Keep Stretching and Practicing with Compassion

By Melinda Barbosa and bo lembo

Hey Compassion Champions!
Many of you "zoomed" into our workshop on April 30th.
You lifted our moods and made us feel hopeful for the future.
We appreciate your honesty about this challenging moment and how hard it is to talk about our feelings, especially when it feels like we don't know where to plant our feet.  

We prepare and think a lot about these spaces and practice being present in the moment with other humans (Youth Work 101!), which means sometimes some of the "technical" content gently gets woven through the workshop. We believe many of these things you already know, but may not have words for it yet. Here are the slides.
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Keep reading and you will find more journaling prompts!​

Keep Stretching... 
Below you'll find our take-aways from yesterday, along with practices you can use to keep building your compassion. 

1. Self reflection is the secret to being able to better understand others. The more you understand yourself, the more compassion you can develop for yourself, and see the best in others. 
PRACTICE
Journaling Prompt: Write 20 "I am" statements. Stay away from judgmental statements, use self-compassion to rephrase your statements.
Example: I am someone who worries too much about other people.
Compassionate rephrase: I am someone who cares deeply about the well being of others. 

2. Feelings and emotions are real. They are information about what is happening in the world around us. 
PRACTICE
Activity/Prompt: Use the Emotions Wheel (Thanks, Jill!) or the Mood Meter App. Identify all of the emotions you are feeling. Ask yourself the following questions:
·       What might have happened to cause these feeling(s)?
·       What usually makes me feel this way?
·       What’s going on that I'm feeling this way?
·       What was I doing just before I started feeling this way? Who was I with?
·       What do I need right now? What can I do to support myself? 

Be kind to yourself.
​We are in a pandemic.
All of your feelings are part of being beautifully human, and you deserve to be able to feel them.