Practice Compassion

 "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
~Dalai Lama

As I write today, my daughter is busily making Valentines for her teachers and classmates for tomorrow's big Valentine Day Celebration at school. To keep it personal and real, she always likes to make her own cards, one by one, each special and unique like the person they are meant for. I love seeing her work so hard on this project as Valentines Day has become such a retail driven holiday that the honoring of our friendships, love and romance is often overshadowed by its commercial nature.

In honor of Valentines Day, I want to focus on compassion.  It is through developing compassion that we are able to rise above personal feelings and open our hearts to other people and what better thing is there to focus on for Valentines?!

Compassion-from Latin: "co-suffering"-is a virtue, in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy for the suffering of others are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnectedness and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.

The Budda is quoted as saying, "It is possible to travel the whole world in search of one who is more worthy of compassion than oneself. No such person can be found."

The practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu is all about compassion. It is through compassion for ourselves and others, that we can walk the path of our true spirit. In Japanese, Jin means “knowing, compassionate human being.”  Compassion is viewed as "the magic key that unlocks the true power of our inner spirit." This principle is a feeling of whole hearted acceptance of the weakness and strengths of the human race without judgment. Shin means spirit, “divine nature” or “creation.” It is through this spirit that energy flows from us to another. This spirit breathes in and through each of us. It encompasses the whole of the universe and sets us on the path of self awareness, in tune with nature and the oneness of all things.  And Jyutsu simply means “the art of.” Thus, Jin Shin Jyutsu can mean “the Art of Divine Creation through Compassionate Human Intent” or "the Art of the Creator through Man of Knowing and Compassion." Jin Shin Jyutsu is the art of releasing tensions and attitudes, which are the causes for various symptoms in the body. As we come into balance, we increase our capacity for compassion and reinstate harmony.

"Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect." ~from Charter for Compassion

This virtue is SO what we are missing in our world and our lives. Our capacity to become better human beings is dependent on compassion, that ability to feel what others are feeling and experiencing, to understand the pain and sorrow that another is suffering, and to accept each other with tolerance and non-judgment. By developing patience and understanding, we find the clarity to know all sides of a story. When we overcome our ego, we clearly see that we are all interconnected and dependent on each other for our well-being.

"Compassion is that which makes the heart of the good move at the pain of others. It crushes and destroys the pain of others; thus, it is called compassion.
It is called compassion because it shelters and embraces the distressed."
~Buddha