Tag Archives: Compassion

#MarchMindfulness2016: A Glorious Renewal | “Overcome” by Laura Mvula ft. Nile Rodgers

Glorious. This is not a word I encounter often. It’s alluring — in tone and sensation. So I was more than curious to watch Laura Mvula’s video after my dear friend described it in this way when sharing it with me recently.

Stunningly glorious! And absolutely resonate with the spirit of #MarchMindfulness:
To overcome the madness with mindfulness.
To tend to ourselves with deep care and clear understanding so that we can share our gifts and transform our unskillfulness.
To amplify the good as we face the realities of suffering.
To recognize that fueling ourselves with compassion and fostering deep listening to expand our understanding and cultivate authentic connection helps us to disrupt the normalization of hate, apathy, greed, and oppression in the world.

Abide in energy of mindfulness — expand your capacity to soak in the power of hope and renewal.
Hold on to the aspiration to experience all that is glorious in this world. 

Remember, no action is too small! Shine Bright. 

 

‘Overcome’ Lyrics

When your heart is broken down
And your head don’t reach the sky
Take your broken wings and fly

When your head is heavy, low
And the tears they keep falling
Take your broken feet and run

With the world upon your shoulders
Nowhere left to hide
Keep your head up carry on

It ain’t no time to die
Even though we suffer
Come together we pray

Round the mountain all God’s children run
Round the mountain all God’s children run
Round the mountain all God’s children run
Round the mountain all God’s children God’s children run run round the mountain run
Round the mountain all God’s children God’s children run run round the mountain run
Round the mountain all God’s children run

#MarchMindfulness2016: Seeds of Mindfulness

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As we enjoy the final days of March and the warmth of spring, I am feeling stretched by all the lessons that arose during this month spent renewing my commitment to compassion, understanding, and connection.

S T R E T C H E D and TESTED!

But those experiences only AFFIRMED what I know to be true:

Even in the hardest moments — after I’ve fussed and cussed through my frustrations (to good spiritual friends who listen deeply, see me clearly, honor my wholeness without co-signing my craziness, and respond skillfully with wise and loving support) — compassion calls me back again and again.

It offers a calming, centering grace that inspires me to seek the depth and breadth of understanding that in turn keeps my heart open to authentic connection.

“Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate,
means that we need to be passive,
to allow others to abuse us,
to smile and let anyone do what they want with us.

Yet this is not what is meant by compassion.
Quite the contrary.

Compassion is not at all weak.
It is the strength that arises out of seeing
the true nature of suffering in the world.

Compassion allows us
 to bear witness to that suffering,
whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear;
it allows us to name injustice without hesitation,
and to act strongly,
with all the skill at our disposal.

To develop this mind state of compassion…
is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it,
with sympathy for all living beings,
without exception.”

― Sharon Salzberg
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

#MarchMindfulness2016: Shine Bright

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Shine Bright! has been my personal mantra and my sideline cheer for others. But, oh, has this been a hard-won lesson to live into!

I’ve learned to honor my gifts and skills, and the contributions I make within my circle of loved ones and within my community. Still it continues to be a practice around “enoughness”– giving enough, learning enough, being compassionate, understanding, open, patient, skillful enough.

Doubt knocks on the door. Yeah, that’s right — Doubt has finally gotten some manners and no longer shuffles in uninvited while I scramble to push it back over the threshold. Now, I choose when to answer and welcome it in for deep inquiry where I skillfully sit with the questions it has delivered. What is this? Is this true? What can you see clearly?

Turning toward the aspiration to “shine bright,” I realized through several recent experiences (either as witness or participant) that we fear shining brightly means we’ll cast a shadow over others. We worry that expressing our full selves with unapologetic radiance, confidence, and vision is an act of vanity, ego, or arrogance. We’ve been taught that humility is a virtue, so we play small to make others feel less insecure.

At the same time, we receive a million messages about the importance of self-esteem and self-love. This is the crazy-making cycle our culture perpetuates that gives rise to lingering Doubt, which breaks in, refuses to leave, and becomes an indignant squatter in our hearts and minds.

So I appreciated reading an article years ago in which the writer reframed “humility” as being grounded and connected. To him, being low to the ground (as the eytmology defines it) in no way suggested self-deprecating acts of meekness or inferiority.

Rather, he embraced an understanding of humility that drew upon a sense of strength and stability from the Earth in the very same way that worshippers of various faiths will offer their full body in prostration during prayer. Bringing our body close to the ground is an expression of gratitude and wonder for the Power that makes life possible. It is empowering and energizing — a reminder to stay connected in body, heart, and mind to our capacity to love, create, inspire, teach, lead, serve, empower, heal, and thrive. And to thrive requires fertile soil…and light!

 

 

#MarchMindfulness2016: The Art of Compassion | Pam Roy

resilience | pamela roy
i am | pamela roy

 

Each week, I send my dear friend and colleague an original piece of artwork — a symbol of my solidarity and a reminder that her bravery and patience as her family battles to triumph over recent illnesses matters. This is one way that I commit to shining love and light on the people that have blessed my life, in times of struggle and in moments of happiness. ~ Dr. Pamela Roy

Pamela-Roy-photo

Dr. Roy is a scholar, visionary and creative leader, and artist who has a passion for youth education and enthusiasm for community-building at the local, national, and international levels.

Pamela is the Founder and Lead Consultant for the Consultancy for Global Higher Education. View her gallery: www.pamelaroy.net

March Mindfulness 2016

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It’s my fourth annual “call-to-action” to promote the practice of bringing skillful and compassionate awareness to how we engage, are impacted by, and then respond to the world around us.

March heralds the coming of Spring and, with it, a sense of renewal! Let us take a few moments to refresh our commitment to self-inquiry and spiritual self-care by tending to ourselves with loving awareness so that we may notice what moves, blooms, dissolves, transforms and even becomes reconciled within body, heart, mind, and relationships.‪

WHEN + WHERE:
MARCH 1st – 31st | RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!

HOW:
PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!
What can you do each day to foster
compassion, skillful understanding, authentic connection, inclusion, freedom, belonging?
No action is too small!

RSVP TO SHOW YOUR COMMITMENT ~
 3 JEWELS YOGA | MARCH MINDFULNESS 2016

SHARE THE CREATIVE + THOUGHTFUL WAYS
THAT YOU ARE GENERATING COMPASSION
FOR YOURSELF + OTHERS ~
Submit stories + images to be featured on 3 Jewels Yoga’s site. Email: tara@3jewelsyoga.com


Post them to 3 Jewels Yoga’s Facebook page with the hashtag #MarchMindfulness2016

SPREAD THE LOVE + INVITE OTHERS!

embodied practice: the healing power of community

The energy of a community of mindfulness can help us embrace and release suffering that we could not reach by ourselves…

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If we open our hearts, the collective energy of the community can penetrate the suffering inside us.

~Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Communicating

embodied practice: a perspective on “engaged” buddhism

It is hard to define engaged Buddhism.
But I think it has to do with a willingness to see how deeply people suffer; to understand how we have fashioned whole systems of suffering out of gender, race, caste, class, ability, and so on; and to know that interdependently and individually we co-create this suffering…
Some days, I call this engaged Buddhism; on other days I think it is just plain Buddhism — walking the Bodhisattva path, embracing the suffering of beings by taking responsibility for them.

—Hozan Alan Senauke in Upaya’s Newsletter (11 March 2014)