Tag Archives: Compassion

The Soul’s Learning and Purpose . .

26 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by in Choices, God, Growing, Humility, Love

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Want to make a real difference in this life, in the world? Want to know a purpose and a reason for your being? It’s so simple, it’s extraordinarily so! The ultimate way to make a difference and to change the world is to live in it as a force of love, compassion and as a blessing to others. Do good. Let your heart overflow even in spite of personal pain, loss, sorrow, longing, want and need. Take whatever has happened to you and turn it into a means by which you are able to not only recognize the pain and suffering in others; but to minister to them because of it! If you have been a victim, don’t relish that role to the point that it solely about you; but take it as a way of helping others through their similar fates. If you have suffered loss and grieved internally, endeavor to find those who are similarly conflicted!  Heart

Our real purpose here isn’t probably going to be some big deal we’ve managed to artfully negotiate at our jobs or a status to which we successfully ascend. Our purpose is to use who we are in total, what we have endured and whatever it is we’ve learned to help heal, to care and attend to others in need, with love. The world at present is a full-blown example that we haven’t successfully grown beyond ourselves to this point. There are people doing good, loving others, giving and caring; but not to the point where we all feel compelled to do that in the long run. Selfishness is our desire to always first be the victim, to always feel our need as a priority and to always take care of ourselves. Only when we truly learn to reach outside that small perimeter of understanding will we fully learn the lessons of why we were created and so purposefully placed here among so many others with different mindsets, beliefs and situations.  dl-mood-family

Developing a heart full of love is our purpose, finding others with whom we can share our heart is our aim. Love is the directive which compels us in that pursuit. As it states so perfectly in the Gospel of Matthew 22: 37 – 39, 37 Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  Growing up into adulthood is the soul’s learning how to put others and their needs above our own; and love is the will within us to do exactly that! God’s love lighting us up is what brings the rest of the world hope.

The World is Never “Hopeless” . .

12 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by in Attitude, Beauty, Character, Choices, Compassion, Discipline, Gentleness, Goodness

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The world around us can never be “hopeless” as long as there is even just one soul acting with love and compassion towards the rest. Imagine if and when we all just decide to be loving, compassionate and respectful regardless what we experience or see nearby? Imagine if we all just kept our composure when confronted by anger or hostility; if we remained calm when goaded and pushed to our limits? Surely it is hard to imagine doing when we are facing what we perceive as ignorance, rudeness or contemptible behavior; but our reactions are up to us! We can keep the peace, carry on and give up the need to join in the fray and the melee when we witness bad behavior and ill-will in others. Good prevails over all the rest of the ugliness because the seeds of love, compassion and kindness we plant are always more enduring than the unwanted weed-seeds of evil, hate, animosity and derision.      477f19970845716de019ab225ffd4a56

 

It’s so easy to see the actions of a few in our life’s garden and think they represent the hearts of many. They may even grow to the point of seemingly overshadowing or choking out the rest of what was first seeded there. But how it is seeded is how it then grows! A seed for one thing will not grow to be another thing entirely. With just enough time, energy, effort and nurturing, you can make any garden reflect what it was meant to. 

 

The many hearts of the loving, good, gentle, compassionate and kind, acting and behaving that way, shouldn’t and won’t be rendered silent in lieu of the few. Those hearts, filled with love, kindness, goodness and compassion, should always insist and persist in sowing those seeds abundantly into life . . after all, a rose is always a rose regardless what grows up around it! And with more roses and other such desirable words, actions and behaviors seeded, nurtured and grown to fruition – how could life’s garden be anything but more beautiful and hopeful?!   Signature02

 

Lend a Hand . .

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in Character, Choices, Commitment, Goodness, Life, Love

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It’s Monday, and often on Monday, everybody needs a hand! Everybody needs a hand of encouragement, a hand up, a guiding hand, a hand of welcome, a hand of congratulations, a hand that grabs on when things are overwhelming, a hand that leads to an embracing hug. And not just on Mondays! Our hands are often joined as human beings in so many ways. And then, we often use our hands to hurt those around us; throwing punches, taking what isn’t ours, vindictively pushing away. But hands are meant to be the points of human connection. bible-verses-9

Much like the threads of a quilt or a piece of cloth; they’re the intertwining connections between one human to another and so on. We reach out and endeavor to hold onto one another in this life, even as virtual strangers, because we aren’t meant to go through it all alone! We are meant to connect and to share our experiences and our gifts not only for our own sakes; but to teach and to learn, to follow and to lead, to give and to receive, to interlace, as well as to weave strength, love and purpose into humanity via our hearts, our minds, our hands and our lives. images difference

Hands come in all sizes, colors and from every corner of the earth; but hands, like threads of any quilt or cloth, are most useful when they are linking, connecting and strengthening the fabric of humanity rather than pulling it apart. Too often, we bear witness to hands busily rendering patches of humanity weaker by way of a human desire to be better, to have what belongs to others or to hurt others. Each weak spot in the fabric of humanity helps to make the whole cloth weaker, even though the rest of humanity may endeavor to strengthen around the torn patch in response.

All of humanity is only made stronger for the duration when humans are led to strengthen those familiar and proximal bonds which hold all of us together! Each of us must do our part by offering to others our hands; holding onto one another as though our life and theirs’ depended upon it! It does. Signature02

You Have To Set Boundaries

04 Tuesday Sep 2012

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You Have To Set Boundaries

You have to set boundaries for yourself even in love. It is noble & good to give your love to others, but it is not noble to deny your own needs or to live without receiving a thing or things in return. We should not expect from others, but we have to have mutuality in relationships of all types, giving & receiving from all parties is what keeps the relationship healthy & functional. When one gives without regard to receiving, & the other takes without regard to giving, the imbalance cannot sustain the love even for love’s sake. Eventually there’ll be an eroding of some aspect or aspects of the relationship.

It is always right & good to give especially without condition & expectation, but never do so in complete disregard for your own sake, as then you will surely find that you have erred in setting sufficient & necessary boundaries for how you should be treated! Even Jesus said to wipe the dust from your boots & walk away from the town which doesn’t welcome you & receive you with open arms! You aren’t to give yourself away when you are giving your love away! Give, but also learn how to receive, for it is the healthy prescription for a life of love! Anyone who sees you giving without giving something in return isn’t nurturing you at the same level! Love is meant to be generous, unselfish, unconditional & unexpected, but it is not meant to inflict wounds to your own sense of self-worth in that process!

Healthy relationships shouldn’t make those involved into door mats! Love is mutual respect, trust, faithfulness, empathy & compassion. Learn to love in a way which betters all those with whom the love is shared, yourself included!

A New Day – Cheryl Ries

04 Tuesday Sep 2012

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A New Day…

I’ve gotten several mammograms now … not my favorite thing to do, as it represents aging, time passing, another potential for my health to go downhill with time.  It’s not supposed to be anything other than a preventative measure, but it’s been more for a couple years now, as from almost the beginning, they’ve been a bit abnormal.  It’s never been definitively disease, fortunately, I’m so happy to say I’ve not had cancer, but I felt vulnerable.  I felt vulnerable each time the tech would return and tell me that I wasn’t free to go, that something needed further inspection, and that I would have to stay, or in two other cases, return for another test which was an ultrasound each time.  It’s the worse feeling in the world, getting that letter, that seemingly mundane letter, which upon further inspection indicates a need to schedule additional testing.

 The first time I had a mammogram turn up “iffy”, I shared the anteroom with a woman who had been through it three times prior, as she was a survivor, having one breast removed and now going down that pathway again with the other.  I immediately was frightened, just by being near her.  She was the fear of which I didn’t speak, the thing I couldn’t verbalize about my own trepidations in those moments.  What if …what if I was entering into that same journey of sickness, despair and fear of inarguable measure?  What if …But in those same moments within that anteroom … I learned a quintessential fact about life and the amazing quality of surviving.  I learned through that woman’s gift of self, that it needn’t be a fear-filled moment, but rather, it could and should be a moment shared between souls, one where women facing their own fears could be positive and supportive of one another.  And we were.  We talked of our health, our well-being, and our dreams.  I spoke to her of my upcoming dreams to live with my beloved in Italy, where in fact her family had originated.  It was in those moments I knew that God had placed her there for me, and hopefully, me for her.

 It was an idyllic meeting of our spirits, our souls, and our hearts.  We spent all of 20 minutes together, but it was like a lifetime passed between us somehow.  We never connected again, but I will never forget the gift of meeting a woman, who in her survival, her refusal to give in to cancer, inspired me to never fear the anteroom like I first did that morning.  Now, each time I go for my now-again annual exam, I am reminded that it is better to be knowledgeable and determined, alert and prepared!  Take the spirit of a fighter with you to your mammograms, be proactive and positive, get your mammograms regularly, and always be kind to the other angels along the journey!