10/25/2020 Move forward in compassion
I write today from the middle of an early cold snap, profoundly aware of and grateful for the privilege of a warm, safe house. Having a safe place to dwell conditions so much of life, doesn't it? I am also aware that the next ten days will be fraught; and, most likely, so will the ten days after that. And the ten days after that... and so on. Our human family is dealing with so much. If you find yourself depleted, you are not alone.
So, today, I'll offer a short message of a few words that focus on care. After all, this movement of ours is all about replacing "taking" with "caretaking." It's all about returning to the core values of love, compassion, and concern for one and all. We choose to resist defining anyone by their worst deeds, and to insist that every human be appreciated in their full complexity. We choose to resist the narrative of domination, and to insist that our interdependence is worthy of not just acceptance as a fact, but celebration as an opportunity.
As we vote, help others to vote, process bad news and sad news, sort through piles of misinformation and disinformation, and open ourselves to acknowledging our own blind spots, we also need to replenish our hearts.
The words that helped me today are from Sharon Salzberg, a teacher of meditation and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society:
“We practice in order to cultivate a sense of agency, to understand that a range of responses is open to us. We practice to remember to breathe, to have the space in the midst of adversity to remember our values, what we really care about, and to find support in our inner strength and in one another.”
"And I think it gives us the basis for trying to change the circumstance, but from a different place: not because we feel defective or deficient or desperate — that’s a lot of “d” words — but because we have that sense of compassion for ourselves and compassion for others, and we can move forward toward something, even without necessarily an immediate result. And I think if we can have that basis of recognition — OK, this is the way things are right now, and I can see them; I don’t have to be afraid of what I’m facing; I can see them for what they are — then we can move forward in a different way."
This strikes me as an important calling in this time of great uncertainty: to move forward in a different way, with compassion for self and others, not in search of an immediate result, but in faith that it is the journey itself that transforms everything along the way.
Take care, be safe, be well, nourish your heart and soul. Thank you for being part of this journey.
Liz
Read/listen to the full interview with Sharon Salzberg here: https://onbeing.org/programs/sharon-salzberg-shelter-for-the-heart-and-mind/