March 2021 (2) Newsletter for Boundless Compassion Facilitators

Dear Boundless Compassion facilitators,

Much has been happening in regard to the BCF Groups that the Core Team and I have developed. All Zoom meetings with the various groups are now scheduled for between now and the end of April. It’s such a joy to know that there will be more communication between all of us who are a part of the Boundless Compassion program. Thank you for your kindness in adapting your schedule, for the compromises you’ve made with your own schedules in order to take part in the Zoom meetings.

May springtime & the feast of Easter energize your compassion and strengthen your spirit of hope,

Joyce

Three Hour Retreat Outline  Living Compassionately With Ourselves and Others

(excellent basic view for your planning)

Maggie Beaudette from Northwest Territory, Canada)

 Compassionate Conversations Model (An enriching approach)

Terri Storer in Lincoln, Nebraska

(From Carol Larson) “This past Sunday I participated by Zoom in a Lenten Examen hosted by Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center. Sherry Lewis led us through a meditation and exercises based on the three pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. For this first week of Lent our almsgiving consisted of stretching our arms first out wide, then high, then bringing them down to our shoulders and giving ourselves a great big hug. I loved it! We first have to give ourselves compassion before we can extend compassion to others.”

While I’ve been aware of BCF Stella DeVenuta’s giftedness, I did not know about BCF Gisele Bauche’s artistry. Gisele lives in Saskatoon, SK. Canada. Visit her gallery and feast your eyes on her paintings. Consider Giselle’s work for yourself, your congregation, or as a gift for someone.

(As we enter into Springtime, I’ve chosen songs on HOPE that are related to aspects of compassion.

“One Day”  (Norma Phelan introduced me to this song)

This song gives me goosebumps. There’s a lot of energy in the voices/faces, and the interfaith aspect is phenomenal. “Here in Israel are over 3,000 people from various religions, Muslim, Christian, Jewish & more from many countries all with the same message: “Peace & tolerance!”  This could be a powerful song to end a book study or a session on compassion and marginalization.

“The Point of Arrival” by Carrie Newcomer

This song is another way of presenting the life/death/rebirth cycle. The song fits well with presentations on compassion and suffering… that release is required before there are new beginnings. The lovely images and the lyrics invite a deeper look at what is to be left behind and the hope that can then arrive.

“Just Another Ordinary Miracle” (Lyrics accompany the text.)

Waking up, being mindful, seeing with a heart of wonder. This led me to consider it as a song that could be used with compassion for creation.

“It’s All Right”  A reminder that we’ve “got soul.”  A whimsical rendition and and an assurance that we can make it through another day. (The assurance needed for self-compassion) This song reminds me of a quote from a poem by Hafiz: “Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.”

TED talk  “How to Avoid Catching Prickly Emotions from Other People” by Jessica Woods. This fits in well with week 1, awareness of our emotions and how our response affects self and others; Describes “emotional contagion” and “cognitive re-appraisal” as ways to assist us in being more peaceful and loving persons. I think this would be valuable when reflecting on “compassionate presence” and how to be empathic without taking on the sufferings of others and making them our own.

“Difficult emotions can get under your skin if you’re not careful. Sport and performance consultant Jessica Woods calls this the “jumping cholla effect,” inspired by a sneaky kind of cactus that detaches and burrows its spines into unsuspecting passersby. In this empowering talk, she shares four mood-regulating strategies to help you gain self-awareness of your feelings, avoid catching other people’s emotions and perform at your peak — whatever the prickly situation may be.”

If you want to incorporate some of her ideas into a presentation, there’s transcript of her talk.

“Hospital chaplains embrace new role during the pandemic: caring for caregivers.”

This article in the Los Angeles Times focuses on caregivers at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. One of the featured chaplains is Rev. Peggy Kelly, a minister in the Congregational church, who works at Cedars Sinai. The description of Peggy’s work, and her friendship with a nurse, Jillian Katz, an Orthodox Jew, exemplifies what we teach in Boundless Compassion, respect for the diversity of religions and an openness to how each approaches compassion. There are also numerous remarks and depictions in the article related to compassionate presence that could be used in a presentation on this topic.

(1)

We join with the Earth and with each other.

To bring new life to the land

To restore the waters

To refresh the air

We join with the Earth and with each other.

To renew the forests

To care for the plants

To protect the creatures

We join with the Earth and with each other.

To celebrate the seas

To rejoice in the sunlight

To sing the song of the stars

We join with the Earth and with each other.

To recreate the human community

To promote justice and peace

To remember our children

We join with the Earth and with each other.

We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: for the healing of the Earth and the renewal of all life.

— U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program (quoted in Prayers for Healing edited by Maggie Oman)

(2)   Poem attributed to Meister Eckhart

When I was the stream, when I was the

forest, when I was the field,

when I was every hoof, foot,

fin and wing, when I was the sky itself,

no one ever asked me, did I have a purpose, no one

wondered if there was anything I might need,

for there was nothing

I could not

love.

It was when I left all we once were that

the agony began, the fear, the questions came,

and I wept and wept. Tears

I’d never known

before.

So I returned to the river, I returned to

the mountains, and I asked for their hand in marriage.

I begged. I begged to wed every object

and every creature.

And when they accepted,

God was ever-present in my arms.

And God did not say, “Where have you been?”

For then I knew my soul – every soul – has always held God.

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the factthat human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

 What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of the world in a different direction.

 And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think humans should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

~  Howard Zinn, historian