Choosing Love and Compassion
What a week in our country. I can imagine that you may be feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of the news and pictures as I certainly am, as well as by the rapid pace of new information that keeps coming out.
Take a moment for yourself. I would urge you to consider being particularly compassionate to yourself and those around you.
I recently watched Jeff Weiner, chairman of Linkedin, talk about his compassion practice, and he distilled it down to 5 things:
- Daily gratitude practice: being grateful for something each day
- Be present to the moment whenever you can
- Be helpful to others if you can
- Choosing love over being right
- Be a spectator to your own thoughts: witnessing yourself versus your thoughts
These principles derived from Buddhist practices are profound and can be life changing. I offer this as something that has been helpful for me. Perhaps it can be for you, too, especially right now.
I resolutely choose the US as my home, despite 3 passports and growing up in 3 countries. I chose the US for the agency this country offers all of us. I still choose America for the creativity, democracy and economic power.
We can be proud of representing the best of America as we wake up every day choosing to solve a big unmet need that impacts millions of families.
