I’ll tell you right off the bat, before you even start reading this, that you might think I’m a little kooky because I talk to cows. But if you can get past that to get to the ‘why’, then proceed…

If you’ve read my book, Waking Up To Life! or know me, you know that I am fortunate to spend half of my time with my partner Susan on our acreage in central Alberta. This place is magical, healing, rejuvenating and extremely secluded. I have a hard time finding it myself.

The last stretch of dead end road leading up to this hidden gem, (aptly called ‘The Home Stretch’), is about 1/4 mile long. It’s a perfect length for me to do sprints with Shnook (our dog) first thing in the morning.

Both sides of the road are lined by a barbwire fence that encircles vast areas of beautifully rugged but open grazing ground for cattle.

The other day as I was running The Home Stretch, Shnook and I could see the cattle were much closer to the fence and the road than usual. As we neared the 50 or so herbivorous beasts I noticed a strong desire to avoid spooking them.

So I raised my hand and said “Hi!”, in the most disarming voice I could summon.

They didn’t move.

As we got next to them it was easy to sense their uncertainty, but
even as Shnook repeatedly charged the fence I persisted with my disarming “Hi!”.

Then I noticed my attention was located deeply in my Heart, and
I was actually radiating benevolence. The strength and obviousness of my goodwill was palpable, such that I began magnifying it and transmitting it with such force that I became consumed by it.

Here were 50 cows, looking at us and holding their ground, bathing in the waves of my spontaneously generated benevolence.

Now before you laugh of write me off as a kook (like I would), let me make a couple important points.

First, what I am sharing here is NOT some way for you or I to feel good about ourselves. This is not a way to build self esteem or other nonsense. I feel zero pride in sharing these thoughts. As I wrote in Waking Up To Life!: “Pride is for children and immature, sleeping adults”.

Second, while I am certain these cows truly could and did experience my attempts to disarm and comfort them, here’s the thing.

MY heart was as wide and as open as the whole world in those moments I describe above. It affected me, because I came to understand even more deeply, something I’ve known for many years, which is this:

Benevolence, goodwill, or openheartedness is not just a random, spontaneous occurrence, but something that can actually be practiced and strengthened. This means we can generate an intention to gently, consistently and persistently strengthen our capacity to share our openheartedness with the world.

Here is a brief summary of the practice of Locating, Magnifying and Expressing Benevolence.

1. Prepare by finding your intention to practice sharing your good heart.

Understand why you would do such a thing. (Is it because you have matured and ripened to the point where you are ready to fall from the fruit tree of banality?)

2. Enter the situation or circumstances you plan to practice within while maintaining contact with your intention above. (Understand that everyone around you is to some degree, confused, asleep and dying. Put simply, everyone is suffering)

3. Locate your attention in your open heart. See if you can find it in you to actually desire to alleviate their suffering in some way.

Because here’s the thing: You can! You can alleviate the pain and suffering of those around you. But will you?

4. Magnify the feeling texture of openheartedness. This means intensify and exaggerate your open heart by pumping it full of your own loving attention. Let your heart saturate and swell with love ungiven.

5. Now, radiate and express your openheartedness either silently or by whatever action you are called to.

Shine the light of your love, transmit the joy of your heart, give away all your happiness, all your pleasure, all your comfort in whatever way you can.

Or, keep it to yourself and withhold the goodness you have in your heart by allowing your self to continue to drift through life, asleep and lost in a dreamworld of one.

But know this: If our paths cross, I’ll be the one with the swollen heart, wearing the big smile, and neither of us will escape while still asleep.

If this type of understanding interests you, why not see if there are any spots left for the Next Step Life Path Workshop on January 19th in Red Deer.