Compassion

I have been thinking about compassion lately. It weaves through being in the moment, letting go of judgments, and seeing what is yours to do and what is theirs to do. What if you looked at others from the space of compassion rather than judgment? What if you held to neutral or compassion rather than creating a story about what others are saying or doing? What if you set down the drama and stories you create about your own life? What if you stayed in each moment rather than revisiting the past or trying to figure out the future?

It is so easy to jump in with what someone else should do. And, many times, your wisdom may be the exact thing that would open things up for them. However, unless they have asked for your input it will only serve as an irritant to them. We often forget that we have learned things by making choices that didn’t turn out the way we expected. We learned what didn’t work, picked ourselves up, and tried something else. There is much to be said for the learnings that come from things that society might call failures.

One of the things that I have been becoming more and more aware of this past year is figuring out what is mine and what is theirs. As someone with Aliveness Life Energy I will let myself get pulled into dramas or problems and want to figure it out for others. I am focusing on realizing when it isn’t mine to “fix” and then letting go of trying to “fix” what is theirs to do.

Some questions to ponder – What would change if you had compassion for someone else’s choices, circumstances, learnings, or ways of living rather than judgment about them? How could you have compassion for yourself? What if you allowed yourself to make some choices to see how they turn out? I read a quote by the Dalai Lama that fits right in. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

A focus on compassion is one of my intentions this year – compassion for others and compassion for myself. My intention is to be more aware of the judgments I have about others, situations, and myself and to shift those judgments to compassion.

Where do you think you could be more compassionate with yourself and others? What could you learn by setting down a judgment? This is going to be an exciting year and I look forward to hearing from all of you.