Hope Popping Up Through The Cracks

I’ve heard the proverbs — it is always darkest before the dawn, turn your face toward the sun and the shadows fall behind you, tomorrow will be a better day. What impels us to integrate these knowings into our head and our heart? Hope — unwavering trust and the ability to place reasonable confidence in an outcome — provides the grace for us to believe these words and act in ways that allow their truth to form the connection between our head and heart.

What do we do in those moments where the darkness overwhelms us, and we feel the night will never end? Or, when we are so paralyzed that we are unable to make the turn toward the sun? What happens when we no longer have the energy to believe that we can make it through the next five minutes much less until the better day of tomorrow arrives? How do we refill the reservoir of hope so that we engage in our body, mind, spirit, and heart the words of Julian of Norwich, all will be well?

We walk a delicate balance between our current condition and what is possible through hope. Sometimes even a shard glimmer of hope will cast a light on the beautiful possibilities around us. In those moments of reflected hope, we acknowledge that even in the barrenness of our life, hope is always present. The starkness of the moment transforms as our eyes light upon hope. Hope is the flower poking out of the cracked pavement of our being.

Being with that flower shifts the suffering and opens us to the possibilities of the new day and a release of our shadows. Edge closer to the flower of hope. Rest in its beauty — the colors, the symmetry, the textures, the smell. Hope may be a tiny sign that our world is not so desolate, not as bereft as we had believed. This miniscule drop of hope feeds that flower thirsting for transformation and strengthens our belief in the good becoming.

Mindfulness shows us where hope is present in our life. When the reservoir of hope seems empty, mindfulness helps us to find those last drops and use them to trigger a downpour of hope. Through mindfulness we become aware of the beauty of lives inside us and are able to act in ways that enhance its presence. This beauty is a bearer of the seeds of hope.  With the seeds we sow a thriving garden in the space that was once desolate.

Our life becomes a place that thrives through hope. Suspending judgment we see the world with childlike eyes. Everything becomes filled with wonder and awe. We tap into gratitude. Our wonder & awe and gratitude feed the root of hope. We reframe our world from desolation to flourishing. Hope is the power of transformation.

Through the eyes of hope, we are able to see what needs to be changed to bring transformation. We may end a relationship or a professional alliance. We may increase our physical activity or alter our diet. With courage and curious daring, we make minute changes that have profound affects.  Hope is the voice inside of us that encourages us to never give up.

So hope — sometimes it may appear invisible; but, it is never truly gone. It might take a lot of energy to visibly identify hope’s presence. But, when our hope becomes visible, we gain the power of transformation as refill the reservoir of our spirit drop by precious drop of hope.

Vanessa F. Hurst is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is a Mindful Coach, Compassion Consultant, Professional Speaker, and Author who interweaves her inner wisdom in all she touches.

Her books are Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action and A Constellation of Connections: Contemplative Relationships.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

Compassion's Spark in the Dark Night

Diversity provides lenses through which to look at life in different ways.  We are able to see the other and realize that their reality may be very different than ours.  Through this understanding we find ways to form a bridge of mutuality. Diversity is a magical element that when blended into community creates a mutuality where the potential for possibilities exists. Those possibilities are more brilliant than what would have been realized separately.

Lately I have been more and more aware of the potential for diversity to divide and destroy the bridge to understanding. We may find camps based upon gender, race, politics, values, ecological concerns — the list is endless. When we sit around the fire of these individual camps, we share with those like us. Instead of our beliefs and judgments being questioned, they are strengthened.

We are not peacefully challenged to look at our beliefs, judgments, and assumptions. We believe without engaging in what Thomas Merton calls looking at the factors behind the facts. Two people can look at the same set of facts and draw very different conclusions. We have to look at the factors that are instrumental in our interpretation of the facts. And, listen as another shares the factors behind their interpretation of the same facts. This information builds the bridge to understanding.

I have found that often the most profound way to bridge realities creates by diversity is through acts of compassion. I cannot tell you the number of times a conversation with another has provided insight into how different yet similar we are. When I listen with compassion, I begin to, at the very least, appreciate that their factors behind the facts may be different than mine.

This is the foundation of peaceful understanding. We may acknowledgement that we may never agree.  But, through peaceful understanding, we gain mutual respect. While this may not be instrumental is creating world peace, we fuel a spiral of compassion that twines out in the world.

I do not need to know how many people this twining compassion touches or where my compassion ends. I need only be a willing conduit for compassion’s presence. Each time my compassion twines with another, the dark night of divisiveness flares brightly with compassion sparks. And, the light guides us across the bridge to where diversity is celebrated and shared.

The night becomes not a place of divisions shrouded in darkness but a place filled with the sparks of compassion. These sparks lead the way to the creation of community where we share in the greater unity. All the individual parts come together to create a sum greater than the individual parts.  We are part of something greater, more brilliant than we ever thought possible.

Vanessa

Vanessa F. Hurst is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is a Mindful Coach, Community Builder, and Author who interweaves her inner wisdom in all she touches.

Her books are Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action and A Constellation of Connections: Contemplative Relationships.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

Listen As You Leap Across The Chasm

I have become more and more aware of a growing chasm in our world. Each side is so firmly entrenched in their own reality, there is no room to listen to the other side. Communicating with respect in common ground seems possible only in theory.

I have a cousin who is a conservative Republican. Although he would disagree, I self-identify as pragmatic —practically and realistically attending to what is happening in the moment. I guess you could say on the political scale I am just left of center. While my cousin and my conversations are lively, we are never disrespectful of one another. We listen, not to agree, but to understand the position of the other. I might not totally understand his views but somehow we are on common ground when we talk.

This common ground is created and sustained through mutual respect. It is a safe place where people can enter into deep dialogue and grow in understanding. When I dialogue with others, I create an image based upon my understanding of their reality. My goal is to discover the inherent wisdom and good in the other.  I want to know how the seeds of shadow took root in their reality and in mine.

This does not mean that I will ever agree with the other’s personal view of reality. Often it means that my personal view of reality remains unchanged. But, I undergo a personal transformation through this connection. When I listen with respect to the other and their views, more often than not, I receive respect in return. I may never totally understand the other, but I believe that we share a deep love and profound respect for one another.

What it does mean is that I grow closer to understanding how the other person formed their personal view of reality. And, with each new revelation, I am better able to respond to the complexity of the world we live in.  I see the world not as black and white but filled with a spectrum of vibrancy needed for us to collectively evolve and transform.

I find myself wondering what would happen if we stopped believing that

A person who hold views very different from ours has no wisdom in their words

Our way is the only way

Our specific religious or spiritual beliefs must by held by everyone

         

What would happen if we truly believe that we did not see the world exactly how it is? What would happen if we talked to the other with the purpose of understanding how they formed their personal reality? What would happen if we saw each other as sisters and brothers instead of stranger combatants?

Because, really, what do we have to lose? If we have the courage and curious daring to meet the other and really listen, we might gain a host of brothers and sisters who grow together in our garden of mutual respect and interconnected being. We might create a world more magnificent then we ever thought possible.

i see. i see you — and, i see an extraordinary, interconnected world hiding in the common ground. Let’s grow in that ground together.

Vanessa

Vanessa F. Hurst is Compassion Officer at Intent & Action.  She is a Mindful Coach, Community Builder, and Author who interweaves her inner wisdom in all she touches.

Her books are Engaging Compassion Through Intent & Action and AConstellation of Connections: Contemplative Relationships.

More from Vanessa: www.intentandaction.com

Soul Sister Warrior & The Heart of Compassion

I am a compassion warrior

The walking wounded

Whose heart has been broken, bruised, and battered

I am the wounded healer

Who through the grace of compassion

Heals again and again and again

I am the heart and soul of compassion

Who reaches out to you

Not as healer

But as soul sister warrior

I am compassion’s presence

I am you

You are me

Together, we are compassion

How many times do we look at a person or a situation and search for ways to fix what is happening? We overlook the Truth that suffering is integral to the journeys of all. We miss the important point — that through suffering we gain opportunities to grow and evolve.

Suffering is the compost used to fertilize the ground of our being. All of our thoughts, words, and actions are deeply rooted in this place. They create flourishing or blight. Through suffering we transform the blighted areas of our life. We become more beautiful, more amazing, than we ever realized.

Over and over again I hear that suffering is optional. But, I do not believe that. Suffering is a necessary life experience. When we really feel, with our body, mind, heart, and spirit, the suffering reverberating through our self, opportunity presents itself. This is the opportunity of evolution and transformation.

Digging deeply into the ground of our being, we discover the roots of suffering twining with the roots of our thoughts, words, and actions. Although we may not discover the entire message our suffering expresses, we gain micro messages that bring us closer and closer to understanding the truth, the lesson, of our suffering.

Perhaps what is optional is learning the lesson encapsulated in the seed of our suffering. We can suffer or deny our suffering. Denied, suffering burrows deeply underground and hibernates. It lies dormant waiting to burst forth at the most inopportune time.  This suffering may take us by surprise.

When we are consciously and intentionally being with our suffering, we are mindful of the bursting seed. As we peer within its gnarled growth, we are able to identify the learning the truth and lesson of our suffering. Acting upon what we know, the garden in the ground of our being becomes a thriving place. In this space, suffering is no longer an adversary; it becomes an ally on this wild, beautiful journey of being our best, brightest light that shines forth in the world.

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