Compassion. Is it part of your day-to-day vocabulary? Is it demonstrated by your actions when it’s not prompted by catastrophic events? How often do you go out of your way to help a complete stranger?
In the midst of incredible negativity fueled by social media where too much is shared, there are no filters and people post comments they would never say to someone’s face…compassion is lacking.
Let me tell you what got me on this topic. I was walking out of a restaurant last week, and as I opened the door to leave, I noticed a moth (yes, a moth) trying his/her damnedest to get out the door. He kept bouncing against the glass just next to the door I had opened—a mere two inches from freedom. He was working so hard and what he wanted was right there! I cupped my hand—it took four attempts, but I coaxed him to freedom.
Before you decide that I’m completely loony, this was a first save for a moth. I’ve been taking spiders outside for years. What can I say, I have huge compassion for animals.
The next day a fly was in my bathroom. He/she (I couldn’t tell which it was, it was a fly!) was pounding on the window trying to get outside. I didn’t think too much about it until the following day when I noticed she was still there pushing to get out of the window. I thought about how tired and hungry she must be and wondered why this fly journeyed all the way upstairs. And why she continued to try and get out of just that window when others were close by, and an escape route via the doorway was less than ten feet away.
The perfect metaphor for life. Why do you bang your head repeatedly attempting to make something happen that isn’t going anywhere? Why do you stay stuck, convinced it is the only option, when if you were to explore the full menu, clearly it’s not. Sometimes all you need to do is change direction, or move two inches to the left and voila! You’ve reached your goal, you’re free, you’ve found the success you were looking for. And it was easier than you imagined. You just needed an assist to see the bigger picture of possibilities.
So this little fly demonstrated the definition of insanity for me—doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Lucky for her, I had another moment of compassion because of the lesson she gave me so I got my little spider jar and lid out, captured her and took her to freedom.
Nope, I haven’t been smoking anything and I haven’t lost it! I’m just “being” in a state of pure awareness of my world.
Life is simple. You make it hard with the decisions you make, reacting vs. responding and believing that change is hard. This is why I love coaching, helping people who aren’t sure there is a way for them to get unstuck and delivering the gift of passage to transformation that brings a highly improved quality of life.
I’m practicing a quote I read recently, “I have absolute trust and faith that my future (what I desire) is rushing to meet me!” The more things I desire that improve the lives of others (animals or people) that are based in gratitude and compassion, the more frequently these things materialize in my reality.
This week my challenge to you is to make a commitment to think, act and be more compassionate, it will change your life profoundly.
