ACTIVATING COMPASSION WITHIN
A heart full of love and compassion is the main source of inner strength, willpower, happiness, and mental tranquility.
Our shared human experience is full of successes, as well as suffering, failure, and imperfection. The word Compassion means to care for or have concern for oneself or others. If you feel moved by your own personal pain or perhaps by another’s pain, that movement causes the heart to respond. Although it may be painful, when it comes from the heart it can penetrate an understanding of kindness rather than judgment or hate.
For many of us, at various times in our lives we may have experienced and even shared the feelings of compassion, but how do we consciously activate that power and maintain it?
Below are some insights and processes that have helped me over many years both cultivate and maintain a compassionate heart:
Be aware of yourself and how to hold empathy.
Notice the suffering you may be feeling before trying to advise or embody another person’s pain.
Love yourself and experience your own heart.
The three pillars I have created for activating compassion and maintaining equanimity can help you with the tips I have offered above:
(1) LOVE = (2) COMPASSION = (3) EQUANIMITY.
We can’t have one without the other.
Maintaining Compassion first and foremost asks us to give attention to ourselves first. As we notice and heal from within, then we have the capacity to hold a caring and empathic space for someone else. Though, the simplicity of putting oneself first is not always an easy task, doing one small thing for yourself every day is a great place to start. You can begin today with the processes below:
1. Close your eyes in the morning (and anytime throughout the day). Place your hands over your heart chakra (center of your chest), take a deep breath, and silently ask: how am I feeling today? If there is worry, concern, anxiety, fear then ask yourself why am I feeling this way, and can I change this ‘why’? If so, list how you can and then within the day if it’s something that you can do. If the answer is out of your ability to control then ask yourself how can I let go of the attachment to this that seems to be hindering how I feel?
2. Make a list of tools that you use to help keep your Equanimity (Calm) within. Meditation, exercise, a wholesome diet are a few examples. All of these tools should lead you to love yourself, your body, your mind, then creating compassion that then creates the calm within.
3. Find what works in life that seems to activate these feelings within you. When we have an even flow of these tools within our life, holding a state of compassion is welcomed within.
4. The final step to maintaining Compassion is commitment. Commit to the tools that help you love more so you can continue to have empathy, care, and be calm in your mind, body, and heart.
If you would like to learn or experience more, join us at www.40dayrituals.com for our upcoming 40 days of Forgiveness course!
Love and Blessings,
Onkar xx
Onkar Ryan is a Kundalini yoga student, teacher, and meditative healer. She has been practicing Kundalini Yoga, as taught by Yogi Bhajan, since 2006 and began teaching in the summer of 2008. Onkar’s classes focus on the deep healing of the self through meditation, breath, yoga, mantra, and relaxation.
Along with fellow Spread The Light blog contributor, Hari Simran, Onkar brings her love and wisdom of teaching and meditation experience to create powerful 40 Day Rituals that help to heal the mind, body, and soul.
