Event creators Shana Fletcher, Shailee Shah, and Mira Schueler are all in the class of 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

The first Cooking Up Compassion event was led by Smith Alum Peggie Gillespie, who encouraged attendees to consider how they give and receive compassion. She led students in an introspective meditation, followed by a discussion about the role of compassion in our contemporary political context. Peggie referenced influential spiritual leader Ram Dass, who keeps a photo of Donald Trump on his altar in an effort to extend compassion to all human beings. Peggie invoked the concept that hatred is a punishment we inflict upon ourselves. Peggie shared her time and message with students; pouring our energy into kindness and compassion enhances our human experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the second event, compassion coach and former therapist\u00a0Shana Hiranandani led discussion. Shana\u2019s experience as a therapist provided her with an array of mindful tools, which she shared with the group. One exercise, which she calls \u201cThe Big Mistake,\u201d asks participants to address a mistake they may still dwell on. It is emotionally draining to always return to a place of guilt or regret; Shana worked with students to reshape their experience into one of growth! Shana asked students what they may have learned from \u201cThe Big Mistake\u201d in their past, and how that lesson has bettered their future. Sometimes the lesson was clear. Other times, it took conversation and honest reflection to draw out the silver lining. This exercise was one of compassion turned\u00a0inwards<\/i>. Cooking Up Compassion is just as much about sharing compassion with yourself as with your peers!<\/p>\n

A group with full hearts and bellies after Cooking Up Compassion<\/p><\/div>\n

Together, students focused not on their suffering, but on what it has taught them. One\u00a0<\/span>recurring theme was feeling that academic responsibilities limited folks from \u201cbeing in the moment.\u201d Miranda Catsambas ’19 reflected on how she\u2019s reshaped her experience of \u201cnot being in the moment\u201d to recognizing that when her mind is drifting elsewhere, it\u2019s okay not to rein it back in. Being in the moment for Miranda means being present in your thoughts and emotions, not necessarily in the physical space you\u2019re sharing with others. Students in agreement noted that we tend to punish ourselves for being wrapped up in other thought patterns, when it can be healthier and more rewarding to follow those internal narratives and see where they take us. Maybe we\u2019ll learn something about ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please join Shailee, Shana, Mira, <\/span>Zen Buddhist Priest <\/span>Catherine Anraku Hondorp, and guests <\/span>for the last Cooking Up Compassion event. It will be Monday, March 5th in CC204 from 6-7pm.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sophomores Shailee Shah \u201820, Shana Fletcher \u201820, and Mira Schueler \u201820 have hosted two of their three \u201cCooking Up Compassion\u201d events with great success! The complex topic of compassion is investigated with peers over a delicious meal. The thoughtful event … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1166,"featured_media":1256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224,275],"tags":[228,234,257,236],"coauthors":[288],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs-events","category-student-articles","tag-crsl-news","tag-food","tag-mindfulness","tag-stress-relaxation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1271,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/1271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}