Welcome to Lovingkindness & Compassion Week!
This post makes two straight reflections upon the practice of these two forms of meditation, and I'm interested to see if any variation takes place in the coming days.
I found this short-clip on YouTube earlier this week, and really wanted to take some time to wrestle with Kabat-Zinn's words on the practice of compassion in mindfulness. Even in a 5 minute video, it is a treasure.
One of the first things that Kabat-Zinn spoke of was in the idea that we are "already good enough" at who we are and in being compassionate. This message is in such contrast to everything around us screaming that we either don't have enough or are not good enough. If you really think about it, this way of thinking (not enough) becomes the hindrance of desire. Kabat-Zinn's understanding of our movement toward compassion and mindfulness is in our "uncovering" or awakening of self to the realization that we are sufficient enough in being who we are. To me, that's a very significant message for the world.
Even after watching and hearing what Kabat-Zinn professes regarding the sufficiency of one's being, I still struggle with finding a full acceptance of this proclamation. Although I believe that this though can lead to significant changes in the lives of people who practice, I can't help but to be slightly pessimistic about the magnitude of the societal machine that claims the opposite that we never have enough. Although we may see this concept come in the form of physical/bodily/material items, they are actually superficial to what we believe is not enough in our identities and sense of self.
Lack of confidence. Lack of joy. Lack of trust. Lack of compassion. And so on...
It's funny how we fall into following this belief that we need more in order to achieve success in whatever it is that we are pursuing. All of us have a portion of it within us, but for whatever reason, we chose not to utilize the little portion we DO believe we posses for fear that we may damage it or use it up. Yet if we were to see it in the way that Kabat-Zinn explains, that "small amount" of what we do have would fill us to the brim of what we actually need. That level is innate to our being. Our task is to awaken ourselves to our true potential for compassion so that we can then widen ourselves to even greater awareness and joy.
Plenty to think about, and meditate on as well.
May I be open and aware to the compassion within.
This post makes two straight reflections upon the practice of these two forms of meditation, and I'm interested to see if any variation takes place in the coming days.
I found this short-clip on YouTube earlier this week, and really wanted to take some time to wrestle with Kabat-Zinn's words on the practice of compassion in mindfulness. Even in a 5 minute video, it is a treasure.
One of the first things that Kabat-Zinn spoke of was in the idea that we are "already good enough" at who we are and in being compassionate. This message is in such contrast to everything around us screaming that we either don't have enough or are not good enough. If you really think about it, this way of thinking (not enough) becomes the hindrance of desire. Kabat-Zinn's understanding of our movement toward compassion and mindfulness is in our "uncovering" or awakening of self to the realization that we are sufficient enough in being who we are. To me, that's a very significant message for the world.
Even after watching and hearing what Kabat-Zinn professes regarding the sufficiency of one's being, I still struggle with finding a full acceptance of this proclamation. Although I believe that this though can lead to significant changes in the lives of people who practice, I can't help but to be slightly pessimistic about the magnitude of the societal machine that claims the opposite that we never have enough. Although we may see this concept come in the form of physical/bodily/material items, they are actually superficial to what we believe is not enough in our identities and sense of self.
Lack of confidence. Lack of joy. Lack of trust. Lack of compassion. And so on...
It's funny how we fall into following this belief that we need more in order to achieve success in whatever it is that we are pursuing. All of us have a portion of it within us, but for whatever reason, we chose not to utilize the little portion we DO believe we posses for fear that we may damage it or use it up. Yet if we were to see it in the way that Kabat-Zinn explains, that "small amount" of what we do have would fill us to the brim of what we actually need. That level is innate to our being. Our task is to awaken ourselves to our true potential for compassion so that we can then widen ourselves to even greater awareness and joy.
Plenty to think about, and meditate on as well.
May I be open and aware to the compassion within.
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