Congratulations to these eight people who have completed the intense nine month training period and are now prepared to serve the community with their compassion and their presence. Below are some of their reflections as they look back over their training. David P The aspect of the ZCC training that has most impressed me is the sense of community that has evolved among those of us involved in this extensive nine month program. As we have continued our training there is an increased sense of vulnerability and risk-taking as we explore our feelings about going out into the community with a compassionate and non-judgmental presence into the lives of the clients and their families. We have visited and re-visited many issues and it is heartening to see how each of us has changed over the past several months. It is a wonderful gift to feel the support of others in the group as we explore our hopes, fears, conditioning, expectations about our roles and those who we will be serving. I find it a wonderful bonus that the compassionate awareness has permeated my daily interactions with those at work as well as with friends and family. This training creates space, clarity, compassion and joy. Lora Zen Compassionate Care is like coming home for me.  I feel the sense of community deepen whenever we meet.  I am grateful to have a space where my experience is heard, and I am more and more willing to open in this safety.  I am increasingly free to explore my own behavior and beliefs with relief and with growing trust that there is room for all of it.  So much gratitude!  Right now I'm resting in a place of appreciation - settled, peaceful, connected and open.  This will soon change, of course, which will make the return home even sweeter! Deborah Zen Compassionate Care sessions have become a vessel for holding open my heart and allowing me to learn to breathe.  I have a wonderful Zen saying hanging in my home, "Breath sweeps Mind." I became aware of the utter deepness of the saying only after many hours sitting on the mat at ZCC. The message became intuitively obvious. There is nothing I need to do at this moment, this most perfect now. There is nothing I have to fix. Deep breath in, my heart opens, deep breath out, my compassion, for myself and for others,  becomes greater.  Deep breath in, my mind becomes quiet, deep breath out, I reach out in silence. Deep breath in, I am here to end suffering, deep breath out, we will end suffering. Matt Zen Compassionate Care is about learning compassion and acceptance: for myself, for the people I will work with, for the world.  My conditioned experience of life, as mirrored by our culture, is that there is always something wrong, something that needs to be fixed or improved or made better.  Or that some experiences of life (such as joy or happiness) are OK, are great even.  While other experiences such as sadness, grief or pain are not OK and, in fact, should not be happening.  By learning to accept what is, in this moment, and to bring compassion to the experiences that are categorized as "Not OK", I get to be open to the entire spectrum of life.  There is nothing wrong with any of it, even the experiences that are not pleasant.  I truly get to participate in life, on its own terms, not my conditioned terms.  Amazing.  Complete participation in life is the only action that my heart truly wants to take.  ZCC offers me the opportunity, again and again, to turn my intention in this direction.  What could be more important? Bhakti I deeply value and have greatly benefited from my participation in the Zen Compassionate Care Program. While suffering is a common human experience, this unique program has offered an alternative to suffering over life's unwanted circumstances. The program director, Nancy Martin, has guided the participants with compassion and understanding. Not only is my life more joyful, but I am prepared to volunteer my time in the support of others. Some Comments from our Final Retreat: I am capable of my life: Includes pain, suffering, joy and happiness. I would like to experience all that life contains. I also discover that others have that same capacity for their own lives. Being blind to our assumptions or assuming that they are right can lead us away from what is. Welcome it all… Let go of it… This is the way life wants to be lived… Essence of the beginning of all things – here and now. Coming back to the breath. Giving yourself, others, and situations space, so that you can see the life unfold with compassion. I don’t know what is going to happen with you career/life path. I can relate to this with apprehension terror Or I can relate to this as an interesting adventure of “finding out.”
Bhakti Merritt
Barbara Schultz
David Orneallas
David Philhour
Zen Compassionate Care
Volunteer Class 2007-2008
 
Yasue North
Lora Ferguson
Deborah Voekel
Matt Norby
 
Zen Compassionate Care
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