Recently I learned that joy is compassion turned inward.....( I believe compassion is a pure, honest, heart offering of unconditional loving kindness; without guile.) and I really want that joy to be my most common experience of life.
In my youtube travels I encountered the founder of the Metta Institute, Frank Ostaseski.
"Compassion allows us to move toward the experience or suffering that we would rather escape from."
-----Frank Ostaseski
I notice that I am still in this familiar place and my most common reaction to life is to look for the escape...............
Yet my new resolve is to let the boundaries of what I think is possible stretch until they break and I can feel my mind and heart continually opening up.......
So when I encountered Mr. Ostaseski I was moved to consider his point.
Being willing to move toward suffering instead of away from it seems almost dangerous at first glance; like holding your hand too close to a flame. But many of us have learned that there is no escape from the pain of life. And, we have noted that pain and suffering are not the same thing......we have learned that suffering often increases when we try to escape the pain.
If I am to feel joy, I must, with compassion, move toward whatever pain or suffering comes up within me.
The great possibility that may come from this? With practice, my most common reaction to life could become compassion, loving kindness and joy..............
In my youtube travels I encountered the founder of the Metta Institute, Frank Ostaseski.
"Compassion allows us to move toward the experience or suffering that we would rather escape from."
-----Frank Ostaseski
I notice that I am still in this familiar place and my most common reaction to life is to look for the escape...............
Yet my new resolve is to let the boundaries of what I think is possible stretch until they break and I can feel my mind and heart continually opening up.......
So when I encountered Mr. Ostaseski I was moved to consider his point.
Being willing to move toward suffering instead of away from it seems almost dangerous at first glance; like holding your hand too close to a flame. But many of us have learned that there is no escape from the pain of life. And, we have noted that pain and suffering are not the same thing......we have learned that suffering often increases when we try to escape the pain.
If I am to feel joy, I must, with compassion, move toward whatever pain or suffering comes up within me.
The great possibility that may come from this? With practice, my most common reaction to life could become compassion, loving kindness and joy..............
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