High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘Compassion’

“For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”

The winds of nostalgia waft across the year’s waning hours.  It held so much, so many milestones and changes – births, deaths, celebrations, sorrows – and now it’s coming to a close.

Endings matter.  The way we wrap things as we tuck them away in memory colors how we’ll feel when we look back.

If you so choose, the passing year can be a treasure for you, laden with shining experiences, golden lessons, bright coins of beauty and joy, discovery, meaning and peace.  All it takes is a willingness to make it so, to give the swiftly passing year your blessing as it flows into memory’s store.

Wrap it with forgiveness and compassion as you store it away, and tie it with ribbons of thankfulness and joy.  Lift a cup of kindness to it, and to all who shared its moments with you, for old time’s sake, my dear, for auld lang syne.

When love cascades down, plunging its glory into your depths, streaming its radiant light, spilling its shining wonders into your very essence, give thanks, that love may remain.

When love cascades down, embracing you with its tenderness, immersing you in its goodness and compassion, pouring its beauty and joy into every crevice of your being, give thanks, that love may abide within you forever.

When love reveals to you that you are its channel and child, its meaning and message, its hope and its fulfillment, give thanks.  Give thanks.  Give thanks.

The heart of happiness knows all your sorrows.  It tastes your jealousies and anger, and understands your grief and pain.  And when they visit you, these seasons of darkness, happiness wraps them in webs of its compassionate light.

You may feel it only as a longing for relief; but that longing itself is happiness reminding you of its presence and peace.

The heart of happiness is the radiance that shines from the core of your being, from the center of your every cell, from the center of all that is.  It flows beneath your sadness as ceaselessly as it flows beneath your joy.  Its light enfolds your tears as tenderly as it sings with your laughter.

Your emotions are but melodies playing on its surface, the colors that dapple its flow.  And it dances with them, and with your thoughts and with your dreams, sparkling them with its clarity, bathing them in its beauty, endlessly pulsing its oceanic love.

It fills all the spaces; it sings in the silence; it breathes its light everywhere, to the ends of the universe and beyond.

And it knows you, intimately, as its child.  And it whispers without ceasing, “All is well.  You are loved.”

Mixed with the joy of life, suffering.  Mixed with the beauty, pain.  Walk gently in the world, my friends, and be slow to condemn.  You cannot tell just by looking what agonies your neighbor’s heart bears, what thorns have pierced his soul.

Wear your kindness on your sleeve; keep a packet of comfort in your pocket.  Be ready to extend a hand, a word of condolence, a gesture of grace.  Tomorrow you could be the one in need, longing for a word of understanding and reassurance.

But today, while the sun shines on your path, while the breezes are fair, look on the world with a sweet compassion and let your life exude the fragrance of  a faith that knows, in the end, love reigns and all will be well.

I talked with a friend of mine tonight who’s on the edge of the massive Tennessee flood.  She’s escaped the worst of it, but she told me tales about the widespread devastation in the region.

Another friend told me her dear aunt, who had who kept her informed of all the goings-on in the family, had passed away three weeks ago.  And no one had thought to tell her.

Times of sorrow, trial, disappointment and loss come to us all.  They ride the globe in dark bands, touching individuals, nations, regions.

They keep us from being too full of ourselves.  They remind us not to take for granted the good times, to be genuinely appreciative of the blessings we’re privileged to enjoy.  They engender our compassion and stir us to reach out with thoughts and acts of loving kindness.

Loving kindness is a balm that flows from the open heart of the giver and soothes the recipient, uniting them in their shared humanity.  It bridges all the space created by the artificial boundaries of status, gender, age, race . . . all the superficial distinctions we create to delude ourselves into thinking that we’re somehow superior to our neighbor.

It transcends other artificial distinctions, too; it’s heedless of time or space.  Thoughts of loving kindness instantly touch others’ hearts, whether we’re able to communicate them on the material plane or not.  That’s the magic of them, the seeming miracle.

Focus your attention on your heart and feel it radiating waves of kindness outward—enveloping you yourself in compassion, for you require it too, and then flowing to those near you, your circle of family, and friends.  Imagine it reaching out to your broader social circle, and enveloping strangers and even those with whom you currently feel at odds.  Feel it spreading out across your nation, your continent, your hemisphere and then circling the globe.  This is the practice of loving kindness meditation.  And while it may sound like woo-woo to some, its effects are measurable and profound.

Help yourself to a few quiet moments of it today.  Practice it daily and your world will change.  I promise.

In this season of peace and joy, the fullest hearts of all are pouring out compassion.  Those who feel the deepest happiness, the kind that’s awash with serenity and peace, have known as well, you see, life’s deepest sorrows.  They’ve felt the sting of loss, the agony of grief, the pain of unanswerable questions.  They know what it is to feel alone, to feel hopeless and lost and discouraged.  And having come through to the other side, they reach out as beacons of gentle light to those who are still lost or suffering.

They quietly give their gifts: a coin, a basket, a word, a touch.  They give with love of their time, their treasure, and their attention.  They listen, they encourage, they invite, and they share.  They send their wishes and their prayers on the wings of the Infinite to all who are in need.

I’ve seen you, you compassionate ones, reaching out.  I’ve seen you feed and clothe and comfort and nurse.  I’ve watched you sacrifice sleep and stretch your tolerance and dollars just to lighten another’s load or to paint a small smile on a face that was streaked with tears before you came along.  I’ve watched you kindle laughter and brighten eyes.  And without even knowing it, you have deepened my joy, and my faith.

You do happiness awesomely well.  And I thank you.