What does this moment ask of us?
Gift of Compassion (GoCompassion) is a program of Commonweal, a nonprofit collaboratory and center for learning, transformation, and discovery.
GoCompassion offers a way to calm the spirit, open channels of awareness, and inspire generosity for self and others by using art as a portal to meditation. Our approach uses collaboration to create experiences that invite people to look inward for clarity so one can move with calmness under all circumstances.
GoC emerged as a project after a time of rest and reflection at Commonweal in 2015. We shared extended experiences with 15 individuals who had spent their lives in politics, media, youth leadership, civic engagement, community/movement building, and philanthropy. The creative hospitality was both an inspiration and an exercise in gathering wisdom for the future. The insight was that there are myriad ways for humanity to be supported. The portals for knowing one’s role come from a place that is not known. Once one discovers their role in life, wondrous things can happen.
“Perhaps a meditation practice begins with a nourishing meal and a safe place to rest”.
GoCompassion founders Angela Oh and Ying Ming Tu
Acts of compassion
Since 2016, GoC has created workshops, fundraisers, and fellowships for underserved and under-resourced groups such as transition aged youth, social justice advocates and organizers, prisoners coming home to community, people looking for a path to heal, and anyone interested in realizing their own human potential. The common thread is an experience of harmony, clarity, and lightness. And the method is to enter into a moment of quiet, stillness, and silence.
We know that everyone will face a time of challenge in life. GoC invites one to encounter life's vital energy and to recognize struggles as a means to develop greater empathy and compassion for self and others. To experience harmony, less fear and anxiety about life’s unexpected twists and turns, and to possess a spirit that is open, generous and joyful is possible.
What is the gift of compassion?
Since the project started, we have learned that holding space is a valuable contribution to supporting others in their journey. Sharing with an open heart is key. Designing creative means to develop the practice of seeing meditation as an art and “living fully” as an artform. As tragedy crosses our paths, healing and growth depends on moving quickly to center oneself after encountering conditions that destabilize. The ability to let go, both physically and emotionally, can be developed.
Angela Oh, the co-director of Gift of Compassion, talks about the program as part of a series of videos created for the Commonweal Open House on May 22, 2022.
Your gifts
We thank those who have supported us out of pure generosity of spirit: The Whitman Institute, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, Shadetree Multicultural Foundation, The Fetzer Institute, Life Comes From It, and all the individual donors who see the possibilities..