Courage Feeds Compassion, Compassion Feeds Courage

I have found myself saying to a number of people lately, “Life brings us to our work…” 

This is most certainly true of me, and perhaps for it you as well.

 

As I walk the path that lies before me I am supported by the skills and tools I have learned along the way. I think of these things as my *practices* and quite frankly, I would be lost without them.

 

Aside from the skills of Grounding (connecting myself with Earth and Sky) and Centering (staying in touch with the Core of my being, my most essential Self), I call upon the qualities of Courage and Compassion. I access them through the breath, a practice that I first learned from my teacher, T. Thorn Coyle.

 

The practice itself is simple: breathe in Courage, breathe out Compassion. Or sometimes I reverse them, breathing in Compassion and breathing out Courage. It works either way for me, depending on the circumstance.

 

But it is the definitions of Courage and Compassion that really matter here. Rather than trying to connect with some airy-fairy concept, when Life calls upon me to show up for myself, for a beloved, or for a situation, I need to know exactly what I mean when I invoke these qualities in order to be present, no-matter-what.

 

Sometimes I can take the time to do automatic writing in order to get my current definitions out of my mind and onto a page.*

 

Other times I just have to hunker down into my being and call up the Courage and Compassion of the moment that lives somewhere deep within.

 

However I get there, leaning into this combination of Courage and Compassion settles me into the moment and I have access to presence and am able to show up as my best self.

 

I have attached a short video of me leading one version of this practice. I hope that it is as helpful for you as it has been for me.

 

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*To try automatic writing, set a timer for a specific amount of time, 10 minutes, 15, 20. Then take yourself into a deep state of being by whatever method works the best for you.

While you are in this deep place begin writing and don’t stop until the timer goes off. In this case you might write for 15 minutes about Courage and another 15 minutes about compassion.

 

If you are lucky, you will write down all of the things you know off the top of your head and the timer will still be ticking away.

DON’T STOP WRITING! This is the pivotal moment.

 

At this point you can write anything. “This is stupid! I hate this!, etc.” are good examples.

 

After several moments of whining on the page, something new will likely emerge. This is the treasure you have been seeking.

Keep writing until the timer goes off.

Then sit back and read what you have written.

Pay special attention to new ideas or anything that surprises you. This may be your personal definition of Courage or Compassion.

 

 

During a recent automatic writing session recently I recalled a conversation I had with a different teacher back in the 1970’s. I had been sitting meditation at the Insight Meditation Society in Central Massachusetts for some time. And I kept hearing this new-to-me word, Compassion. In my 10 minutes-every-other-day talking with a teacher I blurted out my question, “This word Compassion you keep talking about. I don’t get it. I don’t know what it means!”

The teacher was kind. His response went something like, “Just keep sitting. It will come.”

 

Today I find myself stepping into compassion which turns out to see-saw between “responding accurately in a timely fashion” (T. Thorn Coyle) and offering as much spaciousness to any given situation as I can manage.