"Cultivating Compassion"

Ice on the Pond this morning - not totally covered ,the duck has plenty of open water to ride on but relatively widespread ice.  Today is another  quiet day - yoga class this morning at 10 and then - cooking turkey soup and studying my latest find (actually I first read it in 2009) - "Cultivating Compassion" by Jeffrey Hopkins.  It is a Buddhist perspective and very much on my mind these days since my big push right now is to do just that - cultivate my compassion - for myself and all others.  It's the first time I have read "short meditations are much better than long ones."   He goes on to say, "The reason is that an intensity of purpose can be retained….when you do a long period  without intensity you get accustomed to - habituating yourself to - dullness."  There are many more helpful suggestions - it's a book worth studying for meditators.  One of the appealing aspects of many Buddhist principles is that they do not seem to me to conflict with Christian ones, but somehow make for better clarity of both paths with its simpler statements.  Here's another perspective that resonates with me:
To generate compassion, it is essential to know, to feel, how fragile others' lives are, how they are beset by suffering no matter who they are.  And to know this, first it is necessary to realize how fragile your own life is--to stare your own suffering in the face.  The fundamental suffering is death; being aware of it puts everything else into perspective.  This too, is a concept I'm working with--and getting happier, more content each day.