Australia has just hosted a visit from The Dalai Lama. He spoke around the country and even hosted retreats for some very lucky people. Born in 1935 Tenzin Gyatso, the current and 14th Dalai Lama was throned in 1940 at the age of 5 and this year turns 80. He symbolises compassion and in fact The Dalai Lama is believed to be an incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
So not surprisingly his message is all about compassion.
We all know and use the word compassion – but what exactly is it? It can be described essentially as a deep feeling of sympathy for a person who is experiencing physical, emotional or spiritual misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
So we know what it is, but how do we apply it?
We just have to watch the news to see misfortune on a global and national scale, let alone what is happening closer to our own world. So how can we possibly alleviate suffering?
As the Dalai Lama explained compassion starts with ourselves. Then it spreads out to our family and close friends…our workplace…then it spreads out to strangers we might meet in our day (yes even the ones that annoy the hell out of us)…then into the community we live…the city we live in and so unless we can show ourselves compassion then we cannot truly show compassion to others. We need to walk the walk and talk the talk. We have an effect by demonstrating compassion within our community. This means prioritising your self-care first and foremost. When you give to yourself you expand your potential to give to others and you prevent yourself from burring out.
It can be viewed as selfish and undesirable to put yourself before others, but I would suggest there is a quality called healthy selfishness and that it is very desirable. What constitutes your healthy selfishness may be different from another person, but the common not negotiable to self-care is the quality of the thoughts that you feed your mind.
Unless that voice in your head treats you better than your best friend then there is room to improve those thoughts. Change does NOT come about because we hate an aspect of ourselves. Those phrases & criticisms that seem to be on a negative loop in our head are repeated so often that they become our beliefs. And our beliefs become our reality!
Let’s just think about that for a minute…you repeatedly tell yourself ‘you’re not good enough’ and that thought is absorbed into your subconscious. That thought is now a belief. That belief has a vibrational energy and it is always looking for a match to prove to you how perfect and right you are!
Change comes from compassion. By being compassionate and loving to ourselves we attract compassion and love around us. That belief of compassion has a vibrational energy that is always looking for a match to show you how perfect and right you are!!
The place to start with compassion is with yourself. Do you have emotional baggage that is heavy to carry around? Is there grief or anger that your subconscious mind is holding onto? Is it time for you to transform your inner critic into your number one fan?
Working with the subconscious mind you can update the programs that run your life NOW!
Change doesn’t need to be hard and it doesn’t need to take a long time.
Liz Champtaloup
Advanced PSYCH-K Facilitator, EFT Practitioner, Diploma of Clinical Hypnotherapy.
