from Joni's book - Awaken to the Truth
If you are coming from a place of a compassionate heart then you will have a feeling of peace, love and contentment. You will attract others with the same sense of happiness in their life. The compassionate heart does not have expectations for others. To expect others to comply with your desires always causes indifference in any relationships.
You are expecting others to follow your set of rules. Your rules may be based on the unconscious fears inherited from your family. How can you expect others to obey your set of rules? This restricts others freedom and we all need to feel free or we will rebel. This is the cause of most breaks in relationships, whether it is friendships, marriage, parents or children.
Compassion comes from a place of understanding. If someone has a problem, let them tell you how they feel without judgment. Ask them what they truly want out of this situation. Help them come to a conclusion based on what is best for them, not what you think is best for them. Those who interject their feelings onto the situation are basing it on their set of rules based on their past. We will discover what the individual’s set of rules are based on, in their past and ask, if they want to change these rules so they can eliminate the root of the problem. This realization will eliminate the problem and the situation will not reoccur because the lesson has been understood. Therefore; we will not need to repeat the unresolved lessons in other contexts, same issue with a different set of circumstances. This leads us to enlightenment.
We need to be compassionate to ourselves. Look at the rules you live by and ask yourself if they serve you well. Most people unconsciously believe everyone should follow their set of rules. What are these rules and what are they based on? Do they involve harsh judgment? Rules are meant to control and restrict people from getting out of order or hurting one another. When you come from a place of love, rules don’t exist. You just act out of kindness, respect and appreciation for everyone. You are not going to need rules. You will realize there are no set of rules to be followed, only acceptance and love of all living beings. You sincerely care for everyone’s welfare because you can feel their pain. You want to treat them as you want to be treated. This is the root of compassion. This is what is necessary to heal people’s lives and the planet. |
"I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. Only my condemnation injures me. Only my own forgiveness sets me free. How deceived I was to think that what I feared was in the world, instead of in my own mind. Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict. As forgiveness allows love to return to my awareness, I will see a world of peace and safety and joy. This world will change through you. No other means can save it. My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself, let me then forgive the world, that it may be healed along with me. Peace will come to all who ask for it with real desire and sincerity of purpose." -- A Course In Miracles
