#compass

Before I lost my father, I never understood the rituals surrounding funerals: the wake, the service itself, the reception afterward,the dinners prepared by well-meaning friends and delivered in plastic containers, even the popular habit of making poster boards filled with photos of the dear departed. But now I know why we do those things. It's busywork, all of it. I had so much to take care of, so many arrangements to make, so many people to inform, I didn't have a moment to be engulfed by the ocean of grief that was lapping at my heels. Instead, I waded through the shallows, performing task after task, grateful to have duties to propel me forward. ↗

— Wendy Webb

#condolence #death #grief #kindness #sympathy

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

You are mad!" she snapped, her chest heaving. "And you are a devil!" "And you, my dear," Royce imperturbably replied, "are a bitch." With that, he turned to the horrified friar and unhesitatingly announced, "The lady and I wish to be wed. ↗

— Judith McNaught

#compassion #dreams

Mindfulness can play a big role in transforming our experience with pain & other difficulties; it allows us to recognize the authenticity of the distress & yet not be overwhelmed by it. ↗

— Sharon Salzberg

#education #love #meditation #truth #education

Once we are able to combine a feeling of empathy for others with a profound understanding of the suffering they experience, we become able to generate genuine compassion for them. We must work at this continually. ↗

— Dalai Lama XIV

#experience

Be compassionate," Morrie whispered. And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place." He took a breath, then added his mantra: "Love each other or die. ↗

— Mitch Albom

#love

Forgiving is easier when we understand that forgiving someone else means that we are freeing ourselves of an unnecessary burden. ↗

— Donna Goddard

#compassionate-love #forgiveness #love #forgiveness

Awakening self-compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path. ↗

— Tara Brach

#compassion #self-compassion #spiritual #freedom

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. ↗

— Desmond Tutu

#compassion #considers #crumbs #full #himself

for there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes. ↗

— Milan Kundera

#empathy #imagination