Illyeanna Wolfstorm's Page

Jon, I was unclear...it's a 5 minute attempt at awareness per day around opportunity to act compassionately, the each day part is the "no matter what" for me, and yes, I too need forgiveness when I forget, LOL.

I'm a single, disabled mom and I find it too easy, especially when I am in pain or feel overwhelmed with duties, to make excuses to put off doing anything on my "to do" list on any given day. The "no matter what" helps me remember that if I do only one thing on that "to do" list, compassion is a good way to go and that includes compassion for myself when I fail.

I have been challenging myself to make 5 minutes every day, no matter what, to spontaneously show radical compassion-in-action to a total stranger. My life has transformed in ways I cannot adequately express in words. What this teaches my 4 year old showed up in a conversation she and I had recently:

DD: Mom, I'm smarter than some of the other kids. The teachers said that "I'm off-the-charts-smart" 'cuz I read so much and started so early and learn so many languages so fast and like math and science and engineering and architecture.
Mom: Yes, that's true.
DD: Mom, I'm pretty and I like sports very, very much and music a lot. (beaming)
Mom: Yes.
DD: But Mom, none of that matters very much, does it?
Mom: What do you mean...doesn't matter?
DD: If I'm off-the-charts-smart or rich one day or beautiful or talented in sports or music...none of it matters as much as being off-the-charts-compassionate, does it?
Mom: (crying gently, thinking of how isolated my kidling feels when trying to relate to others her age and even much older kids because the way her brain works causes others to seem alien to her and difficult to connect with) Yes, darling daughter, that's right...what matters the most is if we are compassionate and loving.
DD: I want to be like the Dalai Lama, I want to be off-the-charts-compassionate.

Now we all know that compassion isn't a contest and no matter how compassionate we may become we always can improve upon our journey but I enjoyed my daughter's process of determining her own personal core values, addressing her privileges and deciding how to act based on observing the compassion in action in the adults around her.

What would change in our lives if we each spent 5 minutes each day challenging our fears, our assumptions, our comfort zones and practicing a radical act of compassion for a complete stranger? The next generation might just heal the planet.