Leading with Compassion

June is graduation season, and I had the good fortune to witness a beautiful graduation ceremony recently. The ceremony celebrated the end of one chapter in life for seniors at a local high school whose community my family had been a part of for seven years. As I watched the parade of jubilant students beaming from ear to ear, fist pumping or taking a selfie as they made their way across the stage, I remembered the challenges that each student had faced over the years: dissolution of family relationships, substance abuse, teenage lapses of judgement, doubts and anxiety about their own self-worth, illnesses, injuries, learning challenges, difficulty navigating social landscapes, heartbreak….. Every one of these kids who looked so joy-filled had encountered hardship - had suffered - in some way.

And that’s true about all of us, isn’t it? Suffering is a common feature of human existence. No matter who we encounter, and how pulled together they appear in the moment, we know for a fact that they have suffered, they are suffering, or they will suffer in ways great and small in their life, just as we have, are, and will.

When we take this as a given, then, can we offer a silent wish to everyone we encounter: “May you live with ease, and may every hardship - past, present and future - serve you in some way.”? And can we extend that same wish to ourselves, for aren’t we just as deserving?

We hope you can join us this week as we practice leading with compassion.

May all beings everywhere, without exception, offer and receive compassion, and may the hardships we encounter serve in some way.

Your friends at CMP

Waveny Park, at last Thursday’s session