Encouraging Compassion, The Fifty-Second Week of the Second Year in the New Abnormal

We are at the end of 2023 and yet life goes on with all its difficulties, complications, wonders, and joy. As we change the calendar year perhaps there is a better way to move forward. We traditionally make resolutions. Maybe we call them something else, but so many of us want to better our lives and a new year can feel like a blank slate.

I am all for making changes. I’m hopeful to be kinder and more compassionate with myself. This is a hope I’m carrying from this past year, day to day, and moment by moment. I find hope is not enough, though. It takes a daily practice of bringing compassion especially in times of struggle. To that end, I am relying on my experience that a daily practice of compassion or kindheartedness can change our lives in unexpected ways. Our hearts open up. We can listen from a place of curiosity rather than assumptions. We can better tolerate discomfort as we work to ease our pain. And we experience possibility rather than imposing past negative beliefs.