THE COMINDFULNESS PROJECT Practice compassion to increase happiness for yourself and others Doro Bush Koch and Tricia Reilly Koch
THE STORY BEHIND THE CO-MINDFULNESS PROJECT
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This year, we started working on a book that will feature interviews about the different ways to practice mindfulness — spending time in nature, listening to music, engaging in a creative project. The aim of the book is to help people, who might not be drawn to meditation, find ways to practice mindfulness that appeal to them to increase their happiness and sense of wellbeing. For the book, we had the great privilege of interviewing His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When we asked him what was the best way to practice mindfulness, to our surprise, his answer was not meditation but compassion. The Dalai Lama’s answer had us wondering if the mindfulness movement might be putting too much emphasis on our individual happiness and wellbeing and not enough on the wellbeing and happiness of others. During this time, we also met Amma, who is known throughout the world as the hugging saint. We were deeply moved by Amma’s life of service and her message and example of unconditional love. And we definitely recommend her hugs. What we noticed about these two great spiritual teachers was that their love and compassion for others seemed to give them an awful lot of joy. Was this the real secret of mindfulness and how to achieve happiness and a sense of wellbeing — focusing our attention and love a little less on ourselves and more on others? As the Dalai Lama has so famously said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Practicing compassion, as it turns out, is one of the best ways to invest in our own happiness. And so, we started asking ourselves: How can we practice mindfulness with others to cultivate more love and compassion? That question led us to the concept of co-mindfulness, which we define as bringing our attention, integrity and compassion to our relationships to nurture more love in our lives and to thrive. G R O W I N G B O L D E R / VO L . 3 9
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