Day of Compassion
My alarm went off at 7:00, as I reached over to push the snooze button I saw my post it note that said “Don’t forget…Day of Compassion.” I laid there thinking about how I wanted to go about my day. Thinking about things that may be challenging for me and getting a plan to overcome these challenges. Then….my roommate screamed in the other room, I jumped up and ran out to see what was wrong. I soon found out that there was a spider, and she is TERRIFIED of spiders. Since I’ve moved in this summer I have been the spider killer. I am not a huge fan of spiders but I’m not deathly afraid like the girl I’m living with. I quickly grabbed toilet paper so that I could get rid of the problem, then I remembered what today was…and I stopped to think about the spider. I made a quick decision to get a piece of paper and have the spider crawl on that and then put the spider outside instead of killing it. I was proud of myself as I went to get a piece of paper, and how I was truly feeling a change. I went back and started to slide the paper under the spider, the spider jumped and got TOO CLOSE and I ended up squishing it…I felt HORRIBLE! What a crummy start to such a nice day L I found myself feeling angry and mad that I had already ruined the day and it was only 7:00! Then I remembered that as part of the day of compassion I couldn’t get mad at myself either. I tried to make a fresh start. I found myself in this battle all day…I would accidentally do something (like shake my keys so birds would fly away and I wouldn’t have to walk by them) and then get mad at myself for doing such a mean thing that was not in line with the goal of the day. The rest of the day seemed to go really well…my interactions with others was natural and I truly think I’m a compassionate person in my daily life…well…I don’t think the butterflies, birds and bugs of the world would agree, but humans…hopefully would. I plan to try and be more conscience of my actions towards bugs, birds, and humans. I feel like my heart is in the right place…most of the time J
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteHow terrible to have to deal with the spiders! It seems like you made it through the crisis fine. I think being mindful of our compassion is difficult. It is nice to know though, that we can cut ourselves some slack. Sometimes we are the most hardest on ourselves. I’m sure when you jingled your keys at the birds, they just thought it was a pretty sound.
I think the most obvious way that you show compassion is the way in which you call you students "kiddos". I love it! I even thought about using that for my High School students but I don't think it would go over as well :)
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