I know I have written under this topic before. It would have been impossible not to. It's just too important in my life.
Even before I listened to On Being tonight with Krista Tippett talking to contemplative Matthieu Ricard, I decided it was the topic for the day. Maybe this is a reaction the the subject of disgust from yesterday. I've decided my life is too precious to waste on feelings of anger and disgust. I used to allow myself to wallow in them, but now I feel emotions such as disgust, hatred, fear, jealousy and rage need to counteracted with compassion otherwise I feel poisoned.
Matthieu Ricard was born in France to prominent parents who introduced him to an elite intellectual world; meeting the likes of Stravinsky and Henri Cartier-Bresson as a child, but found peace and happiness in life as a Buddhist monk acting as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama. Ricard has been called the Happiest Man on Earth and has the scans of his brain to prove it. He began his professional career as a cellular biologist, but switched to a contemplative life when he realized science could not really answer his quest for a deeper meaning in life. However he has continued his interest in science and has helped bridge the gap between spiritual practice and scientific inquiry by helping research by Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin of the neurological changes that can occur in the brain as a result of meditative practice.
Ricard says,"We do exercise every morning 20 minutes to be fit. We don’t sit for 20 minutes to cultivate compassion. If we want to do so, our mind will change, our brain will change. What we are will change....Do you learn to piano by playing 20 seconds every two weeks? It doesn’t work."
And suggests that compassion like any other skill must be practiced. If it is it can change our lives. I have been thinking of Charlie Gard today - the 11 month old British child born with a mitochondrial disorder which has left him brain damaged and unable to breath on his own. His parents have decided to allow him to die compassionately instead of trying to extend his life with experimental treatments. I work with the families of infants born with similar rare and fatal disorders. The only way to approach such infants and their families is with love and compassion. So I'm sending compassion to his parents and to little Charlie.
A hopeful story in the news today was from a University of Chicago economist, James Heckman, who describes the longterm benefits of The Nurse- Family Partnership a home visit study where nurses would make periodic visits to the homes of young children and encourage the mothers to take an interest in their child's mind and curiosity about the world. They followed children into their early teens finding dramatic results. Even kids from poor urban neighborhoods with numerous risks have thrived and become successful functioning members of society. Indications are that results are most dramatic for poor urban boys who appear to retain cognitive gains and self esteem which make them resilient to stressors of poverty like gang violence, drugs and unemployment well into their teens. Heckman puts it in such a lovely way saying: "It's really simple. We just need some one to love us and take notice of us." No truer words. That is compassion at working.
Even before I listened to On Being tonight with Krista Tippett talking to contemplative Matthieu Ricard, I decided it was the topic for the day. Maybe this is a reaction the the subject of disgust from yesterday. I've decided my life is too precious to waste on feelings of anger and disgust. I used to allow myself to wallow in them, but now I feel emotions such as disgust, hatred, fear, jealousy and rage need to counteracted with compassion otherwise I feel poisoned.
Matthieu Ricard was born in France to prominent parents who introduced him to an elite intellectual world; meeting the likes of Stravinsky and Henri Cartier-Bresson as a child, but found peace and happiness in life as a Buddhist monk acting as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama. Ricard has been called the Happiest Man on Earth and has the scans of his brain to prove it. He began his professional career as a cellular biologist, but switched to a contemplative life when he realized science could not really answer his quest for a deeper meaning in life. However he has continued his interest in science and has helped bridge the gap between spiritual practice and scientific inquiry by helping research by Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin of the neurological changes that can occur in the brain as a result of meditative practice.
Ricard says,"We do exercise every morning 20 minutes to be fit. We don’t sit for 20 minutes to cultivate compassion. If we want to do so, our mind will change, our brain will change. What we are will change....Do you learn to piano by playing 20 seconds every two weeks? It doesn’t work."
And suggests that compassion like any other skill must be practiced. If it is it can change our lives. I have been thinking of Charlie Gard today - the 11 month old British child born with a mitochondrial disorder which has left him brain damaged and unable to breath on his own. His parents have decided to allow him to die compassionately instead of trying to extend his life with experimental treatments. I work with the families of infants born with similar rare and fatal disorders. The only way to approach such infants and their families is with love and compassion. So I'm sending compassion to his parents and to little Charlie.
A hopeful story in the news today was from a University of Chicago economist, James Heckman, who describes the longterm benefits of The Nurse- Family Partnership a home visit study where nurses would make periodic visits to the homes of young children and encourage the mothers to take an interest in their child's mind and curiosity about the world. They followed children into their early teens finding dramatic results. Even kids from poor urban neighborhoods with numerous risks have thrived and become successful functioning members of society. Indications are that results are most dramatic for poor urban boys who appear to retain cognitive gains and self esteem which make them resilient to stressors of poverty like gang violence, drugs and unemployment well into their teens. Heckman puts it in such a lovely way saying: "It's really simple. We just need some one to love us and take notice of us." No truer words. That is compassion at working.
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