When those "buttons" are pushed

I am so grateful to my family in all of its forms for their role in my soul journey. While it is a joy to share special moments together, it can be painful when those "buttons" are pushed that bring to the surface aspects of myself that need healing . If not for forgiveness when I react badly and love and trust that comes from a long history of caring for one another, it may not be bearable.

Recently, at the end of a challenging day, I received a message that pushed a button. For the first time in a long while, I felt angry. The following post from Thich Nhat Hanh brought me into deeper awareness of the root of my (emotional) state, the first step on the way to unconditional gratitude for everything that happens (thank you Master Marilyn:)

Someone who is angry is someone who doesn't know how to handle their suffering. They are the first victim of their suffering, and you are actually the second victim. Once we can see this, compassion is born in our heart and anger evaporates. We don't want to punish them any more, but instead we want to say something or do something to help them suffer less.

Ah yes, I was suffering, (and not handling it well.) This recognition helped me to move out of anger and into compassion for myself and for the others involved, and next to search inwardly for my role in bringing the situation to myself in the first place. 

Given that we are mirrors for one another, what was I being shown? Some thoughts that had been running through my mind were that others were taking advantage and asking compensation while not offering value. When and where in my life have I taken advantage and not offered good value? As Jesus teaches, before attempting to take the speck out of my brother's eye, I must first take the log out of my own eye.

I began thinking about all that I have; for instance, clean water delivered right to my tap. How many people and hours did it take to build the reservoir and filtration system, to make, install and maintain the pipes that bring the water to the house and for the fixtures inside the house? What good service am I offering that compares to the value of just this one thing, that would be considered a miracle in some parts of the world today? I am so grateful for the cycle of water on Earth that provides natural purification of water. I am so grateful to all of the people who have and continue to maintain our system of delivery of fresh water to each home and for the Plumbers who have trained to take on the task of maintaining water circulation within our homes. 

Self-compassion helped to bring me back into gratitude; who would have thought?

And compassion offers much more; thank you Master Sha for sharing your wisdom about the power of compassion to boost energy, stamina, vitality, and immunity, even more reason for self-compassion!

How about you? Do you recognize when you are suffering and offer yourself compassion? I invite you to share your experiences of transforming painful situations.

I invite you to Boost Compassion with Master Maya

And now, if you are wondering how you can easily increase your good service to yourself, your family and more:

Consider sharing your gratitude and blessing requests for yourself, your family and all loved ones on Master Sha's Chanting Channel available 24/7 

Share Your Gratitude

A gift for you; a gift to share: 

You can use this audio file to make your own CDs to share with others. To download, right-click (Mac: Control-click) on the image above, and chooseSave As or Save Target As. Then select the location on your computer where to store the file.

May the blessings you offer be felt far and wide and may they return to you multiplied manyfold!

Love,
Cynthia