Cultivating Open Hearts in Times of Crisis
We are in crisis mode these days. Distrust and anger are closing our hearts and silencing our voices. We find ourselves constantly turning away from each other, especially those with whom we feel or think we have differences of opinion. Even worse, increasingly we believe that those differences are a direct threat to our way of life. Unfortunately, all these closures and silences lead to deeper distrust and anguish. We seem to have forgotten how to be open-hearted to our neighbors, how to listen to them, and how to understand that opinions do not define the entire person. When we focus on one part of someone, we lose sight of the whole.
Closed hearts cause us to forget that our neighbors are also friends, mothers, fathers, or siblings to others. They go to sleep and eat meals just like us. They enjoy being with friends and family. They enjoy hobbies. They love. They wish to be happy. They wish to never experience suffering – just like we do. Our closed hearts blind us to this array that is our neighbor.
Human beings are always more than their opinions. They are dynamic. In some ways, each one of us is an almost infinite display of emotions, thoughts, and states of being, and we blind ourselves to the whole when we fixate on only one part of a person – especially when we see them with a closed heart that fails to recognize their other qualities.
Fortunately, our hearts also open. When we allow our hearts to open, we make room to recognize the wholeness of others. At the very least, an open heart opens a space in which to hear the other person without feeling threatened. An open heart allows us to see that our neighbor’s opinion is only one infinitesimally small part of the whole. Our open hearts can see the whole person.
This Compassion Week event hosted by Dawn Mountain, with Dr. Renée Ford and Dr. Nathaniel Rich, focuses on how to cultivate an open heart. Incorporating Buddhist-inspired practices on open-heartedness/tenderness (brtse ba) and a unique embodied practice called Focusing, developed by the American psychologist Eugene Gendlin, Dr. Ford and Dr. Rich will introduce practical instructions for how to open our hearts.
How do I join?
Virtual Event
Registration link coming soon
Meet Dawn Mountain
The mission of Dawn Mountain is to further the spiritual growth of our diverse community as a living bridge between traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings and curious people everywhere.
