COURTING COMPASSION ~

Hello there!  I know it’s been awhile.

I had an email from a reader who asked if I was in the hospital or something…? Flattering and guilt producing all at once!❤️

Funny to observe the tentacles of cyberspace.

I took some time off to tweak.

No, not the crystal meth addicted kind, but the “how’s that working for ya?” kind….

I have found in the seasons of my life, that sometimes you need to just go inward. Cut back on TV, socialization, social media, magazines and papers,etc., and just visit with yourself.

I couldn’t take a physical vacation, so I took a mental one.

At the end of each day, I ventured to a quiet spot in nature to check in with myself. No phones, books, demands…just bug spray and my thoughts….

How are you? What’s no longer working for you? What needs more work? What can you let go of? What should you focus more on? How can you be more worthy of the love and health God has blessed you with?

When I do this for a few days, the layers of bullshit gently peel away, and what I am  left with is gratitude for a perfectly imperfect life.

Everybody has “stuff”. It’s part of what connects us all together.

But if you step back, and look at “stuff” in the scheme of the Big Picture of your life, you may be amazed to see how lucky you are to have lived the life you’ve lived…and how humbling it is to walk on this beautiful planet, graced by God, in all its glory.

I realize through my mental musings that I am my best self in the worst situations. When life gets tough, the ego shatters and the compassion floods through the cracks. Something about Hard Times connects me with others suffering, and that’s when the best of me floats to the surface. Impatience, judgement, negativity is replaced by kindness, compassion, empathy.

So how to align my highest self to these God serving tenants when times are good?

Practice.

This weeks practice is Conscious Compassion.

When I rest my head, I need to be accountable to myself for the compassion I put forth to the world in the day passed.

Was I kind to the older checkout woman who got my order wrong? Imagine having to stand on your feet for hours at the age of 73.

Did I spend the extra few minutes with the new widow at Starbucks, at the risk of being late for work? She’s still struggling, and even though you’ve heard her story seven times already, she has tears rolling down her cheeks this morning, so stop…give her a hug…let her talk…God won’t let you get fired, and if you do? It was time.

Am I more patient with the people who call the office with generous government aid packages, when I have to work very hard for mine? Try, because one of thirty people a morning calling actually is having a very rough life, and a bit of compassion may be his or her drop of water in the desert.

Many small ways to allow compassion and empathy, the best of me, to exist when life is GOOD.

I just have to slow down and look harder and remember….There but for the grace of God…

Have a lovely week, and be blessed ~