Day 5

Do y’all know what compassion is?

I first started researching it two decades ago.

Seriously, in middle school, a girlfriend of mine made it a new years’s resolution to become more compassionate.

I asked her what compassion was, semantically.

She didn’t know, and ended up giving up that resolution.

It set me on a path to discover what compassion is. It was something I felt intuitively, but I couldn’t put it into words.

I feel it when I see a dog who needed a home.

I feel it when I see a friend ending a relationship.

I feel it when I see my hospice patients resisting death.

Compassion, according to the Buddhists, is very simple:

Compassion is the desire to relieve the suffering of others.

That’s it! You don’t have to do anything with the feeling. You just notice the desire; it’s there. It’s what makes you tender and human.

It also, as it turns out, is the whole point to this whole human game.

Why do we come here?

To build compassion.

That’s according to the Buddhists, anyway.

There are some alternate theories we’ll discuss later in the month.

Have a beautiful weekend, friends.

Hooray! We’ll use a mudra to build compassion.

Sweet! This is a gentle shoulder opening sequence. The shoulders are where the ego places the burden of its wants.

Glorious! Let’s do something nice for someone else!

 Keep in touch, y’all!