YOUR LIFE A-Z: VICARIOUS

REFLECTION OF OTHER

VICARIOUS

Placing yourself in someone else’s shoes is the beginning of VICARIOUS action that leads you to empathy and compassion.  Imagining yourself in the same predicament as someone else allows you to VICARIOUSLY feel, think, and act on behalf of another person.  Acting as a substitute for someone else broadens your perspective and enables you to understand someone else’s suffering or pain.  Have you ever had the experience of seeing a bad car-wreck and imagining how the victims were hurting and scared?  That is a VICARIOUS moment.  When you watch a movie and the movie elicits deep feelings for the actors you are experiencing a VICARIOUS moment.  When you see someone else being hurt or bullied and you step in, not only are you acting from compassion, but also you are motivated to step in because you understand VICARIOUSLY how awful bullying feels.  VICARIOUS moments provide us with opportunities to grow and practice Ubuntu.  The next time you find yourself looking away from a homeless person or ignoring a disabled person, stop yourself and see if you can have a VICARIOUS moment.   Ask yourself, “What would I want to hear right now if I were in his/her shoes?” Maybe just eye contact and a gentle hello are better than pretending the disabled person is invisible.  Your face says a lot in moments like those.   Don’t let fear prevent you from practicing a VIGARIOUS moment.  If you will practice VIGARIOUS moments, you will begin to feel more alive and present to yourself and others.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: UBUNTU

ALL FOR ONE-ONE FOR ALL

UBUNTU

Sometime ago there was a post on FB of children sitting in a circle and creating a another circle by touching their feet together with outstretched legs.  The story was about UBUNTU.  UBUNTU is an African word that means human kindness in a very progressive sense.  These children were told that candy was beneath a tree and the child who got there first won all of the candy.  Instead of running off to the candy, the children reached for each other and ran together holding hands for the candy.  They explained to the reporter that it is not kind for one to be happy and the rest to be sad.  UBUNTU is a word that has woven itself deep within the African culture inclusive of its socialistic politics.  This deep equality of UBUNTU brings people together on the same playground and motivates them to work together for the good of the whole.   How do you practice UBUNTU in your society and community, even if some are strangers or they look and act differently than you?  Desmond Tutu writes in 1999, “A person with UBUNTU is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated, or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.” The stranger next door is your brother or your sister so practice UBUNTU toward him or her.  Let UBUNTU exude from your heart everyday.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:JUXTAPOSITION

SAME AND DIFFERENT

JUXTAPOSITION:

JUXTAPOSITION is often contrasting positions placed side by side to explore the similarities and differences.  For instance what is the JUXTAPOSITION of kindness and compassion.  Without much reflection we often think of these two words as one in the same.  But even though they are similar they are not the same.  Kindness is often an action of compassion, something people do out of an inner space within of compassion.  Compassion is an attitude of empathy, where the compassionate one is able to place his/herself in the same shoes of someone else, even those that in most incidences that would cause inner disgust such as a murderer.  Compassion in JUXTAPOSITION to kindness is a parallel track, an inner experience of the outer expression of kindness.  It is difficult to observe the similarities of subtle differences unless we place words, thoughts, feelings, and/or actions side by side.  A JUXTAPOSITION of hatred might be racism and a JUXTAPOSITION of war might be economic gain.  By examining issues via JUXTAPOSITION we enlighten and educate ourselves in various schools of thought empowering our brain to make valuable and healthy judgments.   As you discover the power of mindfulness allow yourself to explore side by side the JUXTAPOSITION of good and evil; rich and poor; and smart and ignorance.  Then explore the JUXTAPOSITION of fear and bravery; courage and action; or love and caring.  JUXTAPOSING words next to each other help us live more meaningful and mindful daily lives.  JUXTAPOSING words is also a mental exercise that enlightens.