Okay. So today’s mission in the Compassion Games was:

Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to spread this antidote today by demonstrating compassion for strangers. These are people you typically pass by, maybe even ignore, as you go on with your day. Instead, your job is to think of everyone as your friend. Smile at people, hold doors open, let folks go in front of you. If you can, use your sense of self to decide how to complete at least one act of compassion that requires a tiny bit of additional work on your part.

As I went through my day with this is in the back of my mind, I began to ask myself, why doesn’t this come naturally to us? Why is this something we have to actually pause and think about?

When I walked into work this morning, I said good morning to someone I see all the time, but hardly ever talk to. Nothing personal. It’s just that I know her face, but we don’t really interact.

Starting my day this way made me take a look at the delusions of samsara and how those delusions can twist our actions. One of the biggest delusions I experience in samsara is that I have to be somewhere (pick a place, any place) and I have to hurry. Today, when I paused to say hello to my coworker (whose name I don’t know), I stopped and thought about where I had to go.

It went something like this:

I have to get to my desk. Why?

Because I have to clock in on my computer. Why?

Because I want to get paid. Why?

Because I don’t want to be hungry and homeless. Why?

Because I don’t want to be uncomfortable.

Hmmm…this little exercise made me see how it’s impossible to participate in the delusions of samsara without believing you’re separate from everyone else and that your needs are more important than everyone else’s. In Buddhism we understand that these twin thoughts are a wrong view. There is no separation. If you need compassion, then so does everyone else.

This takes a while to write out, but these thoughts actually went through my head pretty quickly as I was on my way to my desk.

Then I got my first phone call of the day. At first I was hurrying the caller off the phone. Then, just like that, I realized I was putting my need to get back to emails before the caller’s need for information. I slowed down, listened, and with a little digging, I was able to give her the right information, even though she was asking for the wrong information.

Throughout my day, I found that if I took just a tiny half step back, I was able to see that in every instance where I thought I didn’t have time to be compassionate, it was because I was under the delusion that I was separate and that my needs came first.

This was a great first mission for this Secret Agent rookie!