Happy 5th Anniversary with #1000Speak!

Five years ago, Yvonne Spence got a brilliant idea to try to get 1,000 people to write about compassion at the same time. The prompt was open to both bloggers and non-bloggers. We reached our goal and then some. Every year since, we've been writing about Compassion some time around February 20th. This year, we …

Compassion During Times of Division

Due to current world events between Trump-era America and the Brexit Shambles, the theme for 2019 is how to get beyond complacency or apathy to find compassion in times of division, and how to be compassionate towards people we disagree with, without condoning cruelty. Complacency is a feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, often combined with …

Compassion During Sadness and Disappointment

This month, 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion is focusing on compassion during sadness and disappointment. In many ways 2016 has been a tumultuous year, with a referendum in the UK and an election in the USA that deeply divided people. Racism and xenophobia have shown marked rises in both countries and the implications of both …

Is Compassion Inherent? – September Prompts for #1000Speak

This month we consider whether compassion is something we naturally have, or whether we learn it. Or is it both? Generally speaking, most scientists agree that compassion is innate in humans and in many other animals. Some suggest that the tendencies to feel empathy and to want to help others who are suffering may even …

Compassion Wins

As most readers of this blog will know, 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion began in January 2015 in response to the Charlie Hebdo murders, the murder of school children in Pakistan and the Boko Haram massacres in Nigeria. Sometimes it feels as if the world is becoming increasingly less compassionate and more violent, that isn't the …

Imagination

“I can’t imagine,” we say. We hear about shootings and war and about an alligator snatching a toddler in one of the most magical places on earth. These are the things of nightmares. “I can’t imagine what those poor families are going through,” we say. The thing is though, we can imagine. If you’re like …

#1000Speak June – A Home Remedy for the World

I've been thinking so much about the various news stories splayed across the headlines lately. It seems no matter where you are across the globe, there is a story about something negative. Gorillas, alligators, mass shootings, politics, health care, animal cruelty, unemployment, gun control... I could go on, but I won't. You know what the …

On being Kind and Compassionate #1000Speak

What is compassion? Compassion is nothing but being present to the suffering of others and responding with a desire to relieve them of this pain and suffering with kindness, care, love and support. The key to compassion is the art of mindfulness and the lesson of letting go. We need to learn to let go of our …

Self-Compassion Heals

"Compassion isn't some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we're trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don't even want to look at." Pema Chodron Compassion is what 1000 Voices Speak For Compassion is all about. …

The Power of Self-Compassion

In August 2012, my husband and I did ‘The Alchemy of Relatedness’ with Fanny and Colin, a couple who runs retreats in Devon, England. They call their work ‘The Movement of Being.’ On this week-long retreat, held on Dartmoor, we stayed clear of ‘normal’ distractions. In the mornings we sat outside facing the lush countryside …