Just for today I will not worry.
Just for today I will not anger.
Just for today I will give thanks.
Just for today I will work hard.
Just for today I will be kind.

These are the Reiki ideals. But, what does it mean to practice kindness? What truly is kindness? And how do you know if you are in fact being kind? Or just perpetuating someone’s problems.

Wisdom and Compassion

Perhaps because my spiritual training is so strongly based in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, which is part of the Mahayana, I find that when I think of the practise of kindness in Reiki I think of it in terms of a unity of wisdom and compassion.

Wisdom in Kindness

We can all sense that there is no kindness without clarity. There is no kindness without wisdom. Kindness without wisdom becomes merely telling people that which accords with their feelings. With their ego.

I am not suggesting that wisdom must go against people’s feelings. But, wisdom never supports people’s problems.

We have this insatiable need to make things “alright”. To find ways to justify the bad things we do, the poor choices we make, or the terrible things that happen to people. It is just my Karma. Or it is God’s will. And worse still, my personal favourite “it is all good”.

Wisdom finds a way to not go along with things. While at the same time not standing against them. Wisdom takes no sides. Because in fact wisdom’s relative expression is Compassion. (While compassion’s ultimate expression is Wisdom)

How to cultivate wisdom

It is really not that hard, honestly. Developing wisdom, a mind of clarity. Below is my list of tips to build your clarity..

1. Drink lots of water.

Helps to flush toxins through your system.

2. Practise daily sitting meditation

10 minutes each day (morning and night if you can) will build your mental discipline, settle your mind, and help your innate wisdom shine through. Technically, it balances your nervous system (parasympathetic and sympathic).. but that is a post for another day.

3. Study

Becoming familiar with spiritual perspectives helps grow your wisdom. Like a flame that burns ever stronger. Our understanding becomes imbued with the sage wisdom of humanities fore fathers (and mothers) and over time it works to dissolve that which was covering our true nature and natural understanding of the way things are. Our ignorance it is called in Buddhist teachings.

4. Regularly channel Reiki for yourself or others

I have to mention Reiki, seeing as this is Reiki Blogger! But, for reiki people giving and receiving reiki regularly is one of the keys to bringing wisdom ever stronger into your practise of kindness. It works like water washing away dirt in a hose, when it is turned on. Simple, effective and easy to do. (You can do it lying down!)

5. Concentrate

Mindfulness is not losing awareness. Not drifting through your day with patches where you are not fully present for the activity you are engaging. Focus brings your mind under control and allows the emotions and feelings that cloud your wisdom and clarity to settle.

By gently reminding ourselves to remain present and not drift off onto tangents we will also strengthen our wisdom.

Kindness and Compassion

If wisdom is the bow compassion is the arrow. They are an inseparable combination. Compassion is defined as the wish to relieve the suffering of others. The wish to see others without suffering.

To me, it seems that it is the honest practice of compassion that keeps people the most in touch, the most grounded.

Compassion is preparedness

One of the things about compassion is that it is a deep wish. Not always action. (But, then that is where the wisdom probably comes in..)

Alot of people think being compassionate is the same as being nice. Helping people. Trying to make their lives better.

True compassion is more than that. It is tougher too. True compassion is the wish that you could take someone’s pain away from them and onto yourself instead.

Ofcourse this is not possible. But, when you have that attitude. You have genuine compassion.

It also is not actually that hard. Really. Just think about your mother, your brother, or you child. If they were in pain, there is nothing you would not do to try and stop that from happening. And, I am sure most of you parents understand the natural feeling that you would rather go through it than have to watch your kids go through it. Just think bullying, peer pressure, social exclusion.. for common problems.

How to practice compassion

The main way we can develop our compassion is to practice exchanging our self and others. Putting ourselves in other people’s shoes and trying to understand them better.

There is a buddhist meditation technique which is taught to accompany this practice which makes it even stronger.

Using the breath.

On the out breath we send all our blessings. All the greatest things we can imagine, every happiness, to one other or many others. I usually give things like the happiness I feel when my son gives me a spontaneous “I love you dad” hug, or the emotion I feel when I see unprovoked acts of love and kindness among people.

But, the key is to truly give it away.

Then on the in breath, you take on the pain of others. You relieve them of their suffering and breath it into yourself.

But, here the key is to see yourself as a being of light, who immediately purifies the negativity and turns it into the nectar of compassion.

If you like this sort of meditation I highly recommend The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.

Conclusion - The Unity of wisdom and compassion

So, the basic practice of kindness becomes a unity of wisdom and compassion. Because without one the other suffers. Without the warmth of compassion our wisdom and clarity becomes impartial and cold. And without the clear seeing wisdom our kindness becomes mis-guided and perhaps only serves to perpetuate the problem.

It takes courage to see things as they are, and courage to do something about them, or to stand strong, warm hearted and with grace if you cannot.