One of the statements we were using in meditation last night provided lots of food for thought for me. The lojong slogan was, Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly." The part of the commentary that stood out to me was, "It is important to include everyone and everything that you meet as part of your practice."
There were two things that were the most important for me to look at. One was the idea that when I include everyone in my practice that includes me. I have to remember to have compassion for myself as well. I tend to forget that part. It includes having compassion for where I am in my journey at any given moment, what I am feeling, what I am working on, that fact that I am making an effort. Honestly the last ten years of my journey have had some very significant challenges and I didn't always remember to take time to have compassion for myself as I moved through them. Though I know I tried to move through them with as much peace and grace as possible. I will be more compassionate with myself.
The other part that was significant to me was the idea of including everyone and everything in my practice. To me that is quite literal, I need to include people I don't know, people I might have differences with, people who have hurt others. I need to include things that I don't like so much such as poison ivy, mosquitoes and things like hurricanes and tornadoes. What really jumped out at me about this one is that if we are all one, as I believe we are, then if I withhold love and compassion from anyone or anything, then I am withholding it from everyone and everything. That kind of blew me away! If I don't offer you love and compassion, then everyone misses out on it. Everyone.
I will let that be an inspiration to me. Because if I wouldn't want anyone or anything to miss out on love and compassion then I have to begin with myself and with you.
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