Can you eat a little faster, Dad?

Day of Compassion  Tuesday, July 9, 2013

 I started the day with prayer and asking for spiritual guidance to increase my compassionate actions and thoughts throughout the day. My  prayer also  included gratitude for all that I have been blessed with and for the beauty of the world that we live in. I also prayed for all who were suffering at this time, that they have some sort of relief. I read scripture and spent some time pondering those words.

While getting ready for the day, I took a shorter than usual shower in order to conserve water.  I am living in an apartment in the basement of my parent’s home.  My dad is irritated by long showers, so I took a short one out of consideration for him. While brushing my teeth, I saw a spider crawling on the floor.  Normally I would squish it and flush it, but today, out of compassion I let it live.  I kill at least one spider a day in the apartment.  Today they all got to live.

While I was getting ready, I heard my dad’s music playing upstairs, loud and twangy. I decided I would hurry a bit so I could have time to visit with Dad. Instead of going out the back door and just heading to class, I went through the house, upstairs and greeted my dad.  He was sitting in his lazy boy listening to Hank Thompson at full volume, so the neighbors could enjoy it also.  Dad greeted me.  I gave him a hug and started dancing to Hank with him for a few minutes.   He asked if I needed anything and I  said yes and  asked for another hug.  As part of my day of compassion I had decided to say yes to every request of me.  I didn’t really need anything, but  I had to come up with a yes answer.

While driving to class I obeyed the speed limit, something that I don’t usually do. I hope this made others feel safer  than usual.  I also left better parking for others and walked a few yards more because I parked further away.  I looked for opportunities to smile and say hello and got some “hello smiles” in return.

I’m only at 8:00 am….out of compassion for the reader, I will try to bullet my thoughts.  ( It may seem shorter then???)

·         I gave some cash to  a server at Einstein’s and asked her to please staple it to the 10^th and 20^th order form and use it towards those  customers orders.

·         I was invited to Zumba.  I said yes.  I haven’t done Zumba class before.  I’m not sure if this was a compassionate thing to do for those who were also in the class.  I was not good at it and floundered through. I did have fun and others showed a lot of compassion towards me, the remedial Zumba girl.  Before Zumba , I went early to the SRC.  This is really not my turf.  I exercise early in the morning and not at a gym.  I am not an athlete by any stretch so this is an uncomfortable place for me.  I walked the track and purposefully thought about the dedication  and  determination of the people  in the gym. I found myself building an appreciation for the  respect and care that they exhibited   for  their physical bodies.  

·         I did say no to one request. I just couldn’t  fit a trip to Baskin –Robbins in my day.   I did feel bad about this.  When I started the day with a  “say yes pledge” with the goal of compassion in mind, I didn’t realize the time obligation that  that might be.

·         I got a request via text messaging from my sister to PLEASE get Dad to write a letter to Mom in celebration of her birthday and to be added to the stories and letters in the book she was making and the deadline was the next day.  I had to say yes. So I made Dad dinner and pulled out my laptop and asked him question after question to pull a full letter out of him for Mom’s book. He ate SLOWLY and answered slowly and this was definitely the time of the day that I had to fight off and push back the uncompassionate thoughts I was having.   You can love someone dearly and still run short of compassion.  I love my dad but in order to be completely compassionate toward him all my words and expressions and actions and thoughts need to be kind ones.  Because of my compassion pledge, I needed to chill and not be impatient.   I realize the source for this lack of compassion was my fear of not having enough time left in the day to complete my responsibilities.

·         I ate vegetarian. No meat. No harm. No big deal for me.

·         As I read for my classes, I focused on gratitude for those who had written articles and books for my learning growth and kept my thoughts positive.  I believe that  positive  energy/thought is a form of compassion.

I ended the day with a prayer of gratitude, specifically giving thanks for the interactions of the day and asking again for the relief of suffering for all who needed it.

I enjoyed my day of compassion.  It didn’t feel or seem so much different than any other day.  I was definitely more mindful and present in all situations which is a good thing.  I was more focused on doing no harm, trying to be more open and appreciative of others and helping with the needs of others.  It really wasn’t difficult for me.  It would have been different had there been more conflict that I was aware of, either internally or externally.   Compassion feels good!