Find a class

Articles

What we’re contemplating, doing, and reading.

Feeling Stressed? Change that with a 3-Part Compassion Journey

    Tori Higa-Sarris | August 13, 2024

    Lately, so many of my conversations revolve around the state of the world. Conversations with friends, family, coworkers — and even acquaintances at the gym — focusing on how overwhelmed and helpless we all feel in response to current events.

    With ongoing global conflicts, a heated upcoming U.S. election, the rising cost of living, increasing COVID rates, and raging wildfires, it’s hard to talk about anything else. And it’s even harder to feel like we as individuals have the power to truly make a positive impact.

    Many of my loved ones express feelings of frustration, exhaustion, and powerlessness in the face of so many issues and challenging political landscapes. And when you don’t know where to start to help make a difference, it’s easy to feel paralyzed and end up in a cycle of inactivity.

    CYCLE OF INACTIVITY

    Does this feel familiar to you? When you feel overwhelmed by a series of heartbreaking events, you may become uncertain about where you should start to make a positive impact. You may end up doing nothing or feeling like there is nothing that can be done. It’s easy to feel bad about your inaction and lack of impact — causing you to get overwhelmed by the state of the world all over again. This disheartening cycle continues.

    Personally, I break out of this by using the meditations, breathwork, and resources that I have learned through my time at Compassion Institute. By using skills like self-compassion, common humanity, and Tonglen, you can make a difference.

    CYCLE OF ACTIVITY

    As individuals, we may not always have the power to make an impact on a global scale, but we can make a direct impact on the internal, interpersonal, and community scale. And this can inspire positive ripples worldwide.

    With these concepts and the global environment in mind, CI has curated a pathway for you to take back your power with invaluable tools that can help you navigate the challenges so many of us are experiencing. After participating in this compassion journey, you will:

    ⦿ Have a better relationship with stress
    ⦿ See reduction in depression and anxiety
    ⦿ Have improvements in relating to others and the world

    AND you’ll have access to:

    ⦿ Daily meditations
    ⦿ Practical skills to utilize in moments when you feel overwhelmed
    ⦿ Community of peers to dialogue with

    Take a Journey of Compassion

    Our upcoming calendar of events will help you on your journey with compassion as an active force for good:

    1. You’re invited to start with a free, live conversation on “Self-Compassion & Managing Stress” featuring Dr. Kelly McGonigal and Dr. Thupten Jinpa. You’ll hear from these two leading experts in the field and come to better understand how reexamining stress can help you become more compassionate toward yourself and others.

    2. Next, Dr. Jinpa will guide you through a 2-week, self-paced Building Compassion from the Inside Out course, where you’ll discover how to make compassion a guiding principle and active force in your daily life. You’ll also find out how focusing your attention and energy on compassion helps promote not only happiness and connection, but also resilience, courage, and altruistic behavior.

    3. Finally, you’ll have the opportunity to take our 8-week Compassion Cultivation Training© (CCT™), where you will expand on the basics of compassion. You’ll step into more advanced compassion topics, utilize daily meditation practices, and gain resources that will help you feel empowered instead of overwhelmed. Additionally, you’ll establish the habit of relating to yourself, others, and the world around you from a place of greater understanding, joy, and purpose.

    This journey has been intentionally designed to start with the basics and guide you through topics and skills in a way that’s manageable.

    For the first time ever, we’re offering parts of this journey in Spanish — including Building Compassion from the Inside Out Spanish language cohort, immediately followed by a Spanish language cohort of CCT™.

    Your Compassion Journey

    If you’re feeling overwhelmed, paralyzed — or like you are stuck in a negative cycle — you can choose to live with more meaning, purpose, and joy. Join us this month to regain power and control over your life through compassionate actions for yourself, your community, and our society. One person can make an impact. You can make a difference.

    Your upcoming compassion journey at a glance:

    Beginning Friday August 30th through September 14th
    Building Compassion from the Inside Out (in English & in Spanish)

    Mondays beginning October 14th through December 2nd at
    11:00 am – 1:00 pm PT CCT™ in Spanish with Maria Paula Jimenez

    Wednesdays beginning October 23rd through December 11th at
    9:30 am – 11:30 am PT CCT™ with Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D.

    Find out more and start your compassionate journey today.

    SHARE