It’s Not Just Peanuts

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.

George Washington Carver, 1864 – 1943

This quote hardly needs commentary. Carver touches on some essentials here. We’re all changing and we’re all in the show together. It reminds me to be open to the challenges we  face on this mortal coil.

One way to create this sense of tenderness and tolerance is through the practice of compassion.

Compassion comes from two Latin phrases: com -with and pati-suffering or enduring.

Often we think of compassion as being attuned to suffering (which it is), but it’s more than that.  Pati also gives us the word patience. So compassion is suffering with others as well as patience with others. It’s the added understanding that although we cannot change someone’s current circumstance, we can bring the gift of our abiding presence to the situation.  We give comfort (com-with, fort-strength) as well.

As we practice, we are nurturing the feeling of connection with others. There’s a ripple effect here. An observation that one of our facilitators made a few weeks ago is that Community Mindfulness Project is succeeding because it’s helped create a real sense of community for our sitters. Mindfulness practice is the tool and the result is a group of people sitting in fellowship  (Latin:communitas- fellowship).

Come help us experience the sense of unity through compassion this week.

CMP survives on donations. All of our weekly sessions are free and open to the public, but donations are essential to our sustainability. Checks, cash and credit cards are accepted and donations are tax deductible.

 Stay up-to-date on all CMP news and happenings by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Meetup and Insight Timer.  And our website CommunityMindfulnessProject.org.

 May we all rest in a sense of abundance,

The CMP Team