Episodes

We think sometimes of compassion as a quality that we “should” be accessing if we are “good.” There is a totally different way of understanding compassion instead as that quality of being that brings us sanity, strength, courage and even ease in the midst of difficult situations.

There is a radical freedom offered in practice when we learn to open in all conditions. From the book, “Thoreau’s Ecstatic Witness,” comes this account of Henry Thoreau from his sister, Sophia, in his last couple of months before dying of tuberculosis in his early forties: One friend, as if by way of consolation, said to him, “well, Mr. Thoreau, we must all go.” Henry replied, “when I was a very little boy I learned that I must die, and I set that down, so of course I am not disappointed now. D...

It is very helpful to feel into how a true open mindfulness or loving awareness doesn’t discriminate or have preferences for what it is knowing in awareness. In this practice, we explore feeling into the relationship of loving awareness, preference and no-preference.

Join me for this short reflection and meditation on the usefulness of goodwill in challenging times.

In this short meditation, we give time for our eyes to rest and relax into spacious awareness

Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another’s. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows in beauties of the world. Jack Kornfield Loving compassion is like sunlight, awakening and bringing joy to beans. It’s beauty is like a...

Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another’s. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows in beauties of the world. Jack Kornfield

This week’s post is the first of three parts exploring bringing mindfulness into heart of our relationships.