Posted on by Tenneson Woolf

Compassion Practices

Some beautiful words and framing from Glen Lauder while we were together this week. I can’t really count the number of great discoveries I experienced this week with Glen and Phil Barker in the Waimea community gatherings we shared. It is what happens in the space of friendship, wellness, and deliberate learning.

“What are our “compassion practices” as community members?

I notice my response is in four breaths .

1. Empathy. To notice their fears. In fact, I feel deeply the fears of each, as a visceral pain. My brother is hurting.

2. Equanimity. Can I find my centre. There is nothing wrong. The rain is falling gently outside. It is morning. This is a world of people who have many feelings, many thoughts. Like a waterfall. Can I bring my close attention to see the tiny droplets rather than imagine an overwhelming river. Can I un-join the dots?

3. Compassion. We are not alone. We are not powerless. The “offending party” is not evil personified, not all-powerful in the face of our powerlessness. Let me bring compassion to him who is hurting, him who feels like the “offender”, and to myself. I am a surfer in the joyous waves of life, not a struggler in the overwhelming waves of fear. Life is “game on”.

4. Courage. Do I have the courage to go “up” in consciousness? Am I willing to start with wholeness rather than taking a position? Am I willing to turn to each other? Am I willing to go further – to invite them all into one room? Am I willing to love fiercely, stand strongly, to endure and persevere?

I can see why fear persists in the world. If I am not getting to my “compassion gym” each week, each day, I don’t have the muscle to do the hard work of community.”

Thanks Glen — there is much wisdom and heart here that I can see in your day to day practice.

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Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

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This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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