Suggestions for Living from Compassion
- Upon awakening, let the words Thank you flow from your lips, for this will remind you to begin your day with gratitude and compassion. Make it a practice to begin each day by thinking first of someone else and then making a decision to actively do something, anything, that will bring a smile to his or her face. When you become conscious of wanting to do something kind for another human being, you move into a higher way of being. It takes your thoughts off yourself and What’s in it for me? and puts them on How may I serve? which is precisely how the universal mind we call the Tao or God is always operating. When you’re aligned with a compassionate outlook, your entire day will reflect this kind of awareness.
- If you believe as Martin Luther King, Jr. did that our culture needs restructuring and that compassion is the way, I urge you to work toward electing people to public office—at all levels—who relate sensitivity and kindness in their messages to the public. Look for the compassionate heart, rather than the one that excludes, punishes, seeks revenge, or manipulates with government power. The more our institutions reflect this humane attitude, the fewer collective excuses we will call upon to explain why we haven’t been able to create the heaven on earth that is our true calling.
- As I’ve frequently stated, the active repetition of an inner mantra reinforces and creates exactly what you’re saying to yourself. Therefore, repeat the following to yourself for at least five minutes: I am a being of compassion. I extend love outward everywhere because this is my nature. Affirm this to yourself continually, and post it in a prominent place in your home, your office, or even your car.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us the ultimate words of compassion. If our world today would put them into practice, we’d all be living in peace. But even if the rest of the world hasn’t yet caught on, you can. I urge you to put these words to work in your life today; if you do, all excuses will most certainly vanish:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. (Matthew 5:43-44)
This is compassion in action!
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