The Emily Dahl Foundation sends out a Happy New Year to all! May we all share this immense realization regarding life on this earth: "All the suffering in the world comes from seeking pleasure for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from seeking pleasure for others." Natasha Krystolovich, Director of Communications The Emily Dahl Foundation January 3, 2022
Our goal at The Emily Dahl Foundation for 2022 is to continue to explore the essence of love and compassion, which is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves "inside the skin" of the other. As we enter 2022 lets "go inside" their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Casual observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the object of our observation. When we are in contact with another's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, "to suffer with." When we observe deeply in this way, the benefit of our meditation will naturally transform into some kind of action. We will not just say, "I love her very much," but instead, "I will do something so that she will suffer less." The mind of compassion is truly present when it is effective in removing another person's suffering. We must find ways to nourish and express our compassion. When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express the mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable. Then we can know that our mind of compassion is firm and authentic. We ourselves will be more at ease, and the person who has been the object of our meditation will also benefit eventually. His suffering will slowly diminish, and his life will gradually be brighter and more joyful as a result of our compassion. It is time for a change. It is time for us all to fully "wake up". In this more awakened state, we will bring joy to the world and the headlines will not be dominated by negative news! Let's end this year with a call to action. We leave you with this quote by the late Desmond Tutu where he is telling us that as a society full of suffering, we need to get to the root of the problem. We need to better manage negative emotions and develop deep compassion in all that we do.
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.” - Desmond Tutu
Let's all remember that happiness is not to be hoarded but to be shared. This is not only a responsibility but also a joy.
