2013 Compassion Games: Looking back & forward

by | Feb 17, 2014 | ,

What was the result when inmates at the California Institution for Women competed in last year’s annual Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest? For the first time in the institution’s history, 11 days went by without a single violent incident. That’s radical. So be prepared for more amazing results when the 2014 games return next September. We’re already making plans! The 2013 Compassion Games were a worldwide “co-opetition” that ran Sept. 11-21. Players chose to do random acts of kindness,...

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Day Eleven: Receiving and Radiating Compassion

Day Eleven: Receiving and Radiating Compassion

by | Sep 21, 2013 |

  “God has no body now on earth but yours no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he pours out, compassion in the world, compassion in the world. His are the hands, blessing me now. All praise to the One. Ring the bells that can still ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.” - Anthem, by Leonard Cohen Through this week’s series of Contemplations for Compassion for All Beings, we have learned that...

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Day Ten: Embodying Compassion

Day Ten: Embodying Compassion

by | Sep 20, 2013 |

“Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depth of their hearts where neither sin nor knowledge could reach, the core of reality, the person that each one is in the eyes of the divine. If only they could see themselves as they really are, if only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more need for war; for hatred, for greed, for cruelty. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.”  – Father Thomas...

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How to Submit Activity Information (and Get Points) During the Games

by | Sep 11, 2013 |

Dear Compassion Gamers, The Games have begun and now it is time to put our compassion and love to use in order to build a stronger, more connected, more compassionate world. To record your random acts of kindness, your Secret Agents of Compassion acts, or your service projects, you will need to submit reports about them on the Compassion Map. During the Games we will be highlighting and writing about all sorts of contributions, large and small, but for those who are counting, it is important...

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September 11th Revisited by Lucy Dougall

by | Sep 6, 2013 | ,

What if instead of remembering the horror the anger and hate the fear and suspicion What if instead of a 12 year war that no one can win where everyone loses where the aftermath continues to damage untold lives We take something else from that fateful day? The memory of firemen entering the burning wreckage ordinary people rushing to help to give blood to comfort the injured to feed the rescuers all joining together in compassion, remembering loved ones in shrines of flowers and candles What...

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Seeking News that Inspires

by | Sep 3, 2013 |

Interning for the Compassion Games, I have elected to spend much time seeking out stories of love, hope and compassion to put on the Compassion Map. The process has been illuminating. One thing I've learned while searching for stories of compassion is that there is, as the truism goes, a great bias towards negative news in the media, especially in foreign coverage. You really have to dig to find anything positive. The effect of this, naturally, is separating and divisive, both reinforcing and...

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Challenging Us to Create a Culture of Peace and Compassion

by | Jul 13, 2013 | , ,

What kind of culture are we growing?  Culture refers to everything that makes up our way of life. Our culture comes from the process of cultivation. We have learned how to grow our culture as in agriculture and horticulture. This suggests that our culture is a function of how we think and act, individually and collectively, and that we can change our culture by acting imaginatively and creatively. Our culture is revealed in the ways we work and play. Play is primary to how we create culture....

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So Who Won the Compassion Games?

by | Nov 19, 2012 | ,

First off, the winners of the Compassion Games are all of us. Everybody wins when somebody makes an effort to treat others more kindly, respectfully and thoughtfully. So the short answer is everybody won! Thank you to all of our partners, sponsors, volunteers, and participants for making the games a great success! At the same time, Seattle was responding to a "community challenge" from the City of Louisville, Kentucky.... read more here.

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Compassion is a two-way stream – one must give in order to receive

by | Oct 31, 2012 | ,

By Atit Marmer My entire life has been committed to learning and understanding the giving and receiving of compassion. My first memory of an event involving this spiritual path goes way back to the sixth grade when our class visited a student art show presented by a school situated in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I grew up. I felt the pain and resilience of the students, many of whom were my age, and I instinctively reached out to a number of them, talking and...

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A teacher’s compassion, a family supported

by | Oct 30, 2012 | , ,

By Marilyn Pulliam Mary and her mother were with the principal, who introduced Mary saying, “Mrs. Jones will be your reading teacher.” “I don’t read,” came the reply. “Mrs. Jones will teach you.” “I don’t read,” she repeated. To break the impasse Mrs. Jones invited Mary to a corner of the room. Mary really meant she not only did not read but couldn’t. Mrs. Jones had a book which contained only stick figures to illustrate the story. After several pages a single word appeared on the page. Soon...

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