Stepping up to: Engagement
/Welcome to Week 5 of Stepping Up Together! Stepping Up Together is all about embracing the power of community and stepping boldly into our highest potential. Each week of this campaign features a theme for reflection, inviting us to consider how we may step up, join hands, and be the change we wish to see in the world. This week features the final theme of our campaign, and perhaps the most important—engagement. ❤️
If we were to ask you what mindfulness looked like, what would you say? Many of us would conjure up images of silent retreats, quiet cups of tea, morning meditations, and reflective yoga practices. But what if we told you that one of the most essential forms of mindfulness is not quiet or passive at all? What if we told you that mindfulness could move mountains, heal injustices, and inspire magnificent social change?
This form of engaged mindfulness—or, as we like to call it, compassionate action—happens when we get up off our meditation cushions, gather all the jewels of our practices, and share them with the world.
According to Oxford Languages, the word engage means, “to participate or become involved in.” So, engaged mindfulness happens when we become involved with the world in a mindful way. Engaged mindfulness means taking the wisdom and insights from meditation into the real world, and applying it to situations of social, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustice.
Just like one hand washes the other—mindfulness practices and compassionate action are supportive and interdependent practices. A quiet mindfulness practice creates the foundation for non-violent, compassionate action. This action then builds empathy and understanding for others, which deepens and strengthens our mindfulness practices. In order to live fully we need to balance this yin and yang of practice—to be engaged and aware of the real problems of the world, while being anchored to our quiet, inner light. It’s a beautiful cycle that allows us to cultivate not only individual healing, but collective healing.
Questions & Reflections:
Write down your own personal engaged purpose – why are you there—at your desk, home, event, or anywhere, right now? Write it down and place it somewhere you’ll see it every day.
Observe, recognize and appreciate: How can I balance the “yin” of my more passive, mindfulness practices with the “yang” of engaged, compassionate action? Where do I need more balance?