The Executive Circle of Sage-ing International sends our love and greetings to you once again—our beloved members. We hope for your safety, your wellness and your well-being. With an outpouring of appreciation for our
Love Letter
sent last week, we have decided to send three more letters to share encouragement, and invite you to uphold each other as a community of elders and sages.
We recognize more deeply our interrelatedness and need for one another in these uncertain times. Love, compassion, gratitude, and courage are genuinely needed. In addressing these needs, we invite you to come together for spiritual companionship in an online Sage-ing Wisdom Circle. We are all adjusting to a new rhythm—complying with “stay at home” directives by our state or local officials, and seeking meaningful connections. With perhaps more time for meditation and reflection, please join us in a contemplative online Sage-ing practice of
Social Meditation:
centering silence, meditation, heart-to-heart dialogue and spiritual intimacy in a safe and secure environment. The Meditation Circle will be facilitated by Pat Hoertdoerfer, MDiv, CSL, and Anne Wennhold on
Thursday, April 2, at 4 pm ET/3pm CT/2pm MT/1pm PT via
Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 489 596 4735
As the COVID-19 virus makes its way around the globe, creating a path of increasing concern, imbalance and grief, a profound question comes to our forefront— “How can we, as a conscious aging organization dedicated to “spiritual eldering,” make a difference in this crucial time facing the outcomes of the Coronavirus pandemic?” The reality, of course, is that we have not experienced the conditions that we all are navigating at this time—social distancing, complying with moving targets of restrictions, longing for connections, trying to achieve balance in unsettling circumstances. While many believe that there is a purpose behind everything that happens, it is difficult to perceive purpose or satisfying meaning while we are in the midst of this storm. Nor do we have a broad enough perspective of our future to project a favorable measure of gains outweighing losses, calm over fear, and hope over despair.
What can we do? How can we be?
In reflecting, it is clear that the COVID-19 affects people regardless of country, culture, religion, occupation, or financial standing. It is a profound teacher that we are all truly connected. The wise Native
American teaching comes to mind:
“
What we do to others and to the planet we do to ourselves.”
https://kheopsinternational.com/blog/native-american-values-and-their-impact-on-native-culture/
Practicing love, compassion, gratitude and courage will help unify us with our precious planet.
Matthew Fox, author of A Spirituality Named Compassion, conveys that a spirituality of compassion for the future promises personal, social, and global healing. Acceptance of our interdependence is the bedrock of all practices of compassion. Fox points out that the major spiritual traditions of the world all speak to our human capacity for compassion.
When we consider
what we can do
and
how we can be
during this complex global crisis, clearly activating the quality of compassion is a vital option. Compassion is one of the qualities of
Sages in Service
that we, involved with
Sage-ing
, strongly advocate:
Compassion: With a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it, we serve from a deep passion that includes caring and understanding, reciprocity and forgiveness.
Compassion is essential to our personal healing, to those with whom we connect, and for the ultimate healing of the Earth. While it is a natural human response, we also have the capacity to nurture and foster a more compassionate outlook.
|
It is our intention to share encouragement for our community, and to support a positive transformation with
radical compassion
. Here are thoughts to consider:
Be Compassionate with Self: As with other gifts, our giving is more potent if we have experienced the “gift” personally. When we are self-compassionate, we gain a deeper understanding of being compassionate with others. Nurturing self-compassion includes treating ourselves with the same kindness, concern, and support you would show to a good and valued friend.
Self-compassion includes self-awareness—emotionally and mentally; and, it includes taking
positive action
. Compassion is often confused with
empathy
and sympathy. It is
action
that sets compassion apart. In other words, we become aware of our own suffering and are emotionally moved by our experience i.e. grief, anxiety, pain etc. With an intention for healing, there comes a wish to ease our condition. We then
take action
with acts of kindness, self-soothing, and comfort to support a positive change. (Take a few moments to listen to a brief video by Kristen Neff)
https://youtu.be/Qes9HoxfkE0
Be Compassionate with Others: Compassion for others is one of the great human gifts—a helpful behavior without a promise of reward. A key element for our individual and societal well-being is that compassion is a
positive
orientation towards an arduous situation or experience. With deep listening, we can begin to alleviate suffering and stimulate healing. This practice can increase feelings of closeness and connection, improve our sense of satisfaction and purpose. When compassion is “other-centered,” it can actually reduce negative symptoms of social isolation.
Tara Brach states that c
ompassion can be described as letting ourselves be touched by the vulnerability and suffering that is within us, and all beings. The full flowering of compassion includes action: not only do we attune to the presence of suffering, we respond to it.
https://youtu.be/PcZwg10WYx0
Be a Student of Compassion: A deeper sense of compassion can be developed at any age. It involves training the mind to develop specific skills in order to relate to others and to ourselves. It includes making a
conscious
effort to think and act in a compassionate manner.
Compassion has been shown to have a number of benefits for both psychological and physiological health—positive effects on our mental well-being, our health, emotions, and improving interpersonal and social relationships (Kirby, 2016/Positive Psychology). It helps us develop the strength to cope and strengthen our resilience. Briefly, the quality of compassion supports a wide range of positive results—from improving personal relationships to making a positive difference in the world.
12 Best Compassion Training Exercises & Activities
positivepsychology.com/compassion-training/
Friends, we courageously stand with you in practicing compassion for ourselves, others, and for the healing of our world. Together, let’s promise to be a harbor of kindness and deep listening in this storm—heart to heart. As you were invited last week, please continue to
join us again—as a community of elders and sages—in one hour of silent meditation to uphold our collective and global well-being in this crucial time—every Thursday, at 8:00 pm, in your time zone
.
May we continue to be strong together. May we all love ourselves and our world into healing.
We send love to you—around the world,
|
The Executive Circle of Sage-ing International
Marilyn Loy Every, Co-Chair
Jerome Kerner, Co-Chair
Nancy Gray-Hemstock, Secretary
Cindy Siemers, Treasurer
Katia Petersen, Member-at-Large
Note:
|
|
|
