Mindfulness at 3:00 AM: Cultivate Compassion

So there I was at 3:00AM last night -- suddenly fully awake and quite angry about my dreadful weight gain, and the failure to lose any significant weight despite all attempts over at least a year. I was frustrated and ruminating about that @##$$ Zyprexa -- not a proper mood for quickly dropping back into restorative sleep and facing the next workday.

I briefly considered taking a "hypnotic" drug (otherwise known as a sleeping pill), but then I decided instead to practice converting the turbulent waves of anger into a serene surface of compassion a la Zen mindfulness.

Instead of continuing to feel outraged about my present state, I redirected my thoughts towards a transforming learning experience -- to feel more outward understanding and compassion for all those other overweight folks who are suffering and unkindly discriminated against.

It took and time some practice, but I was able to accomplish compassion, dissipate the ruminations, and doze off. So that's my new mission -- to convert any obsessive feelings of anger into compassion whenever I can.

Here's an article from the web for those that also may want to cultivate compassion.

Compassion: An Antidote to Anger?

by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D.

Mindfulness teacher and author Thich Nhat Hanh writes:

The nectar of compassion is so wonderful. If you are committed to keeping it alive, then you are protected. What the other person says will not touch off the anger and irritation in you, because compassion is the real antidote for anger.

There’s often misinterpretation between the words anger and aggression. Anger by itself is not an issue. It is important to be able to notice when we are getting angry, frustrated, irritated, or annoyed because it is often a signal that something is amiss. With that awareness we have the ability to choose what we want to do with it. It is the behavior of aggression and hostility that put people on the defense and cause problems.

When we cultivate compassion, we begin to soften the reactivity of aggression and hostility that often stems from anger.

What is compassion?

Compassion is a quality of awareness that combines identifying with another’s feelings (i.e., empathy) while understanding the position the other is in.

Inherent in the definition of mindfulness is non-judgment and another quality of it is “kind attention.” So as we cultivate a practice of nonjudgmentally placing kind attention on our own experience, we naturally begin to elicit feelings of self-compassion which then begins to flow outwards to others.

To cultivate compassion for another, try this: Allow yourself to imagine the sorrows and pains that the other person holds. During this life they have certainly had disappointments, failures, losses and wounds so deep they may not feel safe to share. Imagine them as your own child, feeling frightened and in pain, and how you may want to comfort them.

Sometimes, through practice, we come to understand that compassion may very well be the greatest antidote to the reactivity that can stem from anger and a pathway toward constructive-anger.