Who Cares - What Matters
Sister Love
Brotherly Love
Christian Love
Marriage Love
Friend Love
Parental Love
Geographical Love
Passionate Love
Romantic Love
WE
spell it
in many different ways
this thing
we call
L O V E
but it matters not how
you spell it
define it
embrace it
s h o w it
not how
where
when
but t h a t
you give it
not consistently. . .
e n d l e s s l y
. . .Maybe the greatest kind of love there is:
Y O U R S
Have you ever done
a n y t h i n g
j u s t b e c a u s e. . .
Most of the time
we stay away from the
J u s t B e c a u s e s. . .
it was the answer we got when
a real answer didn’t want to be given
or worse
there really was no real answer. . .
or worse, still—
when the envelope was pushed too far
with the final:
B E C A U S E
I S A I D S O !
But there’s another side of the
J U S T B E C A U S E
coin. . .
A lady who attends North Royalton Christian Church,
the small Church I serve
recently received a note in the mail
with the words:
J U S T B E C A U S E
that wrapped around a Hundred-Dollar Bill. . .
the same week I received the same note
with a $25 Giant Eagle Gift Card wrapped inside. . .
the same day I saw a mother and her son
standing in the check out line
waiting patiently for their turn to
pay for their goods;
mom saw her son spying
the candy rack. . .
when she saw him zero in on a
S N I C K E R S B A R
she picked it up and handed it to him
with a huge smile on her face
that matched the one looking back up
and simply said:
J U S T B E C A U S E
It got the
Caring Catalyst
in me thinking:
“W H Y N O T?”
. . .Why not go around
J U S T B E C A U S I N G
others. . . ?
It has to be more productive
more producing
more effective
than merely finding painted rocks
with an email/FaceBook address
on the back
instructing to take a pic
before placing it somewhere else
j u s t
so you can see where it travels
in the to and fro. . .
. . .So while pumping gas
I saw a man
who seemed to be wearing everything he owned
walking across the parking lot and perching himself
on a chair outside of a store
letting the sun shine on his face
as he squinted skyward
sipping on a cup of McDonald’s coffee. . .
I walked over to him
with my $25 gift card and asked him,
“How you doing?”
His response was epic:
“Blessed by the Best!”
“Well, maybe this can make the blessing even better,”
He spontaneously hugged me
. . .thanked me. . .
and I thanked him for the honor of allowing me to share. . .
As I drove away
his face was skyward once again
s m i l i n g
arms outstretched. . .
Have you ever been
J U S T B E C A U S E ‘ D
I don’t want to hear about your
F I R S T
J U S T B E C A U S E
e x p e r i e n c e
I want to s e e your
h u n d r e d and f i r s t. . .
J U S T B E C A U S E
The very simple r i p p l e
you create
is the tsunami
a single person
needs to experience. . .
J O I N M E:
If you had a Compassion Muscle. . .
WOULD YOU FLEX IT?
Would you ever use your Compassion Muscle?
Would you ever Exercise your Compassion Muscle?
How often?
Do you even have a Compassion Muscle. . .
Does anyone?
W E L L . . .
apparently you. . .
we do!
Many of us know that if we want to become more physically healthy, we can exercise. . .
but what if we want to improve our emotional health?
What if we want to actually train our
EMOTIONAL MUSCLES
such as
C O M P A S S I O N ?
Do you think that such an exercise. . .
such training could actually improve our Lives?
Helen Weng, a Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF, in conjunction with Andrew Fox, Alexander Shackman, Diane Stodola, Jessica Caldwell, Matthew Olson, Gregory Rogers, and Richard J. Davidson, University of Wisconsin-Madison actually provided a detailed study that proves after just a mere two weeks of online training, participants who practiced
C O M P A S S I O N M E D I T A T I O N
every day, for two weeks, behaved more altruistically towards strangers compared to a comparison group taught an emotion regulation strategy derived from cognitive therapy.
W A I T . . .
IT also showed the people taught Compassion who were the most altruistic showed the most changes in the way their brains responded to images of people suffering.
“These findings suggest that Compassion is a trainable skill, and that practice can actually alter the way our brains perceive suffering and increase our actions to relieve that suffering.”
H E N C E ,
Compassion is an emotional response of caring and wanting to help when encountering another’s suffering, and with practice, it is thought that Compassion can be enhanced and this will increase the likelihood of helping behavior–not only during the meditation practice (COMPASSION MUSCLE TRAINING), but out in the REAL WORLD when interacting with others.
T H E R E S E A R C H
has shown that expert compassion meditation practitioners (over 10,000 hours of practice) show greater neural responses to suffering compared to control participants.
B U N K ?
Well. . .
you want to give it a spin?
To try the trainings, visit:
http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/compassion.html
As of April 2014 there have been well over 3700 people who have downloaded the Compassion Meditation Training
Will you make it 3 7 0 1 ?
Can, being provided with such knowledge and tools actually empower us to make changes that can benefit ourselves and our Communities, our World. . .?
The Research says so. . .
B U T
. . .is it possible,
. . .is it conceivable,
. . .is it realistic
. . .is it THINKABLE
that just maybe if we,
if given the choice between being
R I G H T or K I N D
we chose
K I N D
the World
the Community
Us
You
ME
wouldn’t before our next breath
become more
C O M P A S S I O N A T E ?
Pssssssst:
S T U D Y M E T H I S—-
TRY IT
It’s really not about perspective. . .
It’s all merely about
Y O U R
P E R S P E C T I V E
. . .and then again it’s not about your
p e r s p e c t i v e
it’s all about your
s h a r e d
p e r s p e c t i v e
and then again,
it’s not about your shared
p e r s p e c t i v e,
it’s about your received
p e r s p e c t i v e,
and then again
it’s not about your received
p e r c e p t i o n,
it’s about your perceived
p e r s p e c t i v e,
and then again
it’s not about your perceived
p e r c e p t i o n
it’s just about. . .
well. . .
p e r c e p t i o n —
(y o u r s)
and. . .
just what is
i t ?
T R U T H ?
Math has never been my strong suit. . .
And even when
I’ve managed to
Get most of T H E M
R I G H T
It’s the
W R O N G
That always gets
R E D – M A R K E D
Pointed – Out
Observed
Recognized
Noticed
Shaking-the-finger-pointed-at-Y O U
S E E N
Which has always
had me asking
In the most honorable
Caring-Catalytstic-Ways
W H A T ‘ S
W R O N G
W I T H
R I G H T. . .
God might be a great Mathematician
And the Universe
A glorious Blackboard. . .
But some of the Pupils
and Teachers
just can’t be F I G U R E D out. . .
Pssssssssssst of the Day:
You are not a part
of their equation
so quit trying to make it all
A D D U P. . .
Dry Erase me for a Ba – Zillion, Batman!
Is there?
Is there really a
R I G H T
or
W R O N G
way to
C A R E
DO you
. . .do YOU
C A R E ?
If we had all of humanity
stand at one single solitary moment
and raise their hands and voices
to show that we all believed
in CARING
as a good thing. . .
would there be anyone not voting to make it
unanimous. . . ?
Caring is a good thing,
isn’t it. . . ?
It’s one of the few
the rare
o n e
thing
that distinguishes us
as being a good person
or a bad person. . .
It’s not really whether or not
we care
but maybe what
w h o
we care about
that can make
c a r i n g
t o x i c
Sometimes
it may be caring so much
about what others think and feel
that destroys
or empowers us. . .
Is there a way
N O T
to care
e a s i l y
without g u i l t
or f e a r
or r e t r i b u t i o n
and still be able to care
in a most meaningful
in a very compassionate
in an extremely powerful
w a y. . .
Well. . .
m a y b e. . .
Just by realizing how not so often others don’t give us a second thought. . .
Just by realizing that much of any one’s reality is actually imagined. . .
Just by realizing that we can take things as seriously as we want. . .
Just by realizing that we can change anything at anytime in anyway we like. . .
Just by realizing that by not caring may be our greatest freedom to caring. . .
Can we care too much. . .
a b s o l u t e l y
e s p e c i a l l y
about the wrong things
. . .and when we do. . .
HELP YOURSELF FIRST. . .SO YOU CAN HELP OTHERS
EVERYONE’S REPLACEABLE. . .SO SEEK OUT THOSE WHO APPRECIATE YOU
NEVER COMPROMISE YOUR SELF-RESPECT OR SELF-LOVE
DON’T NEGOTIATE YOUR BORDERS OR BOUNDARIES
The truest of Caring Catalysts
r e c o g n i z e s
that caring too much
may well be worse
than caring not at all. . .
and let’s face it. . .
if your reading this right now
at this very moment. . .
you care
most about
T H A T
One of our biggest flaws
in day to day
l i v i n g
is N O T
n o t i c i n g
what we
r e c o g n i z e. . .
The Sun Shines. . .
on Raining Days
even if
especially if
you n o t i c e
you simply r e c o g n i z e
or better still. . .
m a n u f a c t u r e—
C R E A T E
I T
The truest WEDDING DAY
isn’t when two people come together
to pledge their devoted/dedicated love
it’s when they realize
that there’s never been a moment
T H A T
hasn’t existed
when they first became
a h a v e n
S H E L T E R
to each’s
other
. . .rain
sleet
snow
sun brightly shining
(especially in the darkest, most stormiest of nights)
Here’s what I know about Statistics:
I don’t want to know about Statistics. . .
Even when I’m trying
not to be a Statistic
it makes me O N E. . .
A N D
for some odd reason
we care
we worry
we organize
we itemize
we calculate
we add
we subtract
we multiple
we divide
we fraction
we integer
ourselves into a frenzy
that the best cocktail of anti-anxiety pills
couldn’t begin to reach
touch
faze
or eliminate. . .
let alone figure out
the probability
the analytics
that 1 + 1
will never equal 3
even though it continually
has shown that its tantamount of that
and so very much more. . .
Hmmmmmmmmmm of the Day:
What are the odds
The Percentages
we’ll ever really figure
I T
o u t. . .
Psssssssssssssssst of the Day:
L O W
if any at all. . .
If that doesn’t French Fry
your Baked Potato
(which already statistically out-chromosomes us)
nothing will. . .
add t h a t up
Being a Caring Catalyst
doesn’t eliminate
New Math
or any form of analytics
or statistics
it just doesn’t get bogged down in stopping
what a Caring Catalyst does best:
C A R E
The World is a Sad Place
u n l e s s. . .
Thanks to the World Laughter Tour and Dr. Steve Wilson
I became a Certified Laughter Leader
in February, 2016
but often
I’m more C E R T I F I A B L E
than CERTIFIED. . .
I recently provided a workshop
for a Hospice Team
that was organized by their FUN COMMITTEE. . .
Shortly following the workshop
one of the Nurses on the Team sent me this email:
Chuck, Thanks for the laughs. I think you answered a question for me. A year ago an acquaintance of my brother and I had posted on FaceBook that she could not tell the difference between us from posted pictures. My nephew posted that the the pictures where the guy was smiling was my brother. The other pictures were of his uncle, me. Since I do not use social media, I wouldn’t have noticed except my daughter pointed out to me how she had put her cousin in his place. (Such fire can come from gentle souls!) Since then though I have been checking in with the mirror to see where the smile went I was most puzzled because (1) My nickname in high school was “ear to ear,” and (2) I thought that I was smiling. I have been watching my peers in team and I have noticed that we do not smile except the we are laughing. As I watched you, I did not see a smile except with laughter. When your face relaxed the corners of your mouth relaxed downward. I have a voice from the past that says, “It takes more muscles to frown than to smile.” What has happened? I think that it is this: Both smiles and frowns are surface expressions and quickly deceive Of the two, though, are work allows for the frown as the more acceptable. I think that we spend a great deal of effort in the trenches where smiles are inappropriate. We have lost the ability to smile from disuse of smiling muscles So though we may be smiling on the inside, our faces do not show it. I do not think that this is either good or bad. I thing that it as the artist, Chuck Close has said, “The face is a road map of a person’s life.” You showed me today that you do not have to be able to smile to be able to laugh, Hohohahaha, YEAH! Thanks.
How about an
“A”
for paying way more than just Attention
but for really
N O T I C I N G
Harry Chapin
is still one of my favorite musicians. . .
He died tragically in a car accident
on July 16, 1981, at 39 years of age. . .
He wrote a song,
L A U G H M A N
that I’ve always related to personally and publicly
long before becoming a Certified Laughter Leader
. . .maybe it embodies and describes the essence of all of us:
The World can be a really sad Place. . .
u n l e s s
I make it a different
r e s i d e n c e
join me
in proving
w h o e v e r
L A U G H S
l a s t s. . .
Let’s be about
P R O V I N G I T
Just what kind of an
I N S T R U M E N T
are You?
St Francis of Assisi
prayed a timeless,
an ageless
prayer
that asked us—
you
me
to be Instruments:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying the we are born to eternal life.
T R U T H ?
No matter what kind of Instrument
You are. . .
You are utterly useless
on a seat
a shelf
encased for protection. . .
but in the Right Hands
and the Right Use
a magnificent
w a l k i n g
t a l k i n g
S Y M P H O N Y
You Are. . .
Be T H A T
c o n t i n o u s l y
more often
than n o t