Yesterday, I talked about showing sympathy to others. Today is a new day.
A common piece of advice that's given around the world is to trust our gut (our instincts). Although we've been conditioned to rely more on logic, our intuition is a strong sense that can often guide us in crucial moments. This is our instincts taking over and guiding us when our rational selves are stuck
In such situations, my gut often tells me to take a deep breath and assess the situation before making any rash decisions. Where my usual self is very much reliant on my feelings in the moment, my gut is often the rational side of me that keeps me in check when I start straying too far from being in check.
A few years ago I was chopping some wood for Ms. Companion, my piano teacher, who at the time was very sick and unable to do anything for herself. Close to finishing my work I ended up with a piece of wood that couldn't stand up on its own (the balance was off so I had to hold it in place). As my hand went down to cut the piece I wavered and ended up cutting my thumb. Luckily, I was wearing really thick gloves and I felt the pain and stopped before cutting all of the way. Unfortunately, the damage was done and a huge chunk of my thumb was now hanging off of my hand.
Rather than freaking out over the fact that my thumb was spewing blood, I felt that I needed to get my ass to the hospital as soon as I could. I went straight to Ms. Companion's kitchen to wash the wound (tetanus isn't my thing) and had my dad drive me to the hospital (the adrenaline was already pumping throughout my body and giving me a pounding headache. The doctors sutured everything up, my thumb was salvaged, and I'm living happily ever after blah blah blah.
Peace
"I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it." - Thomas AquintasNot everything needs to be understood in order for us to recognize its value. The house cat, even with no experience in the wild, still knows in some sense how to hunt. It's in its nature. It will stalk its toys and even though it knows there's no danger in the house, will carefully creep up for the decisive blow. They weren't taught to do it, they just knew. They just felt it.
A common piece of advice that's given around the world is to trust our gut (our instincts). Although we've been conditioned to rely more on logic, our intuition is a strong sense that can often guide us in crucial moments. This is our instincts taking over and guiding us when our rational selves are stuck
In such situations, my gut often tells me to take a deep breath and assess the situation before making any rash decisions. Where my usual self is very much reliant on my feelings in the moment, my gut is often the rational side of me that keeps me in check when I start straying too far from being in check.
A few years ago I was chopping some wood for Ms. Companion, my piano teacher, who at the time was very sick and unable to do anything for herself. Close to finishing my work I ended up with a piece of wood that couldn't stand up on its own (the balance was off so I had to hold it in place). As my hand went down to cut the piece I wavered and ended up cutting my thumb. Luckily, I was wearing really thick gloves and I felt the pain and stopped before cutting all of the way. Unfortunately, the damage was done and a huge chunk of my thumb was now hanging off of my hand.
Rather than freaking out over the fact that my thumb was spewing blood, I felt that I needed to get my ass to the hospital as soon as I could. I went straight to Ms. Companion's kitchen to wash the wound (tetanus isn't my thing) and had my dad drive me to the hospital (the adrenaline was already pumping throughout my body and giving me a pounding headache. The doctors sutured everything up, my thumb was salvaged, and I'm living happily ever after blah blah blah.
Some things are best left unexplained, like the mystery of life. I don't understand why my mind was suddenly filled with clarity despite everything else going to shit. I don't need to, either. I just my intuition autopilot me into safety as I sat back for the ride. In the same way we don't need to understand what our purpose is or why we exist in order to live well. We can just live it and be completely fine.
Compassion isn't something that needs to be understood. Just go with what feels right and it becomes more genuine. That's what it means to be compassionate. No need to overthink it.
Peace
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| Don't overthink, feel it |
Today's assignment: explore how compassion feels to you.
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