How is compassion a
lived experience? I best answer this question through my understanding of the
connection between contemplative practice and compassion. Contemplative
practice creates the silence in which compassionate action is birthed.
Compassionate action sustains the environment in which contemplative practice
flourishes. The image that best represents this connection for me is a bridge.
As I journey across this bridge living in a transformative way, my
contemplative intent and my compassionate action are aligned. I engage in
compassion. Engaging Compassion Through Intent and Action, p. 7
What is a contemplative practice? It is a quiet activity that increases your
awareness by focusing your attention on the Sacred in your life. It may be meditation, walking the labyrinth,
Tai Chi, yoga, reading sacred scripture, walking, or... When we become more mindful through engaging these
practices, we become more aware of the distractions and can choose not to react
to them.
Once we create a routine of nurturing this environment of
quiet, we can identify the intent of our being.
Our intent, at some level, is to alleviate suffering. So, we begin to identify opportunities to be
compassionate to both our self and others.
As we respond to the opportunities, we are able to identify where
compassion is calling us to act.
As I write about contemplative practice, I am reminded me of
the one time I went hunting for wild mushrooms. I couldn’t see the mushroom
until I did. When I focused my attention suddenly I saw one, and then I saw
them all! Finding the mushrooms was only
possible when I focused my attention…and, yes, those mushrooms are part of what
I see as Sacred. Years later I name the
hunt as a contemplative practice!
Your lived experience is truly about you. When we focus our
attention, we choose to feed in to our distractions or to live a life free of
reactions to our distractions. And, in
this freedom we live out our compassionate intent through each action.
Here’s to aligning your intent and action in compassion
focused ways!
Discovering the many contemplative practices in which we often unknowingly engage,
Vanessa
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