In this talk, Zach explores all the ways to think about and cultivate compassion. We must look at compassion as a shared experience, that requires a movement of the heartspace. By being present to suffering and removing the armor around the heart, we naturally feel compassion for ourselves and all beings.
Intro poem is part of the Pebbles poetry collection, click here to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Pebbles-Zach-Beach/dp/B0B2V3VYW6
Learn more at www.zachbeach.com
“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless, Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human”
– Henri Nouwen
Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,
between “green thread”
and “broccoli” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”
Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend
and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,
and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing
that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds
of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder
or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue
but today you get a telegram,
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom
still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,
—to any one among them
who can find the time,
to sit out in the sun and listen.
– Tony Hoagland, The Word
“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?”
— Henry David Thoreau
“The Arabs used to say,
When a stranger appears at your door,
feed him for three days
before asking who he is,
where he’s come from,
where he’s headed.
That way, he’ll have strength
enough to answer.
Or, by then you’ll be
such good friends
you don’t care.”
– Naomi Shihab Nye
“Any movement toward greater kindness and compassion is to be celebrated. Any skillfulness in staying calm in the heat of the moment, in remaining cheerful in adversity, and in maintaining equanimity in success and failure is to be commended. Any attempt to keep the heart open when we most wish to close down is a movement in the right direction.”
– Donna Farhi, Bringing Yoga to Life
