Self-compassion

I overextended. I am left with streaming allergies I thought I was overcoming, a migraine on top of that, and a body that can barely move. I wasn't able to take C & the children to the airport, and I am still not up to par, whatever par is (a moving target). It's hard to learn where to place healthy boundaries, as the aging body is not predictable. The work of seeing and hearing, documenting and celebrating the stories of people who are suffering is sacred work, and sometimes the work is its own reward and it returns energy and strength to me. Sometimes I cannot keep up. On Saturday I'm leading a workshop in Engaged Buddhism, and on Tuesday I have a public meditation in conjunction with a major climate justice moment in Portland. I need to restore myself enough to make those offerings.

When Buddhists help homeless people and prison inmates, they are called bodhisattvas. But when Buddhists ask why there are so many more homeless, so many people of color stuck in prison, other Buddhists call them leftists or radicals—saying that such social action has nothing to do with Buddhism…. Although mindfulness practices can be very beneficial, they can also discourage critical reflection on the institutional causes of collective suffering, what might be called social dukkha.—David Loy. 

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Act justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. It is not your responsibility to finish the work of Tikkun olam, healing the world, but you are not free to desist from it either. —attributed to Rabbi Tarfon.