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#1000Speak for Compassion

birds

Compassion, it is when you see someone suffering and you feel for them. When you feel the pain of others, so to speak. Is it only for others? Can you have compassion for yourself? Can you have compassion for little critters? Can you have compassion even for trees? The answer is yes, yes, and yes. I am 54 years old, will be 55 in June. It’s taken me a long time to apply compassion to myself. I have been self critical, self abnegating, judgmental, denying, and generally self hating and angry. Of course I can be compassionate when I see others suffering. Of course I can feel their pain and want to help. Of course I love animals and feel very compassionate towards them, especially my kitty who will be 20 in June 🙂

This is what Eckhart Tolle, in whose books I am so interested, says about Compassion: “Yes.  Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures.  But there are two sides to compassion, two sides to this bond.  On the one hand, since you are still here as a physical body, you share the vulnerability and mortality of your physical form with every other human and with every living being.  Next time you say “I have nothing in  common with this person,” remember that you have a great deal in common: A few years from now — two years or seventy years, it doesn’t make much difference– both of you will have become rotting corpses, then piles of dust, then nothing at all.  This is a sobering and humbling realization that leaves little room for pride.  Is this a negative thought? No, it is a fact.  Why close your eyes to it? In that sense, there is total equality between you and every other creature.”

But the most difficult thing I have learnt, or really only started to learn is self compassion. To forgive myself for the mistakes I have made, to treat myself with love and compassion, so I don’t continue to suffer. This is a new concept for me.
So compassion for other human beings, other animal beings, other living beings, that is what we strive for. And when we succeed, every time we succeed, we increase the good in the world. It is sorely needed.
One thing i saw, and it made me cry,  was these people who take care of newborn abandoned or hurt birds. They made nests out of plastic bowls for these teeny newborn birds. Then they noticed that the little birds were getting bruised from the plastic edges of the bowl. So they started knitting covers for the bowls, so that the birds would have some padding and cushioning and no bruises. That just brought tears to my eyes. Compassion for tiny new born birds, so they could grow up without pain or bruises. That just spelled COMPASSION for me. Here’s the link to that article: http://www.jigidi.com/puzzle.php?id=5UUWQMPM
I hope we are all compassionate with every living creature, including ourselves. That is my hope and wish. Love and compassion for all of you.

12 thoughts on “#1000Speak for Compassion”

  2. Wonderful post! The baby birds are sooooo cute 🙂 It is very compassionate how the ladies take care of the baby birds that way. It is hard to remember to be compassionate to ourselves. If we are kind to others then we deserve to be given the same kindness from ourselves.
    Blessings,
    Annie

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  5. Wow! This post really spoke to me. I’ve never thought about having compassion for myself. I feel for others all the time, I talk about self-care a lot. I need to backtrack and add self-compassion as a major factor that plays in to our self-care. Thank you for this post!

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    • Thanks for reading, Becca. Yes, isn’t it funny, we don’t think we should be the recipients of our own compassion. Bur we are human and make mistakes or suffer and we deserve our compassion as much as all living beings. Also when you can show yourself compassion, you can show it to others. If you are always angry and judgmental to yourself, it is quite unlikely that you will be compassionate to others.

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  6. Beautifully said! I love this: “And when we succeed, every time we succeed, we increase the good in the world.”

    May the world be flooded with compassion today – and may you and I be a part of it, especially toward ourselves. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

    Oh, and I recently received a Bipolar 2 diagnosis. I’m still finding my way. Thank you for openly discussing your diagnosis; I’m going to poke around your blog a bit.

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    • Oh I am so sorry about your diagnosis, although Bipolar 2 is a less severe form of the illness, so I guess you can be glad of that. Feel free to poke around as much as you want 🙂 Welcome and lets keep in touch. Love all your sentiments about compassion!

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