Most people intuitively understand what "compassion" means and are able to experience it for strangers such as the Katrina victims. Fewer people are able to experience it for themselves or their partners. An ingredient of compassion is non-attachment to the outcome and we tend to be attached to an outcome in our partner's (or family's) life situations. And we tend to be very attached to an outcome for ourselves. That attachment seems to come with judgment rather than discernment. We want to be able to discern and make choices in life, however judgment is simply toxic. It is toxic to the judger and the judgee and shrinks the heart. Compassion takes place in an expanded heart and expands the heart.

Around 1995 my oldest daughter and I drove to Syracuse to have Thanksgiving with a cousin. On the way my daughter worried about a co-worker who did not show up. She tried calling him and was unable to reach him. She knew he was going through a lot of transition and wanted to support him. She was also struggling to figure out what to do with her life after college. "I know I want to be a healer, Mom. I just don't know what kind".
It was a delightful visit and we joined the long line of cars on the highway heading south on 95 that Sunday. In addition to being hungry, we each had a strong intuitive hit that we were to get off at a specific exit. We drove up to a very crowded restaurant, looked at the long line and declared we were too hungry to wait. We saw CAFE written across the closest hill and drove to the top. We found a delightful little place, ordered healthy, scrumptious sandwiches and sat down to eat.
A man and woman sat at the table next to us and I heard my internal intuitive voice suggest an interaction with them. I stood and approached their table. The woman turned to my daughter and asked if we were playing a word game. We each laughed because we had been playing a word game all weekend. My daughter shook her head no. I stood and said to the man, "I am supposed to say something to you and ask for something in return". He nodded. The woman with him grew excited and said, "He says this happens in his life all the time". My daughter laughed and said, "Yeah, I know what you mean."
I said, "I know you know this, but wanted to remind you that death is merely a transition". The woman began to cry and laugh and explain her father had just died. The man reached into a battered brief case and extracted two crystals, giving one to me and one to my daughter. He explained that he is a shaman and mines the crystals in dried up underground salt lakes and they are already polished and with 18 facets. He called them, "the healer's healer".
We drove the rest of the way home in gratitude and wonder at the delights of the world. After I got home, my daughter called to say she had been in touch with someone from her work and the man she had worried about had died. She said crying, "Mom,I hope that death is not only a transition, but a promotion". Me too, honey.

I am starting to plan a women's retreat that will be on the Heart of Forgiveness so thought I'd begin to organize some of my thoughts here. We are all learning that forgiveness is something we do for ourselves not necessarily the other. And forgiveness does not excuse the behavior. What forgiveness does is bring back our own energy which has become stuck in the past around a specific event and/or person leaving us less than we can be in the present. When we forgive we reclaim a part of ourselves and are therefore more present in the now and better able to experience the full and rich life we want and deserve. I am exploring why it is so difficult to forgive others or ourself sometimes. What makes that hard? One thought I have is that by holding onto our resentment, even our victimhood, we might buy into the illusion that we are the ones who will mete out some judgment or justice. That isn't our job. That job belongs to the Universe which is All Just and from our human perspective we may not see exactly how that is true and yet need to learn to trust that it is. Part of our job is to have as conscious a human experience as possible and that requires all of our energy. As we forgive others and reclaim our energy our consciousness expands naturally. I would love to hear from others what your understanding and experience of forgiveness is. May your journey be delightful and gentle. In peace, Sage

I cognitively understand "Do what you love and the money will follow" and I am stepping into the doing which increasingly feels like being. I trust that the bills get paid.

Our spiritual journey takes us to a place of service for others. How do you perform service? Is it by maintaining a good mood, volunteering at a soup kitchen, donating funds to a worthy cause? Each decision we make in life...and we make them constantly...can take us toward ego or service. Sometimes we are best of service when we can accept the gift another has for us. We enjoy this particular season of holidays best when we are aware of the minute giving and receiving. May you receive and give today which every breath.