A compassionate mindset for ourselves and for others is part of the agape love flow that awakens a compassionate community for humanity. A contaminated mindset is structured around competition and contempt for kindness and contributes to a contaminated community for humanity.
Sit with our feelings and we see life as it is and not as we want it to be. What kind of communities do you sustain or support – compassionate or contaminated?
Let’s consider what typical situations we encounter there. And what are our typical reactions. If we find ourselves facing more contamination than compassion, we may wish to step away from ego and to seek God’s energy to find a new path forward.
Compassion and care for others are a choice, not a reaction to what’s wrong in our community. Or we can settle for cynicism or bitterness when we give over conformity to negative judgements.
By consciously choosing kindness and forgiveness to ourselves and others, we set the stage for compassion. Even when toxic words speak otherwise we can choose awareness to open floodgates that lead to inner calm within a loving silence.
When fully present to our inner silence, we awaken sounds of silence that include access to space with an absence of stress and anxiety. Our communities hold endless spaces of calm, empathy, kindness and grace, in addition to toxic words, accusations and hopelessness. If we cannot find compassionate or peaceful places, our choices make us the kindness and calm we seek.
There is no one outside the love of God who is excluded from this welcoming culture of compassion. I’m referring to the kind of compassion that heals our broken hearts and restores our joy after disappointments. The kind of compassion that lifts beyond division and bullying and triumphs in kindness and unity.
It’s more than merely attending churches. It’s about helping others and feeding the poor. It starts self-care or awareness of a compassion that we turn inward firs. It’s an ability to connect to our own feelings of compassion, responding to our suffering with kind understanding, and then extending agape loving-kindness to help ameliorate to difficult conditions we face or others struggle against. Our brains and beliefs play a bigger part in how to choose well than most recognize.
Fertile ground for a compassionate and unified community come from a grace mindset. Words and communications count! Ideally our leaders energize serotonin, the brain’s well being chemical where we all help others rather than hinder some. It’s opposite of division in words and actions. It’s much like a difference between guns and grace, between angst and awe, or between grimace and grins.
When we sow division, we increase cortisol toxins that block God’s love and hinder compassionate miracles of grace as our lived experience. Either way, what we choose to support is sustained in communities we inhabit. Time to stop blaming inept leaders and start building compassionate communities?
LINKS TO BOOKS THAT RECHARGE OUR EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH IN A TOXIC ERA
Grace Mindset Book – paperback
The Teen’s Growth Mindset Workbook – paperback
Growth Mindset Interactive Materials at TPT