“Flower Offerings: Compassionate Intention Ceremony” L’Auberge de Sedona 1/2016*
“I have come to believe that we can create a world motivated by Compassion and Loving Kindness, a world where Love is our primary guiding principle.
I believe the power lies in our own hands, in the small choices we make in each moment; acts of kindness, patience, generosity and gratitude.
Our beliefs inform our thoughts, our thoughts inspire our words and our actions. These actions produce the results we see in our world.
It begins with small acts, grounded in Compassion … Believe with me.”
-from Small Acts of Immeasurable Benefit: Setting Our Intentions for the New Year” with Goldenstein Gallery at L’Auberge de Sedona 1/2016
How do we stay connected to the deeper places in our being? Our lives are busy, our world changing quickly, how do we keep the transformative energies of Love and Compassion in focus? How do you?
I am an artist. You may know by now, I paint with little tiny dots. I love my dots. From opening a pot of paint, to dipping and shaping the brush, to applying it to the canvas … each dot sourced from pure color, a delight to the eye. Laid next to the other, one after the other, a vibrant display unfolds.
Each dot presents me with a clear, defined moment, an intersection of time and space, a moment of creation. As I engage in this physical act:
- What is my mind doing?
- What motivates this motion through space and time?
- Where is my heart?
Imagine with me for a moment a radiant dot of color: brilliant blue, fiery red, a green that glows like an emerald. Looking into the dot, imagine countless universes within, suns & moons, planets & stars, each one of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, rare and precious treasures of Mother Earth.
Vast as the mind can imagine, a mandala of jewels, offered freely into space, a request for blessings to shower the world, to bring an end to suffering for all beings.
This simple dot provides a point of focus, filled with intention, a wish for the needs of all beings to be served. This simple act, this motion through space and time, expands to fill the world with blessings.
Offerings as vast as space … May all beings be happy …
Where else are these moments of potential ?
They are everywhere.
Come with me again into the vast space of your mind:
We are shopping in the grocery store … picking up the perfect pepper or a juicy piece of fruit, we add it to our basket. Maybe you have picked up your very favorite treat, we can already see ourselves enjoying it,
Let us imagine a vast ocean of perfect peppers or apples, oranges or special treats, imagine them filling all space setting the intention that all beings may have nourishment in whatever form is needed.
Or maybe this:
- As we drink a glass of water, imagine all beings with access to clear, clean drinking water.
- As the water bathes us clean, imagine all the sufferings of the world being washed away.
- As we drive our my car, set an intention: may all beings be carried safely to their destination.
- May all beings be brought to a place of happiness.
There are endless opportunities in our day to day lives to open our hearts and set compassion in motion. How would you engage this practice? Please share your ideas below …
*On January 2, 2016 a group gathered at L’Auberge de Sedona to mindfully set our intentions for the coming year. Together we reflected on the positive memories of 2015, we celebrated the goodness we saw in our world and in ourselves. With a relaxed mind and an open heart we turned our thoughts to the year to come.