away.

No matter how much we try to ignore those feelings, the simmering soon becomes a rolling boil. And, much to our surprise, a volcanic eruption of grief bursts into our life. The resulting flow of lava burns the landscape of our being. Our suffering and woundedness intensifies.

Although touching that deep core of grief may seem frightening and overwhelming, we do not have to venture to the chamber of grief magma alone. Hand-in-hand with compassion, we can acknowledge and move through these feelings. Grief is not longer an adversary. It becomes first an intimate stranger and, then, beloved companion. Processing grief often requires a therapist, but a mindful practice that incorporates the 4nons helps to identify and release the emptiness while recognizing love.

Try this: find a quiet place…focus on your breath…don’t try to shift it…just notice your breath…be aware of how your grief is speaking through your breath…notice how your breath flows to places in your body…listen to your body’s cries of grief…listen without attaching to your reaction…

Do not cling to the grief…do not push it away…just be…it is easy to judge the grief as good or bad…this or that…don’t label…just be in the energy of your grief….do not defend your right to grieve…do not justify your need hang on to it…accept your grief for what it is…acknowledge your great loss…become aware of your thoughts toward grief…if you notice words of violence…hatred…anger…despair…allow them to drift away on your breath…be within the grief as an objective observer.

Return to your breath…feel the wisps of compassion that enter with every breath…allow the compassion to flow through you…feel it enter the cracks where grief hides…where grief festers…meet grief as an intimate stranger…someone bringing you a great gift…remembering the great love that you had…recognizing the loss…allow compassion to mingle with the gift…turn to the byproducts of the gift…the angst, the desolation, despair, anger…see them lift from you body…exhale them…

Feel the mantle of compassion surround you…rest within its embrace…feel your suffering evaporate…just be…

Grief is a companion for our journey. No matter how we try to shove it away, it remains until we acknowledge and embrace it. Learn the lessons and celebrate what we lost. With compassion we can befriend grief, learn from it, and heal our wounds.

Vanessa

Vanessa F. Hurst is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is an Intuitive Coach, Community Builder, and Author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

The Face Of Compassion

If you could draw the face of compassion, how would it look? Would it be warm and grateful? Sharp and needy? Something else? I discovered the face of compassion in the act of an intimate stranger on an early September morning.

Walking to my car, I found myself enjoying the cooler temperatures that predawn autumn morning. But, cooler temperatures also bring things that are not so enjoyable. Driving to Tai Chi in those early hours, I heard the dreaded ping and saw the low pressure tire icon appear on my dashboard. I knew that there was no time to fill the tires prior to teaching Tai Chi. I trusted that the time between the end of class and next meeting would be sufficient to remedy the problem. 

Immediately after class, I stopped at the closest gas station. Of course, someone was already using the air station. I began focusing on my breath while chanting the mantra, “time enough.” After the gentleman in the SUV left, a man on a bicycle filled his tires with air. 

“Finally, my turn,” I thought as I rolled my car to a stop. Instead of relinquishing the hose, the man with the bike began to fill my tires with air. 

“This air is too expensive to waste,” he told me as filled the first tire. (The price for five minutes of air was $1.50.) We worked together as I removed the caps, and he filled the tires. We finished in what seemed like record time. 

I ask, “Can I give you something for your help?”

He replied, “No, I was just glad to help.” I was humbled. He looked like someone who had not had an easy life. Someone who needed a helping hand himself.

So, I asked, “Do you hug?” And, for a brief moment worried that my words had overstepped some societal boundary. 

“Of course,” he said. 

And, he hugged me with one of those heartfelt hugs that say “Thank you for seeing me. I see you.” The world seemed a little less lonely.

“May you find many blessings in your day,” I said. 

With a hitch in his voice, he said, “I need that.” He hugged me tighter. 

We parted. I went to what I thought would be a difficult meeting. It was not, due to, I believe, the compassionate act of an intimate stranger.

I often talk about the intimate stranger. Someone we may never see again, but who touches our body, mind, spirit, and heart in loving, gentle, compassionate ways. I hope that I touched him as he touched me. My heart strings twined with those of his as we became part of the great weave of community. I recognized anew that we have many opportunities to walk in intimate connection. We have only to open our eyes and respond. 

Connie and Tom, I had one of those experience you have shared. And, it was life altering. I left that gas station parking lot knowing that I was not alone; that compassion flows when we need it. 

Twining with you and you with me,

Vanessa

Vanessa F. Hurst is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is an Intuitive Coach, Community Builder, and Author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

Compassion At The Source

Our divine spark, a piece of the extraordinary lies deep in the core of our being. At our conception, the winds of Ruah blow gently on this ember. With each successive puff is glows brighter, becomes more alive. Ruah, the great animator, gifts each of us with wisps of compassion. We wake to the knowing that were born with the ability to be compassionate presence. Sometimes we just forget.

The world is a hard place. It is tough not to lose sight of our open flame of compassion when we are being battered by the gale force winds of suffering. It is equally difficult to believe that those winds have not extinguished the flame. But, no matter how much that spark may appear to be diminished, we never totally lose the glow of compassion’s presence. It waits right where we left it — in the center of our being. This place of compassionate presence can be accessed through our breath.

Our breath is powerful. Through it we ground deeply in the present moment. Our breath guides us to compassion’s transponder. In this place we can hear the ping of compassion given and received. Through the breath we become alive to the soothing nature of this fiery source.
Andy Caponigo in The Miracle of the Breath writes about the “breath behind the breath.” The energy behind the breath is Ruah, the part of the sacred that travels with us in every moment. Every thought, word, and action we share is tinged with it.  On the winds of Ruah ride divine compassion, the originator of all compassion. Our compassion echoes in its fiery kiss. Each time we share compassion with our self and others, we strengthen our connection to this sacred force. 

Our compassion is not some magical affair nor is our connection to the sacred magical. It is what connects us to the extraordinary that exists in the mundane world. Through conscious breathing, we connect with the extraordinary. Try this:

Gentle your breathing…follow it as it flows in and out of your body…feel the rhythm of your breath as it connects with the air around you…notice your exchange…sharing a part of yourself…taking in particles of the air around you…look closely with the eye of your heart…see the twinkling of small iridescent flames of compassion…breath them in…watch as they flow through your being intuitively drawn to your spark of compassion…the twinkles draw closer and closer…feel their gentle caress…feel the puffs of Ruah…the fiery, etheric embrace of compassion surrounds you…your compassion flares as it reaches out to Ruah…recognize the kindred spirit…allow your mind to wander…to be drawn to the compassionate acts given…to embrace the compassionate acts received…to those acts you may not have named as compassionate…remember in gratitude…continue to breathe compassion as you return to your daily life…

The gift of compassion is not a special occurrence. The potential to receive compassion exists in every moment, with each breath. From birth to beyond compassion is our constant companion whether we are aware or not.

Vanessa is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is an Intuitive Coach, Community Builder, and Author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action.
More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

“I love you enough,” Compassion whispers.

“But, you are not helping!” I cry.

How many times have we silently or vocally uttered those words when someone was attempting to be compassionate? That compassion was seen as lacking. So mired in suffering, our wish was for someone to fix us, make our situation better, or just make the suffering go away.  Instead, we were left to learn the lesson that created our suffering. 

Over the past week I have had several opportunities to speak with others about compassion.  And, while “compassion is not a reward for good behavior” (Matthieu Ricard), it is not a get out of life lesson free card. Suffering brings opportunities for growth. It holds us gently in a palm of love and understanding. Compassion encourages us to find a way through our suffering. Walking this path through suffering is accomplished by learning our life lessons.

Compassion says, “I love you enough to listen to you, help you understand the resonance of compassion in your being, and guide you through your challenge.  I am a companion not a savior. I empower not create co-dependence.  I am a partner in the dance of your suffering.  When you are ready to give up, I am the encourager.”

“I love you enough,” sometimes translates into, “I do no know how to alleviate your suffering, but I will not diminish the reality of your anguish.  I will be with you in your time of need.  You are not alone. You are not crazy. The suffering you feel is really there.  I am with you.”

Through compassion’s eyes we begin to see a way to release the suffering and enter into a new way of being.  This way is not a lack of suffering, but a way paved with the richness gained by embracing suffering.  We become stronger for the journey.

“I love you enough,” says Compassion. “Even when you think I am not helping, I am.” 

Vanessa is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is an Intuitive Coach, Community Builder, and Author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

In The Time Before: Remembering Who You Are

In the time before our birth, in the moment we began to create the blueprint for this life, a group of spirits gathered round a table.  Here, we, with the help of our trusted allies, decided our life lessons and chose the challenges that would bring us fully into our life purpose. 

With our first breath, we rushed into this world with knowledge of the plan. We believed that we had all the skills to learn the lessons, overcome the challenges, and walk our life path with purpose. What we did not realize is that becoming physical means that we don’t always hear with clarity what the spirit is saying.

If you peer into the eyes of a newborn, you see the wisdom that sparkles within them.  I have often wished that we could communicate with a newborn.  What would it be like to breach the communication barrier; to speak and to hear of the wonders waiting just beyond this life? Hold a baby, take a few calming breaths, and feel the connection to the sacred radiating from that child.  (I held a newborn girl in 1988 and, 28 years later, have never forgotten the connection to her spirit.) A connection to a newborn’s spirit is simply amazing.

Holding a newborn, we feel the connection to the extraordinary and see the wisdom in the babe’s eyes.  We are nudged to remember—remember who we are.  We are reminded that we have a great purpose in this life even if we are uncertain of the message.  This elusive knowing of who we are floats just outside our grasp.  If we could hear the message, we would understand the reasons behind challenges and life lessons and recognize our purpose.  The message can be found.  It is packaged within our intuitive nudges.

Our intuition whispers, “You are a wise being aware of you who are. But, as you grew older, your body more fully resonated with the energy of Earth.  Your connection to Spirit muted.  You forget who you are.”

We reached a point where we could no longer hear the messages of spirit above the distractions of today.  Living in this vacuum does not have to continue.  Part of the journey requires that we wake up; we become aware of those nuggets of knowing.  When we begin to listen to our intuition, we connect to the wisdom available before our birth. We know who we are. Through our intuition, we begin to live with purpose.

The wisdom that we arrived with was not lost; we discover it hidden in the folds of our connection to the physical world.  We discover the lost treasures by growing acclimated to life in the present moment.  We form a bridge between our spirit and our body through our heart and mind.  Through our emotions and thoughts we discover the way back to the spirit.

Our challenges and life lessons invite us to use the intuitive wisdom that dancing just outside our consciousness.  It invites us to align our body, mind, spirit, and heart to become one being with four interconnected aspects.  With each challenge met and life lesson learned, we wake up a bit more.  We access our innate wisdom and connect more securely to the sacred.  We understand.  We grow into our soul purpose.

Somewhere along this path of learning, we wake up and realize that compassion is all there is.  We shower our self with compassion as we miss the learning inherent in our lessons and successfully meet our challenges.  Each learning or failure deserves our compassionate essence.  We share compassion with others as they suffer through challenges.  Our soul purpose sparks with the message of compassion.

The way to reconnecting with the recollected wisdom is through compassion and intuition.  In this path of awareness, we draw closer to our soul purpose.  We transform our self and the world along the way.  Our life echoes with the joy of our spirit.  We act from the message of our soul purpose.  We are the spark that spirals compassion into a wounded world.

Vanessa is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is an Intuitive Coach, Community Builder, and Author of Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

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