Lately in my reading and work the idea of expanding our compassion has been on my mind. In this issue of ODE magazine Religion author Karen Armstrong writes about compassion and asks all people and religions to be guided by compassion. She says compassion is the heart of all religious teachings. Compassion is about having an open heart while seeking to understand yourself and others.
The following are ideas to help you expand your compassionate heart, give them a try and notice if and how the different ideas work for you:
• Began by slowing yourself down and tuning into the beat of your heart. If you can’t feel the beat, place your fingers from on hand on your pulse on the other hand. Breathe into the pulse and feel the energy of the heart
• Find out who touches your heart and spend time with them, notice how you feel
• Do activities that make you more aware of your heart like walking uphill or exercising and feel the power of the heart
• Imagine your heart filled with love and then you spreading love wherever you go
• Feel the heart center in your body, notice the influence of the heart in your interactions with others
• Notice that your heart is wise and listen to what it is telling you about living your life
• Be aware what your open heart feels like and see how long you can keep it open as you go about your day
• Have compassion for your imperfections and for the struggles of those you who matter to you
• Explore fully loving and accepting yourself even though you have problems in the life, your heart is much bigger than any problems you face
• Feel the courage of the heart, if your heart is open you will see that your loving and compassionate heart is stronger than any fear you might have
• Imagine loving yourself, filling your body with love, loving all those around you, and then expanding that love to completely cover the Earth and all living things
• There is no limit to love, so you can love everybody you meet, and every human being on the planet, and still have an endless amount of love to share
If we all opened our hearts to our potential for compassion we would transform the world to a peaceful and joyous place.