Inclining toward Compassion
Cradle, watercolour by Rami Schandall May 2020.
Last week I wrote with a quote about compassion, and I feel it resonates ever more this week. With current events shaking our cities and wounding our hearts, we have abundant opportunity to do the work: to incline ourselves toward compassion, as a way of engaging with this fragile and utterly interconnected world.
Black writer and anti-racist activist, Cleo Wade, makes the connection so clearly in the concluding lines of her poem "Where to Begin":
The world will say to you:
there is too much hate.
Devote yourself to love.
Love yourself
so much that you can love others without barriers
and without judgement.
(The poem was presented on a poster raising funds for The Antiracist Research and Policy Center.)
May we find more clarity and ease as we explore mindful self-compassion, and strengthen our capacity to meet the world with an open heart.
Mindful of self-compassion, I know I can be a better anti-racist. Here is a list of books I have assigned myself to read:
How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi, One World, 2020.
Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard, Fernwood Publishing, 2017.
Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada, editors Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, Syrus Marcus Ware; University of Regina Press, 2020.
Additional Resources
Repost from @victoriaalxndr (on instagram) with much gratitude.
6/3/2020: I took down my black square as it wasn’t sitting right with me. More reading and wondering about collective acts on social media, where playing the algorithms has unintended consequences. I want to say #SOLIDARITY. I want to say #LOVE. I want to say #PEACE and also own RIGHTEOUS ANGER. I am listening and reading because anti-racism is a life-long practice of inquiry and actions, not a state of being. Like compassion, it will never be finished but always a work in progress. I am using my intellect my voice my heart to choose, to act, to press for change.
From and for my American fam ... Check @campaignzero for details on #8cantwait #stoppolicebrutality#socialjustice #compassion #love#antiracism
Reposted graphic with permission from @africanfoodbskt (on instagram).
Thank you for this work, now, and for the past 25 years ♥️ 🙏🏻♥️ #blackfoodsovereignty #blackhealthmatters #foodjustice #foodsecurity #blacklivesmatter #thankyou #solidarity #love
Brilliant Canadian writing — thank you @the_fold for all you do. Reposted with permission. These books are hard to get right now but keep ordering & requesting! Sending love.
Opportunities to practice together: Saturday Unwind & Restore yoga classes are confirmed through the end of June, online, with Breath Yoga Studio. Contact me to learn more about Tuesday Sangha.
