5.13-5.19.2025: Compassion & Humility

It can be hard, especially in these ultra-divided times, to see outside your own, limited perspective. When we feel threatened, we end up clinging to our ideologies like life rafts. This week, we are offered the gift of Humble Compassion. Compassion for yourself and compassion for others. Compassion towards those who think like you and—even more importantly, towards those who do not. This is not to say that we should accept hateful or abusive behavior. It is, however, an invitation to pause and try to see the good in each person you encounter. Try to understand that, although we may not approach the world in the same way, we are ultimately made of the same stardust, collected from the same ocean.

I am reminded of this quote I literally just read this morning from the book We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, & Amanda Doyle:

“I feel like every soul—everyone’s true self—is a bucket of ocean. Like when we’re born, somebody scoops a bucket full of big ocean and pours it into our little body. That’s why our souls are all exactly the same, because they’re made up of the same God stuff. We’re all ocean at our core—all God at our core. When I can tap into my truest, highest self—my soul—I know everything and I love everyone. Because everyone is me. This ocean/God part in me is the same ocean/God part that’s in…every single person on the planet. We are all just buckets from the same ocean. That’s why we feel the ache of separation so acutely inside these human bodies. Maybe when we die, we just get poured back into the big ocean we came from. No more bucket. No more separation. We all just dissolve into each other again.”

-Glennon Doyle