Life of Pie?

--I know that was a horrible pun--


Well, I finally did it.  It took me until Saturday to finally commit to my Day of Compassion.  I am glad I waited.  It gave me time to think about what comes naturally to me and where purposeful compassion could be added in the way I connect with people.   Saturday also meant that I as able to bring my Day of Compassion into my normal life.

First, let me say that there were not big dramatic moments for me.  It was more like a series of validations and realizations.   I started out kind of rough.  I am NOT a morning person, and I had to be down at the park at 7:00 am to set up a fundraiser (pie sale) for my next Costa Rica trip.

I will admit that during that time I was much more focused on getting things done than I was focused on connecting with people.  But, once my booth was set up, and I had ingested three cups of coffee, I got down to the business of compassion.  I helped out some other venders and made some small talk with community members that I usually don't run into.  I felt the importance of being compassionate when I talked to 'Sally'.  Sally is a mom whose son just graduated; he also came with me to Costa Rica.   I stopped her to talk to her because I wanted to tell her how much appreciate her son.  Her reaction was touching.  She had been worrying about whether or not he was ready to go to college (he is) and the stories I shared with her reinforced that.  My day continued on like that.  I got to reconnect with my students, talk to parents and coworkers and my family.

When I was busy, I sort of tucked into myself to get the job done. When I was relaxed, I was open and compassionate.  Integrating compassion into situations where there is stress is the challenge for me.

So that is my take away from the experience, I am going work on connecting with people in a loving way within those stressful moments.  I probably need to work on trying not to internalize stress during those moments.  Then I will be open to connecting to those around me, after all what is more important than that. Certainly not pie.