Last week, I had the chance to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak at an event. It was wonderful. His topic was “Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World.” Just being in the presence of someone like that is perception-altering.
I’d like to think that I’m a fairly compassionate person, but the Dalai Lama’s emphasis on compassion towards others as the path to not only a more peaceful world, but a happier and more peaceful heart, really got to me. Buddhists refer to it as “intelligent selfishness.”
“Whether or not our kindness brings benefit to others will depend on a great many factors, some of which will be outside our control. But whether we succeed in bringing benefit to others or not, the first beneficiary of compassion is always oneself. When compassion, or warmheartedness, arises in us and shifts our focus away from our own narrow self-interest, it is as if we open an inner door.”
–Beyond Religion by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
I’ve been trying to practice compassion in even deeper ways.
Compassion in the yoga studio is something I want to work on. I struggle with getting frustrated with the yogi who is flopping around, or the newbie who is getting defiant and mad at the teacher. I try to remember that we are all dealing with our own demons in there, but sometimes it’s all I can do to not yell “This is a peaceful place and I’m trying to meditate and be one with the universe, so shut the fuck up!”
Compassion fail.
So clearly that needs some work, but what also deserves some attention is my level of compassion for myself.
My ankle has been bothering me lately. I don’t know what I did to it. I put ice or heat on it – it still hurts. I do lots of yoga or no yoga – it still hurts. I put it up or massage it – it still hurts. My ankle is just tender and there is nothing that seems to make it any better or worse. It just is. It just needs time.
But I catch myself glaring at this ankle. Rolling my eyes at it when those shooting pains come and cursing it when it doesn’t behave like it used to.
This is no way to treat an ankle that has done nothing wrong for the past 33 years.
So, I’m trying a new route of uber-compassion for others, for myself and for my ankle. I’m doing my best to withhold judgment. I’m seeing what it’s like to just flood my world with understanding, patience and gratitude for whatever might come. Bring it on, and I will do my best to welcome it with open arms.
So far, it feels really good. His Holiness might just be on to something here.
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Just here. Just now. 
I always wanted to go to one of his events; glad you got a lot out of it 🙂
Thanks! It really was quite an opportunity, I hope you can see him sometime, too!
I’m so glad you wrote this blog entry! I recently visited a new studio which for me, is always exciting and scary at the same time. I was trying to focus on my practice and new surroundings and was doing pretty well until we went to the floor postures. The woman next to me was drinking out of a water bottle filled with ice and she finished the water pretty quickly which left the ice. After each floor posture and before she laid down in savasana, she drank from her water bottle, clanging with ice and laid down in savasana, crunching her ice all the way until the last savasana. The instructor at one point said, ‘Don’t let the ice get to you’ and I’m not sure if she was talking to me or the ice cruncher. I let it break my concentration and focus and was disappointed with myself for reacting this way. Your words remind me that I need to practice compassion in the studio too, both with others and with myself. Namaste!
Thank you for your comment – what a perfect example! That’s a wonderful opportunity to practice compassion – for the ice cruncher, because perhaps that was really the best she could do, and for yourself because of course you were distracted – that’s REALLY annoying!
Thank you so much for reading and Namaste!
I think I needed to read this post today…I’ve been noticeably impatient with my hips, knees, and ankles the past couple of weeks. Helpful to be reminded of the point of “practicing” in the first place 🙂
Ah yes – the “practice”! Lovely reminder. Be kind to those joints!
I love that compassion fail line. I also struggle like that with myself and others. I am really hard on my body because it so often feels like it is betraying me (I have hypermobility syndrome, so I am super bendy and things dislocate easily), and I let other people’s idiosyncrasies bother me too much. What a lovely opportunity seeing the Dalai Lama must have been 🙂
I think it’s so easy to focus on the negative things with our bodies, rather than the fact that it’s something of a miracle that we are breathing in and out! Compassion and gratitude are so important – and we forget so often. Thanks for reading!!
Look after yourself and your ankle. 🙂 It’s easy to show compassion to others more than to our own Self 🙂
So very true. Thanks. 🙂
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