Compassion is the desire to lend a hand to another in need. Throughout out lives, we’ve all experienced situations where someone in need looked our way for guidance and support. But in order to truly have compassion for someone else, you must first have compassion for yourself. The first step is to spend time in meditation. In this way you can begin to care for yourself. Remember: what we can’t do for ourselves, we can never do for someone else. Don’t think that only those on a spiritual path can cultivate compassion. The seeds of compassion are in everyone. It is your responsibility to feed, water, and provide enough sunshine for those seeds to grow. By doing this, compassion will flower in you.

Growing the seeds of compassion is like listening to love songs. Some love songs make you cry or spark your imagination, while others make you think of your first love, and still others leave you feeling cold. You have to hear the song that touches your heart deeply.

Different sounds and words carry different vibrations that different people resonate with. At the lowest level, we associate with the words. In order to cross over from the words to the feelings, you have to build a bridge, or boat, or learn how to swim. The good master teaches you how to swim. The master with no skill teaches you how to build a boat. But the smartest master will teach you how to rent a boat, or better yet, hop on a boat that is going somewhere. This is the easiest, most efficient way of all—you don’t even have to buy a ticket! The point is that all ways provide you with a technique to help you cross the river, but you have to desire to cross the river to the unknown on the other side. Are you willing to leave what you know to cross into the unknown?

Developing your own compassion begins your journey into your own spiritual life. It’s a journey that requires great passion, for you are setting out into the unknown.

Join us at our Building Bridges for TCM Conference on September 14-17, 2017 in Reston, Virginia, as we pave the road to self-discovery and enlightenment. It’s not just a conference, it’s an experience!