The Healing Force of Compassion

If you are feeling overwhelmed, unsettled and confronted by these times, know that you are not alone. These are rational and reasonable responses to the realities we are currently living through.

Yesterday, I found myself anxious and spread thin with all the things I believed I had to do. As I was working, I was becoming increasingly frustrated by the careless mistakes I was making. Despite feeling scattered and disconnected, I kept going. Hours passed until I realized how forced my actions felt. It was then that I stopped and shut down my computer. I stepped outside, closed my eyes and took some slow deep breaths. In that moment my whole experience changed.

I won’t pretend to have the answers, but I will share what has been helpful in moving through challenging moments of tension, fear and uncertainty. Moments that for me, seem louder in these recent times. The practice is simple: to remember to pause. When I’m able to catch myself in the unconscious spells of anxiousness, busyness or beliefs of unworthiness, I pause or hold the intention to pause. I breathe. I listen. I ask myself: Where in my body do I feel the strongest sensation? What is the quality and tone of my thoughts? Is my mind competing, comparing or judging? What am I feeling? What parts of myself are asking for attention?

When we remember to pause, recognize and be with the feelings alive within us, we bring awareness to our present experience. This does not always feel natural or necessarily comfortable. But it is illuminating, liberating and perhaps the most important work we can offer ourselves and humanity. In getting quiet enough to observe our own thoughts, feelings, narratives and inner tyrants, we begin to understand and deconstruct the roots of our own harm. Through deeply feeling what is happening in our inner environment, we offer the acknowledgement that the pain, fear or tension is seeking. Only when it is felt, brought to light through our awareness, and nurtured with our own compassion, can true healing and transformation take place. 

Yesterday, when I paused and inquired into my anxious state, I felt a heavy pressure on my chest. It felt as if the weight of the pressure was threatening to collapse me into concavity. I breathed into this feeling, allowing it to be as big and strong as it was. As I stayed with this sensation and breathed with it, I was struck by the force and oppressive nature of the pressure. Tears fell down my face as I contacted a real sadness. I realized that this sensation was very familiar. My mind wondered how often I came to this place without my conscious knowing. I placed my hand over my heart, where the pressure felt most intense, and I silently said to this sensation, “I care about you.” I repeated, “I care about you. I care about this pain.”

My own compassion for my suffering softened me. It awoke a sense of safety and tenderness within. The pressure that felt crushing moments before was replaced with spaciousness. My loving acknowledgment of the pressure I felt moved me into a real sense of connection and strength. I could trust this. I could trust this presence to guide me forward. 

Compassion is an agent of love that is needed as we co-create the new world. By learning to stay awake and tender in the face of suffering within ourselves and others, we can infuse the transformational energy of compassion into our shared experience. This teaches us the potency of deeply feeling and being with what is - the medicine that is so desperately needed in darker times. As we face what is true, we can begin to move forward with love, respect and integrity.

The forces of harm present within us are the same harmful forces we see reflected and perpetuated on a larger scale. It is the microcosm of the greater macrocosm. We are living in a world overrun by greed, fear and unconsciousness. The vast majority of humans alive today are asleep to their own inner knowing and inherent goodness. This has made possible the ego-centric and fear-driven belief of separation that underpins the current destructive and oppressive paradigm. And so perhaps the most urgent antidote to our failing system is a compassionate and loving presence with the harmful energies at play within our own psyche. When we practice this in our individual lives, we directly participate in combating the toxicity of our culture. We learn the wisdom of a kinder and more accepting way of relating. The practice of compassionate witnessing will compel our individual and collective healing, liberation and peace. 

What I have found most helpful in this practice is to focus my attention on the sensations of my body as a way of calling presence into being. When we do this, we are less likely to get caught in the story our minds are creating for why we are feeling what we are. Rather than intellectualizing our experience, our focus can be kept on our direct experience of the lived sensations present within the body. 

For when you would like to practice on your own....

It may be best to read through this first and then begin by closing your eyes.

Bring attention to your breath. Let your belly be soft and open. Breathe like this for some moments, taking note of the pace of your breath before changing it.

Take a deep nourishing breath into your belly. Bring your attention to the sensations alive in your body.

What do you sense and where? What is the strongest feeling? Is there tension, numbness, heaviness, pressure, pain, restlessness, peace, stillness..?

Bring your full awareness to whatever sensations are true for you in this moment. Breathe with them. Allow them to be as they are. If the mind comes in with commentary or judgment, allow that too, but without investing into the story. Stay with your breath and the direct experience of what you sense in your being.

You might like to place a hand on the part of your body you are feeling most strongly.

With an intention to nurture and care, ask this part of yourself, “What do you need?” 

It may be as simple as, “I’m here. I’m listening. I’m staying with you.” Or “Thank you for trying to protect me.” It may be wrapping your arms around yourself in a physical embrace. Or perhaps your silent and full presence is the nurturing that is most needed. Trust your own way with whatever arises.

Rest in this moment for as long as you feel. 

~

May you feel guided by your own wisdom within

May you remember your inherent goodness

May you feel safe and at home in your body

May the compassionate presence of your heart awaken