Intentional Acts of Compassion

I may have posted previously about Random Acts of Kindness, and I DO love them. But today, I find myself drawn to the concept of intentional acts of compassion.

The Dalai Lama is in my home (and current) town of Louisville speaking on Compassion. The Mayor of Louisville (Greg Fisher) has proclaimed Louisville to be a Compassionate City and the agency I serve as Executive Director has signed on to this charter. My entire existence--past, present and future--has existed on compassion from within and survived on compassion externally (those who compassionately and generously donate ALLOW me to survive!).

And so, I wonder, what would happen if we regularly engage in intentional acts of compassion. These are not accidental. No, they are intentional. They are thought out. They are meaningful. They are small and they are big. You can achieve big things by focusing on the small, you CAN change a life in the smallest of ways. I know it to be true because it has been true for me.

The difference here is the intention that we send out into the world. We set our mind to thinking about being compassionate towards one another as well as towards ourselves. It is just by accident, it is by design. The Dalai Lama was once quoted (in Wayne Dyer's Excuses Begone CD series, which I highly recommend to everyone) as saying if we can teach every 5 year old to meditate on Compassion for one hour a week, we can wipe out all violence in one generation. This may or may not be true, but why not give it a shot? Why not set about your life *thinking* and *intending* to do something compassionate in, to and for the world?

I believe when we intend to be compassionate, we will become compassionate. Nee, I believe we already are compassionate. When we intend to become compassionate we will align with Spirit and tap into our compassion in ways previously un-experienced. When we become compassionate individuals, we will become a compassionate home, families, neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, countries, etc. We will become a generation of Compassion.

Instead of Gen X, Gen Y or Gen ME-ME-ME, I believe the next generation can be Gen C--Generation Compassion. Someone has to lead this charge, are you in ? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, either way that's my 26.2 compassionate cents worth...