January 2022
Compassion & Collaboration in a Time of Transition
This month, as Joyce steps away from active leadership of Boundless Compassion (she remains involved as founder, consultant, and core team member), we want to thank her for sharing her many gifts with BCF. Joyce’s remarkable legacy includes her foresight and wisdom in creating an interconnected network of BC facilitators, core team members, and co-directors who share her vision and mission. As we work together during this time of transition, we look forward to tending to the fertile ground of compassionate presence that Joyce has planted and nourished.
Going forward, each month, we will continue reaching out to you with information and inspiration through this newsletter. Also, during 2022, Joyce will share here a variety of resources for cultivating compassion in our lives and service.
We are both enjoying meeting BCF’s at online small group gatherings, and we look forward to connecting with you more in the future.
Blessings,
Wendy and Bobbi
Greetings from Your Co-Directors
Bobbi Bussan
It is very exciting to take on the new responsibilities of being co-director of Boundless Compassion. Compassion has become an essential part of my spiritual journey. I have come to see the compassion of Jesus more profoundly and it serves as my starting point for my own compassion ministry. The strength of BC lies in the depth and practicality of Joyce’s teachings. Boundless Compassion is unique in that it encompasses different aspects of life from compassion to self, to the suffering, to the marginalized and to creation. There is not just one focus for compassion but an integration of all parts into our life and our world. The ultimate depth is living a compassionate life and being attentive and aware of what is happening and needs our compassionate understanding and love. There are no boundaries as compassion impels us to live as One together, both human and all of nature.
Wendy Mospan
I am grateful for this opportunity to share in the leadership of Boundless Compassion. Joyce’s seminal contributions in this area along with her caring presence have touched me deeply. When I came to my first BC retreat in Racine, WI in 2016, I was nursing professional and personal wounds that kept me guarded. The retreat opened my heart, remind me of the tender, powerful and healing movement of compassion. Each of us has the capacity to give and receive compassion, guided along our unique pathway by the spirit of Divine Compassion. Keeping our hearts open to this guidance is key to transformation. Through the loving, connected presence of one another in the Boundless Compassion program, we are creating a sacred space for exploring our inner resources and meeting life’s challenges with kindness, equanimity, and joy.
BCF News
BCF Kinship Gathering
Mark your 2022 calendar for a wonderful event.
September 12 – 14, 2022
Christ the King Retreat Center
Buffalo, MN (near Minneapolis)
Keynote speaker: Diane Millis, PhD,
Author of The Sacred Art of Conversation and Re-creating a Life
BCF Resources
Curated by Joyce Rupp
Articles
The Wisdom of Darkness
Center for Action and Contemplation teacher Barbara Holmes offers a valuable reminder to watch the use of “words” when connecting them to aspects of compassion. (Thank you, Colleen Shepard)
Student Winning Essays on “Immigration and Unjust Assumptions”
Anyone working with younger persons in relation to compassion will find these inspiring thoughts from teenagers a good resource for conversation. (Perhaps have the young participants write their own essays after discussion of the articles). These essays could also be used with adults when having conversations or workshops on “compassion for marginalization.”
Videos and Podcasts
How We Experience Awe – and Why It Matters
An intriguing presentation that could lead to a lot of discussion about uncertainty, biases and assumptions, prefrontal cortex activity in the brain, and the effect of awe in helping us know how to enter into conflict with others. (Thank you, Mary Kay Daniels)
Awe, Wonder, and the Intelligence of Nature
A wonderful video by time-lapse filmmaker, Louis Schwartzberg. After a too-long-intro, he brings our attention to the natural world, the importance of fungi, mycelium, emphasizing how connected everything is: “Without flowers we wouldn’t be here.” (Gorgeous section on flowers slowly blooming) This video includes a clip of Simone Simard speaking about how plants connect underground, the “kin recognition” among plants, noting that “communities flourish when we work together.” (Thank you, Mary Kay Daniels)
Four Essential Qualities of the Heart
Jack Kornfield reflects on the joy and suffering that is part of being human, and the practices that can help us along the way. This is a lengthy video, a little over an hour, but worth the time to listen to this wise teacher of compassion.
Practical Tools to Manage Anxiety and the News in a Stressful World
Tara Brach is interviewed by Jessica Yellin in this down to earth podcast. Helpful in exploring how to remain grounded in self-compassion while engaging the world’s challenges with courage and compassion. (Thank you, Wendy Mospan)
Music
Lead Kindly Light
Based on John Newman’s prayer, this traditional prayer set to music is sung by a multi-cultural choir. Words to the prayer are included on the video. Beautiful rendition for Christians who seek hope and consolation.
Hello in There
by John Prine. A touching look at aging and how older persons are viewed. Encouragement to extend kindness and attention to them.
Maybe This Year
By Trish Forline, from the album Live Laugh Love. Focuses on homelessness and poverty. (Thank you, Stella DeVenuta)
Compassion for Creation
Earth Connection
With the awareness of climate change becoming a central public issue, this is an opportune time for BCF to immerse ourselves in creation-related resources, increase our understanding, and grow in our appreciation of our life-giving planet. Follow this by incorporating these resources into presentations on “Compassion for Creation.” The website Earth Connection offers free webinars (registration required), including “Just One Earth,” presented on January 20 and 27 by Gail Miller and Sue Brungs.
Earth Connection
Earth Connection also offers free, short and informative videos. Consider using them when teaching about compassion for creation. One sample: “What Really Happens to Plastic” A four minute clip that succinctly describes the story of three empty plastic bottles.
How Trees Talk to Each Other
“A forest is much more than what you see,” says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes. (Thank you, Bobbi Bussan)
World Religions and Ecology
Six Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Religion and Ecology with Yale University and Coursera are now being launched. Audit any online course for free.
“Religions and Ecology: Restoring the Earth Community”
- Introduction to Religions and Ecology
- Indigenous Religions and Ecology – representatives on every continent
- South Asian Religions and Ecology – Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism
- East Asian Religions and Ecology – Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Shinto
- Western Religions and Ecology – Judaism, Christianity, Islam
- Christianity and Ecology
Key facts:
- Accessible to a general audience
- Start anytime and work at your own pace
- Take courses separately or together as a specialization
- Engage with community mentors to support and deepen your learning
Book Recommendations
Restoring Hope: Appreciative Strategies To Resolve Grief and Resentment, by Robert J. Voyle
In a time of so much grief from numerous causes, along with the bitterness and rancor undermining a peaceful society, this resource has much to offer as a way to move through and beyond the pain. Based on the Appreciative Inquiry method, it offers a process to name what is difficult and then focuses on what is positive and affirming. This book contains both practical and insightful suggestions for healing and wholeness.
The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, by Gregory Boyle
As with his other two books, Gregory Boyle’s message is filled with compassion for those who are marginalized. The author sweeps aside harsh judgment of former gang members who’ve been wounded by cruel childhood experiences. He approaches these young men and women with a tenderness born in the heart of divinity. Filled with his ability to tell story and create laughter, Boyle equally fills this book with profound insight and wisdom.
Words to Ponder
When you speak to me about your deepest questions, you do not want to be fixed or saved: you want to be seen and heard, to have your truth acknowledged and honored. If your problem is soul-deep, your soul alone knows what you need to do about it, and my presumptuous advice will only drive your soul back into the woods. So the best service I can render when you speak to me about such a struggle is to hold you faithfully in a space where you can listen to your inner teacher.
– Parker Palmer
