We do-gooders think quite a bit about compassion. We want to have it, feel it and share it. There is so much we think we need to do to make the world a better place. But compassion doesn’t need doing. It exists already in the harmony of things just the way they are. Discord comes from our doing. Compassion comes from undoing. It greets us when we undo our boundaries and erase the lines we said we’d never cross. Compassion waits in the space between us, the space that only seems to separate us; a gapless gap we close by reaching an arm’s length in front of us to wipe a tear or wash a bowl.
You won’t find compassion in the brain. You will find it in your hands.
We can only love the world we wake up to. Start right here.
Good morning.
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I was feeling fueled by frustration this morning after reading today's sunspace blog because of my lack of compassionate action. Thank you for reminding me that compassion is much broader than just the big things that we can do.
Comment by benjhutchison — July 7, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
Good morning, dear Karen. I wish you a day full of compassion. 🙂 (And I appreciate this little post so very much!)
Comment by Kathryn — July 7, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
Ben, and much smaller too.
Kathryn, it will be full. I can't rinse it away!
Comment by Karen Maezen Miller — July 7, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Well put, as usual. My journey to a fuller experience of compassion has been all about dropping distractions and barriers away and sinking in to what is already, always there.
Comment by Marianne — July 7, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
Yes.
Comment by Stacy (mama-om) — July 8, 2009 @ 3:04 am
good morning, love.
Comment by Wendy — July 8, 2009 @ 11:02 am
i keep coming back to this post.
i think this is the 5th time i've read it.
and it keeps piercing me in the very same spot.
thank you.
Comment by jessamyn — July 9, 2009 @ 1:06 am
i find my compassion with each smile i give to every person everyday.
i don't let one person past me without one.
even when i feel like dog doo.
Comment by underthebigbluesky — July 11, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
Oh, my.
This is BEAUTIFUL!
And precisely the validation I needed today.
{{THANK YOU}}
Comment by Lisa — July 11, 2009 @ 11:38 pm
Oh! I find so much trouble with compassion… it’s true I don’t think I have any idea at all what to do about it, for it, with it… etc. etc. I jump up very high to look at the top shelf to see if that’s where I left it. I appreciate this… say more (oh, well, maybe not!)
Comment by Elizabeth - Letters from a Small State — February 18, 2013 @ 1:26 pm
huh?
I think about compassion….therefore am I a do-gooder? I’ve never framed myself this way.
I have nothing in my hands…is that the point?
huh?
It is good to be confused, right?
Comment by MJ — February 18, 2013 @ 5:44 pm