#compass

We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society. It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others....Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground. ↗

— Pema Chödrön

#compassion #inspiration #communication

How would your life be different if…You pretended those around you were deaf to your words? Let today be the day…You let your actions speak and communicate your feelings and intentions. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#communication #compassion #inspirational #intentions #kindness

In a time so filled with methods and techniques designed to change people, to influence their behavior, and to make them do new things and think new thoughts, we have lost the simple but difficult gift of being present to each other. (p. 11-12) ↗

— Henri J. M. Nouwen Donald P. McNeill Douglas A. Morrison

#presence #change

No culture has yet solved the dilemma each has faced with the growth of a conscious mind: how to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in all life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s own culture but within oneself. ↗

— Barry Lopez

#dreams

Defensiveness is usually someone silently screaming that they need you to value and respect them in disguise. When you look for deeper meanings behind someone’s pain you can then begin to heal not only yourself but others. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#compassion #defensiveness #emotional-pain #forgiveness #anger

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. ↗

— Pema Chödrön

#equality

I made the choice to be vegan because I will not eat (or wear, or use) anything that could have an emotional response to its death or captivity. I can well imagine what that must feel like for our non-human friends - the fear, the terror, the pain - and I will not cause such suffering to a fellow living being. ↗

— Rai Aren

#animals #compassion #equality #ethical-vegan #kindness

Know that the same spark of life that is within you, is within all of our animal friends, the desire to live is the same within all of us... ↗

— Rai Aren

#compassion #equality #kindness #life #life-affirming

Don't wait for other people to be loving, giving, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, generous, or friendly... lead the way! ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#forgiving #friendly #generous #giving #happiness

Mindfulness, also called wise attention, helps us see what we’re adding to our experiences, not only during meditation sessions but also elsewhere. ↗

— Sharon Salzberg

#compassion #inspiration #mindfulness #experience