At this time in our evolution, there are many who are suffering the ravages of war, hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires. There are also those we don’t hear about. The ones who are suffering their own private hell, usually alone. If you ask me, on some level we are all angels born in hell. Another way of putting it….we are souls who chose an earthly incarnation to evolve.

 

 

Perspective Is Everything

As much as mainstream media would like to have us live in fear, the truth is, if we choose, rather, to pay attention to the whole, it becomes very clear, very fast that good and miraculous happenings are quietly taking place in every hour of every day. The more we can keep a healthy perspective on the entirety of Existence itself, the less apt we are to get pulled into the suffering of being a fragile human on a fragile earth.

 

Wanting Freedom For All

Compassion?…yes…oh my…yes, yes. ️ Warmth and care? Definitely. Empathy and healthy action? You bet.

 

But suffering along with others? No. This helps no one.

 

You don’t get down there in the suffering with them…no, no. You don’t do that. Not because you are above it all, but because more than any other desire you hold within your heart, you want freedom for All.

 

Caring vs Care-Taking

Nothing is served by running back into the world of separation to “save” someone. All you would be doing is denying them their choice to be free. And I’m not talking about the kind of “saving” where someone is drowning in a lake or being robbed, or stepping off a curb into oncoming traffic or starving to death.  Of course, it would be instinctual and automatic to “save” someone in these kinds of scenarios.

 

I’m talking about not allowing your frequency of light and strength and balance and divine power to be weakened and diminished, rendering you unable to truly and effectively be present for someone who is suffering because you let your sympathetic, care-taking, enabling self get the better of you and you went into ‘rescue’ mode.

 

Stay Grounded In Genuine Care

Stay centered in your heart. Hold a hand. Give a hug. Send a loving email. Sit with someone. Feed them. Tend to them. Love them. But remain very mindful that your frequency stays grounded in genuine care and compassion rather than sympathy, overwhelm, and care-taking.

 

 

Compassion and Meditation

How do we accomplish this?

 

Having compassion for yourself is vital. Meditation and/or mindfulness also help.

 

In his 2015 article entitled, The Kindness Cure, David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University who has written for The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Pacific Standard, wrote, “When we encounter people in pain, we not only recognize their discomfort, we feel it—an experience that can quickly become overwhelming. As a result, people can shut down emotionally and turn away, a result known as “compassion fatigue.” Attesting to this fact, research confirms that compassion fatigue is quite prevalent among physicians and nurses whose work centers on oncology and palliative care—specialties that require daily confrontation of suffering, pain, and emotional loss.”

 

Recent research by the neuroscientist Tania Singer, and the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, has shown that meditation proves to reduce activation of the brain networks associated with simulating the feelings of people in distress, in favor of networks associated with feelings of social affiliation. In other words, shared pain rapidly dissipates, but compassion remains. – David DeSteno

 

The Cosmic Paradox

These appear to be hard and trying times in our world just now, and yet, everything is exactly as it’s meant to be. It’s just life. We are all angels born in hell. It’s the cosmic paradox. The trick is to remember who we are and to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive right now.  Then we see the beauty in absolutely everything…even the suffering.

 

The Evolution of the Soul

I have a feeling that we always knew, on a soul level, that this intense change, earthly chaos, and expansive growth was going to take place while we were here in this lifetime. I think we signed up for it without hesitation in order to evolve as a soul. That is what earthly incarnation is all about anyway, though this lifetime for all of us is undeniably the fast-track version.  What we can always do is give thanks, bless all, do good where we can….and love without any expectations.

 

I invite you to pay close attention to your energy when faced with the suffering of others. Whether you see it unfolding with someone you love, on television, or even with an animal. True empathy and compassion is being able to feel the suffering of others and be of service but not become debilitated by it.

 

With much love,

Heather xo

P.S. If you have friends, clients or colleagues who you feel may need some support in offering compassion in a healthy, truly supportive way, send them this blog. Helping others to help others is such a good thing.