May any of the suffering, challenges, stress and anxiety you're experiencing come to an end...

Sending you Good Vibes and Energy of Compassion.

May you be held in and with Love
May you be free from any pain, suffering or sorrow,
May you live with peace.

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I was recently riding the Subway(train) when a woman came and sat next to me. I felt some type of way at first because of what has been in place with social distancing the last few years as she was a little closer than I had liked and her bag was brushing up against me. So I slightly moved and shifted to be a bit more comfortable.

She had two daughters, a precious 13-month-old and an older daughter about 4 or 5 years old. The train started moving when her 13-month-old looked up at me and offered me some of the milk in her bottle, which brought a smile to my face as I engaged back with this little person and told her “thank you” for offering, “but no thank you”. From there the mother and I started conversing. Being a detailed oriented person, there were things I noticed that didn’t sit right with me as I was talking, to her and interacting with her little one that sparked a feeling of concern.

She was only on the train for about two or three stops, so when she got off I waved, said goodbye and wished that she have an amazing day. When she left, I still had the feeling of concern but, a little deeper. The Feeling was a quivering of my heart. My heart quivered because I sensed there were some challenges she and her family were experiencing or that something wasn’t okay, which made me concerned. That made my heart quiver for those challenges or even suffering to end.

“Karuna”, comes after Metta and is the second of the 4 divine abodes or Brahmaviharas. Karuna is the Sanskrit and Pali word for Compassion which is experiencing a trembling or quivering of the heart in response to (a being’s) pain. Compassion is feeling suffering and wanting to alleviate it, in oneself and others. It also allows us to bear witness to the suffering, whether in ourselves or others without fear. Compassion works with Love or Lovingkindness, because it opens our hearts, helping us to be ready to love and primes us to confront suffering(of others and ourselves).