When we realise we are all in the same big neurotic mess as each other, not only can we let ourselves off the hook and forgive ourselves... this naturally leads to us being more understanding of others...we can forgive them too.. and compassion flows naturally from our heart towards ourselves and others. When we are able to let go of resentment and guilt this can free up an enormous amount of energy in us.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 6 PART 3

When we understand cause and effect it empowers us - we realise that it is just a flow of life - anything we are experiencing in this moment is the result of causes and effects leading up to that moment as a result of our activity in the past. Anything we experience in the future is a product of what we are saying and doing now. You are a master of your own destiny. 

Compassion arises spontaneously when we realise completeness. Our egocentric preference system blocks us from realising our full potential and becoming one with unity, completeness. We cant see completeness because our ego gets in the way and blocks it like a dam.

When we move beyond the rational world we become unsure and move into not-knowing and if we become confused at this stage then this is good as the rational cognitive structure is beginning to lose its grip. Non-conceptual awareness cannot be described in words.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 6 PART 4

Reflection on perspectives.
When we can let go of our egocentric grasping it opens up a whole world of joy, where compassion drives us rather than striving to be right, from a self-centred perspective. When we give up egocentric perspective we connect with others, we see that everything is interconnected. We find joy and freedom.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 7 PART 1

Getting to the nitty gritty! We move from course thoughts and thinking to more subtle subliminal thinking. We are so fixated with grasping things intellectually and holding our position we don't want to see what's behind that- so we go back to more intellectualising and theorising, which is a waste of time and takes us away from the subliminal reflexes which are driving us. The way we move deeper into the subliminal is through 1. reflecting 2. inquiry. This helps us to get in touch with what lies beneath, and we need to do this and face what's here in order to grow. There is no other option.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 7 part 2

We have no choice whether thoughts arise. We have no choice whether emotions arise. This is not something we can control. However, we can train to strengthen our awareness to notice how we react - we like, we don't like, we are indifferent. We notice our fixation on every thought and emotion, we become engaged - this is the moment we surrender our free will. THIS IS WHERE WE FIND WE HAVE A CHOICE - we can choose to engage or not to engage. ENGAGING REQUIRES FOCUS - AND ENERGY FOLLOWS FOCUS. Each time I engage, I am reinforcing that habit to engage, thereby making it stronger; reinforcing thinking in a particular way, or expressing an emotion in a particular way. So this is where we have choice. This is when we start detecting the "subliminal reflex" - the voice that operates beneath the normal range of consciousness in the subliminal that says "Now it has to be like this - now you have to think like this". We have been doing this all our lives and we don't know it's there; it controls us and our behaviour, making us the way we are.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 8 PART 1

We begin to notice the subliminal reflex operating especially when we decide we are going to be different, then immediately we are triggered by a person or situation, and the old habit recurrs, despite our intention to change. It shows how strong the subliminal reflex can be. The degree to which the conscious thinking mind can affect change is very limited. 

How do we normally combat these strong forces? We try to supress. And most people are unaware of the extent to which they supress - we don’t realise we are supressing. When we feel tension, stress confusion anxiety insecurity and have the feeling that things aren’t quite going the way it indicates supression is acrtive. So the root of suppression strengthens what we are trying to get supress.  

Until we clear the ground and become honest and open with ourselves – we are not going to be able to get in touch with what’s really happening. 
 
Jung said we can't be authentic until we get in touch with our pain. The crucial first level of cognitive intervention: ACEPTANCE this is the most powerful training we have is to learn to ACCEPT.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 8 PART 2

We are now moving into practices that require that we have prepared the ground with mindfulness practice; otherwise they will be superimposed as something slightly artificial and would result in supression, so they need to be introduced with intelligence and an understanding of how they are going to be received into the existing state of our mind. We will all hear the teachings differently.

Our mindfulness practice ensures we can remain present, and remain present in such a way that we recognise the appearance of thought, recognise the tendency to engage with thoughts, and are able to prevent the follow-through. Not by suppression, but by simply not doing it. In this next part we are going to USE THOUGHT and reflection to cultivate new perspectives in our life. A perspective which shifts towards the cultivation of what the Buddhists call Bodhicitta, a concept which combines mindfulness with the focus on becoming enlightened for the benefit of all beings.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 8 PART 3

Reflections: (before you listen...)
Reflect on an occasion when you were rejected
Reflect on when you rejected someone else...
When you did something bad... how did that feel?
And if there was one person who accepted you when you did something bad without blame or criticism... how did that feel?

Reflections and some insights regarding the dynamic energy that lies beneath the conceptual labels we apply to our feelings - there is so much more to explore beneath the labels.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 9 PART 1

"Neurosis is a substitute for legitimate pain".

The standard reaction of mind is to suppress, deny, pull away, and of course alienate – this is how we get out of touch with feelings. With 'legitimate' pain there is a feeling of oh, I did something wrong – there’s pain – but we cover it up with a substitute which is much worse and this is where we become trapped in all these substitutes because mind has a notion that it can avoid feeling original pain – somehow it thinks it can can negotiate its way out of it – rationalize it.
 
Denial blocks us from compassion - it blocks giving out - it blocks receiving it, it blocks us from acceptance.

COMPASSION RETREAT DAY 9 PART 2

This short practice comes from our Trauma Informed Mindfulness Course 12-14 April 24.
To find out more click here: https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/course/trauma-informed-mindfulness-samye-ling-and-online/

Trauma Informed Mindfulness Practice

Mindfulness Association

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