Day 15-Friday

My Friday was spent working from 9-5pm at the hospital and my yogic focus for the day was Karuna. Karuna is the sanskrit word meaning compassion, active sympathy, gentle affection and a willingness to bear the pain of others.

Compassion has been on my mind this past week as the media has kept us informed of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti that has taken the lives of many loved ones. Many fellow health care employee's, friends and loved ones have mentioned in conversations over the past week that they don't know how to show their compassion towards the suffering going on in Haiti? My only answer so far has been to donate what you can in any small amount within your local community. Whether that be donating blood to the Red Cross, money, food, clothing or your prayers? It all helps in the grand scheme of things. I added a link in the top left hand corner of my blog to make donating all that more accessible for those who are feeling the need to give:)

In The Essence of the Heart Sutra, His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote,

"According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind, wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive -- it's not empathy alone -- but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness. That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness)."

The practice of karuna asks us to open to pain without drawing away or guarding our hearts. It asks us to dare to touch our deepest wounds--and to touch the wounds of others as if they were our own. When we stop pushing away our own humanity--in all of its darkness and glory--we become more able to embrace other people with compassion as well.

Namaste, Julie