Tag Archives: compassion

Weekly Writing Challenge; A Pinch of You

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http://dailypost.wordpress.com, #DP Challenge

Here is my recipe for life, made entirely from me.

 

Take 2 tsp. of tummy over hang

Add to this two light-blue eyes

One small nose

Add some locks of streaked hair

Stir well together and add:

1 cup compassionate heart

2 cups of loveterry march9 2012

1 cup of sifted words

3/4 cup of tears

1/2 tsp. of questions

1/8 cup of sorrow

1/4 cup of sadness

Stir these all together. After there are no lumps or bubbles left, place in the refrigerator to chill. This keeps every ingredient fresh, never allowing it to go stale.

When you want or need some compassion and love, take out the needed amount. Cover the remaining batter until needed the next time.

Your finished product should look like the photo above. I hope you enjoy it and get many smiles in return. Thank-you for looking over my recipe.

 

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Together They Weeped

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Hobo

Hobo

Help me, please someone help me. I am drowning. People walking each direction. No one stopping but each person looking. No one getting involved. Too busy  living, distracted minds.

One soul tossed a few coins in the direction of the cry. Lost children scampering to gather precious solids into their tiny hands. Claiming change for their own; needed for a nibble of food.

Blood droplets covering ivory skin. Knotted hair, rats won’t even come near, afraid to take it as their own nesting ground. Eyes no longer showing whites but rimmed with red. But no one stops to listen, no one stops to help.

Clothing tattered and torn. One could only speculate that something horrific had just happened, but it is not our problem.

A poor man with all his belongings walks by with his cart. He stops, he scratches his dirty head. Children jeer, people point. He gazes at the poor soul and then turns a way. He takes his precious commodities out one by one. He lays each item carefully on the paved street.

At the bottom of the cart lays a worn piece of fabric. A very important item to him. It is used to cover the holes in his cart so that nothing can escape. He takes it out and holds it up. He inspects for dirt and shakes it with vigor.

Upon satisfaction he walks over to the poor lady  lying half-naked in body and soul. He bends down ever so gently and lets his open-gloved fingers caress her forehead. A tear drips down on to her face, erasing a spot of old blood.

He mumbles something that only she can hear. He looks behind him to see if his cart is still in tact. He sees a gathering of watchers, but he pays them no mind. He turns back to her and he gently and ever so carefully places his covering over her.

He pulls at the corners until no visible wrinkles can be seen. He digs into his green baggy pants and pulls out his change. Without thinking he opens her fingers and places it all in her hand and then closes her fingers over as if to protect it from the outside world.

He watches her to see if she will move or speak. He looks deep into her eyes and sees reflections of the deepest skies. Her eyes say thank-you and his return with tears of you’re welcome.

He is saying, I wish I could do more, but I have nothing. He turns and looks at the crowd who are whispering among themselves. He can almost predict they are thinking, who is this bum and where did he come from. Why doesn’t he clean himself up and get a job.

The man walks back to his cart and puts each piece back in its rightful place. He looks through tears at the streets that he once walked through with so much pride. His heart being stabbed by painful memories of a past not so long ago.

He walks towards his journey of no where. He is searching for a new shelter, for the night will come soon. His head hanging down thinking of that poor soul. Wondering why no other would reach out to help.

So intense in his thoughts he did not notice someone walking towards him. Footsteps went without notice. A hand placed on his arm  brought him back to reality and he looked to his side and there stood the poor lady who he had covered.

He stopped and she let him guide her to an oak tree. He looked into her eyes and he saw the most beautiful eyes searching his. A few minutes of soul bonding passed and then she said, I come from a family that was well blessed. Sadly to say a year ago today, they were killed in an airplane wreck. I have been left a lot of money. I  was taught to share and I prayed and prayed about what to do with it. I set the scene and then you walked by. You have nothing and yet you gave me everything you had. I want to thank-you for being a kind soul. You remind me of my Mama and Papa. I give this to you.

She opens his hands and lays a huge pile of thousand dollar bills. She wraps his fingers around his treasure as if to keep the outsiders a way. Tears are flowing down his face. He is speechless. He has a large knot in his throat and his stomach.

She leans into him and gives him a warm embrace. He feels the human touch of compassion and love and he carefully places his arms around her also. Together they weep.

Terry Shepherd

 

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Daily Prompt; Toot Your Horn/ The Daily Post

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Who am I?

http://dailypost.wordpress.com

Most of us are excellent at being self-deprecating, and are not so good at the opposite. Tell us your favorite thing about yourself.

When I was a young child, one of the biggest sayings that was repeated to me daily was, you are to be seen and not heard. Now it is the total opposite, speak about yourself.

How does one take something embedded in their mind and turn it around full circle? This is a very difficult task for me. All I have to go on is the numerous comments that I have heard.

I am beginning as a toddler beginning to walk, to accept these comments as truth. Now please do not misunderstand me. It isn’t that I don’t believe what YOU are saying about me. It is ME being able to believe it about myself.

Growing up and realizing that my duty as a female was to get married and have children. Check on this, I completed this task. Did the marriage last? No it did not. My children are still in my life though, as far as I am concerned. LOL I have had many issues with the self accepting the fact that my children do not look at me as they once did. I thought it was a forever fairy tale thing. Kids always wanting to be close to mom, but alas, they grow up and build their own worlds.

I  believe that through my own disappointments and suffering in my own life, I have become who I am today. I can quickly feel another souls pain and searching for someone who cares. I feel like I am very sensitive to others needs. I may not always be able to help in ways that one wishes I could or would, but it doesn’t mean my heart is not there.

The word compassion is;Compassion is the virtue of empathy for the suffering of others. Empathy is something that I have developed and toned. I was not born with it. We are born with sponges waiting to be soaked up with information. We are taught to believe what has been ingrained in our heads.

It is our duty as a human to walk paths of life and find the point of where we fit in and feel comfortable with our own skin. We take a part of our past and mix it with our own maturity and hopefully we have in the end molded a statue of uniqueness and beauty.

It has felt so odd to speak of me in this manner. It is like taking the floor yesterday at the care plan meeting. All eyes were on me as all eyes are searching my words now. With the  help of you and God leading me by the hand, I believe in my place on this earth I carry compassion and empathy. Please do not think I am tooting my own horn. I am definitely not. My mother would say that I am bragging about myself and my father would shake his head and walk a way, but for you my blogging friends, I think you understand exactly what I am saying and where I am coming from.

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Free Write Friday, June 29,2012

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http://kellieelmore.com

Kellie has given me the opportunity to write this exercise, and I want to thank her for opening my mind.

When it comes to empathy, I feel like I live it without realizing it. Taking care of others is a very rewarding job. You connect with their feelings, you gain the understanding of how they feel and you see what is important to them at this time of their life.

Taking care of my brother, Al, is probably my best test in having empathy. Al is mentally challenged, has heart problems, and also is diagnosed and fighting with Parkinson’s.

I have to be able to climb out of my skin and enter my brother’s soul. It reminds me of the scene in the movie Ghost, where you actually see a film, ghost-type entering and exiting Whoopie Goldberg’s body.

I plan doctor’s appointments, take my brother to all of the appointments, talk with each doctor, and make changes with medications and goals, in order to keep Al feeling his best.

I am constantly thinking of ways to help his day have moments of joy and laughter. We go shopping, that includes only his interests. We go to eat at restaurants, trying to go where he enjoys going.

I clean the house, do his laundry, change his bed sheets, cook his meals, pay his bills, all parts of our daily life skills are practiced here.

Then there are the times in between, when I have to enter his mind, his soul, and his pains. I have to stop my own mental thinking, and imagine what he is going through. Understanding where the tears are stemming from. Imagine how his pain feels. Feel his humility when his body freezes, and help him to walk once again. I have to understand how it feels to try to use a fork or a spoon, to eat, something we have done our entire lives, but now, it becomes a struggle to keep food on the utensils.

Empathy is comprehending that it is alright for him to curse or get mad when food falls to the floor, and he realizes it. When Al wet his pants the other day, I had to instantly transfer myself into his mind, and feel what he felt when he was forced to walk out of the restaurant bathroom and show me his wet pants.

When Al yells at the newscasters on the TV for showing the weather more than once. He calls them idiots, or stupid. He doesn’t understand the aspect of how they show it twice so that more audiences can catch the weather. His mind is simplified, and I need to get inside to understand this and to be able to say something to him, that brings him to the realization, that I get what he is saying.

Dealing with all of these illnesses that are in one body, is a challenge. If this were a job being paid by an employer, I would not be paid too many times, because it is difficult and tests every part of our being. I think this type of work tests the nerves and can cause much stress.

You have to have a heart, compassion and empathy to enter this type of work. It takes transferring your thoughts into their thoughts, the skill of listening, and the passion for understanding. For me, I would not trade it for the highest paying job in the world, and I would not miss out on each day my brother lives. I want him to know that I love him, that I am here for him and that I do my best at understanding his views in life.

The Adurna Blue Best Follower Award

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http://birdmartin.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/adurna-blues-best-follower-award/

I have just been nominated by Bird, above link, for the Adurna Blue’s Follower Award. What a way to celebrate my birthday today. A gift I will truly treasure. I love Birds blogs. There is always something interesting to read, and most of them I can connect with. Isn’t this what makes reading the most enjoyable? To connect? To feel like you are right there with them?

I read many blogs daily. I want you to know that everything you write, I enjoy plus it gives me an insight to who you are.

Four blogs that I connect with totally are of course Bird, then

http://mygulitypleasures.wordpress.com/  this blogger has a way of pulling me right into her blogs. she never reads any of my postings without giving me her honest thoughts, which I so respect  thank you Viveka!

http://settledinheaven.wordpress.com/  this blogger is very inspiring to me. he always leaves me wonderful words of uplifting praise and things to think about.   thank you Rob

http://bellybuttonblues.wordpress.com/ this blogger holds so much compassion and love for human life. i love it. there is always a kind word to follow any of my own blogs. thank you Teresa

Once again, thank you Bird. This is a wonderful gift..You are a special lady to me!!!