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June 2021

Dear Boundless Compassion facilitators,

Happy summer solstice! Seems as though summer has arrived suddenly and now our glorious light-filled days begin their slow decline. A reminder to enjoy each moment.

This evening two of our BCF, Patty Forsberg and Jeanne Johnson, will begin leading their first Four Day BC retreat. Please keep them and the retreatants in your prayerful remembrance, as well as myself and the 24 who are registered for the BCF Training Workshop that follows the retreat this coming Friday. Thank you!

As I prepared for leading the Workshop, this thought came to me in regard to our continued study and education regarding BC: Compassion does not thrive and stay alive unless we give it our attention.
Ongoing education regarding compassion is a significant part of BCF activity. I encourage you to continually have a resource such as a book, online event, or program that is nourishing you, in order to intentionally grow in your desire and understanding of how to be a compassionate presence. When I read the following, it reinforced how valuable the reading and resourcing we do can be for our growth.“It’s impossible to change your past, but right now, with some effort, you can change how your brain will predict in the future. You can invest a little time and energy to learn new ideas. You can curate new experiences. You can try new activities. Everything you learn today seeds your brain to predict differently tomorrow. As the owner of a predicting brain, you have more control over your actions and experiences than you might think and more responsibility than you might want. But if you embrace this responsibility, think about the possibilities. What might your life be like? What kind of person might you become?
…
It’s also possible to change predictions to cultivate empathy for other people and act differently in the future. …Spend five minutes per day deliberately considering the issue from the perspective of those you disagree with, not to have an argument with them in your head, but to understand how someone who’s just as smart as you can believe the opposite of what you do.” (Excerpted from: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, Lisa Feldman. 2020)
Thanks to each of you who sent information on a number of the following resources to assist us as we invite others into compassionate living.
with you on the journey,
Joyce

Audio/Video

Song: “May I Suggest”   (for self-compassion)

 

Wonderful Danish video in English “All That We Share”  

(could be used with non-judgement or in relation to our oneness with others)

 

“Cultivating Compassion Through Awareness, Kindness, and Openness”, Judy Leif (38 minute presentation) Contemplative Care Symposium talk; she focuses on “how to be awake within the suffering world.”

 

Dr. Judith Orloff’s “3 ways to Recognize if You’re Feeling Other People’s Emotions Instead of Your Own.” About her talk: “Empaths and highly sensitive people are born with a special intuitive gift — one that allows them to see and feel things around them that most others are completely unaware of. But this gift also can be a curse…  If empaths don’t know how to protect themselves and distinguish their emotions from those of others around them, they can become emotionally drained and find themselves stuck in unhealthy relationship dynamics. That’s why psychiatrist, empath, and intuitive healer Dr. Judith Orloff has made it her life’s work to help empaths protect themselves while still embracing and enhancing the intuitive gifts they were born with.”

 

The Wisdom Experience, podcast Toni Bernhard:

Self-Compassion and the First Noble Truth Toni discusses her most recent book, How to Be Sick: Your Pocket Companion, and shares her personal story detailing how her practice has helped and continues to help her come to terms with living with a chronic illness.

 

“Do not judge”  A four minute video that won an Oscar. Theme: “Be gentle with people because you don’t know their worries.”  An Albanian silent film about a student always late for school and teacher that punishes him with a ruler slap on his hand every time – until one day the teacher sees that the student is pushing a young person in a wheelchair someplace before school.

 

From the Mindful HealthCare Speaker Series:

 

Grief and the Healing Power of Love and Compassion, Frank Ostaseski

 

Mindfulness, Community, and Compassionately Holding our Experience,

Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD

 

Resilience and Well-being in Healthcare, Richie Davidson, PhD

 

Printed Resources

Nourish for Caregivers website

One of these is an article on losses of various kinds.

 

Articles related to systemic racism:

 

“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” By Peggy McIntosh

“identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. “

 

“Healing Roots”  This article focuses on ways to create a new culture. It has some interesting links in the resource section. Website includes healing roots model and other resources.

 

Poem “Belonging” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

This is an excellent expression of our unity with all of life. The first two lines:

And if it’s true we are alone,

we are alone together, ….

 

Meditation

Tonglen meditation: “Sending and Taking”   (A Guide to Tonglen (“sending and taking”): a meditation practice that awakens our compassion and kindles our sense of sympathy and connection.)

 

For Extended Retreats on BC

Two of our Canadian BCF are offering a series next Fall. They plan to “ask participants to prepare A Self-Reflection on their Life’s History of Compassion prior to the first session (using the Tree of Compassion to do this) so when we begin the first session participants are prepared to share their story.”
This is such a good idea. Having your retreatants prepare this ahead of time would give more flexibility of space on the schedule, and not feel so pressed to get everything in.

A Reminder

If you are looking for a resource that was listed in a previous newsletter but cannot find the newsletter, remember that newsletters from the past three years are on the BCF site on www.joycerupp.com

 

 

 

Kinship Day for BC Facilitators (In-person)

October 2nd 2021 (Saturday) BCF Kinship Day Benet House, Rock Island, IL

This will be a renewal day that includes strengthening relationships with one another through our connectedness with Boundless Compassion. The day will include ritual, brief presentations, quiet reflection, dialogue, and time to enjoy one another’s presence, share ideas, etc. More information will follow in upcoming newsletters. For now, if you plan to come, be sure to save the day on your calendar. If you want overnight accommodations at Benet House, please contact: [email protected] or 309-283-2218 to reserve a room.

 

Four Day BC Retreats

Please encourage participation in the following through your programs, newsletters and personal contacts.

July 18 – 23 (Zoom) Mary Dean Pfahler SND, The Well Spirituality Center, LaGrange Park IL
Oct 29 – Nov. 2 (In person) Bobbi Bussan, OSB & Joan Doherty, Benet House, Rock Island, IL

 

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Here is how you can locate BCF files:  www.joycerupp.com
Boundless Compassion Facilitators, click on this and log in.
Go to: BCF Resources and click on it; this takes you to: BCF Programs

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We are all so deeply connected;
we have no option but to love all.
Be kind and do good for anyone
and that will be reflected.
The ripples of the kind heart
are the highest blessings of the universe.
(Amit Ray)