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Message from Cheri - May 2008
Gasshō, I was talking with a friend recently about the form of practice I’m currently passionate about: doing “One Thing” to thank Mother Earth. When I asked her about the tag line, she said, “I’m actually not doing this for the earth, I’m doing it for me. I want to be more aware. I want to realize my part in life, how what I do affects everything else, how a single moment of unconsciousness on my part can result in great suffering. And, I want to do it from a place of joy, not from self-hatred.” Well, that certainly captures it perfectly for me! That’s precisely why I am so enthusiastic about this new project. What can encompass service (all sorts of acts, large and small), of lovingkindness, peace (a focus each moment on living gently with our fellow beings), sustainability (a group effort aimed at taking the best care we can of everything in our sphere), and an awareness that “there’s nothing wrong” (doing what we do from joy rather than self-hate). As I mentioned last month I am passionate about supporting us all to 1) assist one another in waking up and deepening our practice while we 2) do service that helps us focus on something larger than our own ego desires and 3) honor the interconnectedness of all life as we 4) affirm again and again that there is nothing wrong and that each moment is our best opportunity to participate whole-heartedly with the life that animates us. Every where I go I talk with people who feel depressed, overwhelmed, and defeated by the state of our environment. When one’s reaction to the latest disaster is, “Oh, no, I don’t want to hear any more, I can’t take it,” it’s hard to get enthusiastic about jumping in to make a difference. Jump in where? Do what? It’s too much! And, of course it would be too much if each one of us had to do it all. But, from now on we’re not going to believe those voices, because each of us will be focusing on just the one thing (can be any size thing), that we will do (or not do!) every day to help ourselves, one another, and our world. As mentioned in last month’s message, we will become a team, informing one another about which one thing each of us will be practicing with. We will support one another in not falling for self-hating voices trying to sabotage our efforts. We will communicate with one another regularly about what is going well and where the challenges are as a way of supporting one another in staying awake and committed. We will focus on the difference we’re making and celebrate our successes. We will stay in close contact to reinforce for one another that participation and community is where the joy is. Someone told me recently that she had a rough “one thing” day. She left for the Farmer’s Market and decided to stop for a coffee on the way. As she walked into the store she realized she had forgotten her cup. “Oh, no, the accursed to go cup complete with plastic lid!” Later when she prepared to make her first purchase at the market she realized she had neglected to bring her own non-plastic bags. “You are a certifiable Onething failure,” she heard a voice say. Then she reminded herself that’s not what this is about. We are not allowing conditioning to set up contests that we will lose and self-hate will win. She reported that she actually gained a lot more sympathy for all of us trying to wake up and do the decent thing. It’s hard work at best—it’s heroic when we consider that we’re going up against egocentric, karmic conditioning. Here at Living Compassion we are working diligently to get everything in place for this project. Eventually we will communicate via Zazengo (zazengo.com), a platform for connecting individuals and groups doing good works, but we’re not quite ready for that. In the interim we’re extending an invitation to all interested parties to join in. Follow this link and fill in the information letting us know you are participating. Begin to consider the Onething you will be taking on. Click here for a list of suggestions. Feel free to let us know what you have chosen as your project and to add other ideas you have to our “possibilities” list. We will let those of you who have signed up know more as Onething unfolds. Conference calls and email conversations will be announced as systems come together. We will let you know as soon as Onething is ready on Zazengo and talk you through signing up if this sort of activity is new to you.
We’re printing the cards on 100% recycled paper, of course, and will be passing them out to everyone we meet. We invite anyone who would like to make their own copies of the card to use as invitations to the project to do so. Please let us know if you plan to make cards and we will send you the art work and all pertinent details—we ask that the card not be modified and that it’s printed in the colors it was designed with. A few more numbers to consider: And, while most of the focus thus far has been on the environment we’re not going to limit ourselves in any way. This is Onething to honor life. We’ve already had one fellow whose Onething is kindness to his children. So, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, each and every moment of the day there’s Onething you can do to honor life, which is honoring you and the world you live in. What will you do? We live in one world. Nothing can happen to you that doesn’t happen to me. Nothing can happen to them that doesn’t happen to us. For better or worse, we are in this together. Let’s make it for better.
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We’ve created a small card to introduce Onething and Zazengo to potentially interested folks. I was in a store recently and as I refused the plastic bag I said to the clerk, “I’m saving the world from plastic, one bag at a time.” There was a flicker of interest in that sentence so I followed up with the quote on the card. He was hooked! I so wished the cards were ready and in my pocket because I’m certain that fellow would have followed up. (At current gas prices a statistic such as 12 million barrels of oil to make 30 billion plastic bags tends to get attention!) 