Compassionate Awareness

One of my teachers, Cheri Huber emphasizes the practice of compassionate awareness. Here is a poem on the topic:

Compassionate Awareness

Here everything melts
dissolves, runs, mixes, loses itself
and finds itself.

Here the judge and the judged,
the accuser and the accused,
the perpetrator and the victim
are both free to come and shout and yell
and both are equally loved.

Here the anxiety and the fear of anxiety
the worry and the destroyer of worry
the regret and the conqueror of regret
the terror and the terrorized
are free to come and whisper and confide
or scream if they so desire
and both are equally loved.

Here in the middle of your hurt
you feel someone else’s hurt.
Here in the middle of your sadness
you feel someone else’s sadness.
Here in the middle of your fear
you feel the other’s fear.
And here at times
there is no other.