Into the Magic Shop

“There is no perfect life we are born into, and there is no escaping the awful reality of suffering. There is also no escaping the beautiful synchronicity of the heart.” I paused for a moment as I prepared to end my talk. I saw a young man in the audience and saw myself all those years ago.

We are on a journey of connection. It is the journey of opening our heart to our fellow beings on this earth and recognizing that they are our sisters and brothers. Recognizing that one act of compassion leads to another act of compassion, and so on across the globe.

Every smile at a stranger can be a gift. Every moment of nonjudgment of another human being is a gift. Every moment of forgiveness, for yourself or for someone else, is a gift. Every act of compassion, every intention to serve, is a gift to this world and a gift to yourself.

What had begun as an informal project now became formalized by the dean of the medical school, with support from the director of the Neurosciences Institute and the chairman of my department, as the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE).

When our brains and our hearts are working in collaboration—we are happier, we are healthier, and we automatically express love, kindness, and care for one another.

We evolved to cooperate, to nurture and raise our dependent young, and to thrive together and for the benefit of all.

Many misinterpret Darwin by implying that survival of the fittest means the survival of the strongest and most ruthless, when in fact it is survival of the kindest and most cooperative that ensures the survival of a species in the long-term.

The more I talked to June, the more I saw her anxiety dissipate. She needed to tell her story, and she needed to know that I heard her story and knew her as a person.

She loved to make people feel.