Compassion

Beautiful rainy cold morning. I listened to a Dharma podcast before leaving bed. Usually I hop into my car and drive to the farm not 30 minutes from my home. It sits near the ocean full of zen folks and vegetables growing in highly composted soil. My favorite zen master spoke about compassion for living beings. Witnessing with presence can be a compassionate act toward an injustice happening in front of your eyes. I like to study this more.

Having compassion forgiveness toward myself allows me to feel more love and kindness toward others. When I feel love I am able to put it out into the world.

When I visit compassion I feel leaned into forgiveness. There are strings attached there for me.
Tonglen practice is a practice of forgiveness that i find helpful.
I would like to extend forgiveness to my mother there is a hole in myself where mothering lies. Learning to mother myself is sitting with all my feelings.





My program is nurturing. Sitting in a room of peoples trying to work on their lives is a powerful act of kindness. When there are personalities in the rooms that I struggle with I think of what they would be like without the program. One person at a time the 12 steps makes changes in the world. I gravitate toward women my mothers age to be around the wisdom of aging. She cant not share her life with others too much taking care of herself at the expense of others. Even as I re read these words I feel my hurt and anger toward her. It will take a long time maybe my life to have compassion for her. But despite my shortcomings my life has been dramatically impacted for the better by the rooms for this I am grateful.

By Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (From the book Interbeing)
Do not avoid suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal contact, visits, images and sounds. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.

Getting ready for my day hope to walk along the ocean.