What is your 3am?

Listening to Andrew Harvey speak last night at the Meditation Center was quite an experience. 

Andrew had the chance to interview the Dalai Lama right before his Holiness was to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He spoke of how he felt overwhelmed by the deep, deep compassionate energy exuded by the Dalai Lama. He shared about when he had the chance to embrace the Dalai Lama, it was a certain sense of deep motherly compassion which comforted him and left him helplessly hanging on in a deep daze. He said that the Dalai Lama understanding his loss of composure at the time, very gently held his hand, and walked him to the door. He compared the experience to being like that of a mother holding the hand of her scared child, and walking the child to the school classroom on it's first day. Wow! It blew my mind to hear Andrew speak. There are certain people who carry this charisma about themselves.

Apart from listening to and being part of his sharing about his meeting with the Dalai Lama, another thing which resonated strongly with me was his question "What is your 3am?" Andrew asked us to try this practical exercise out. He suggested that we wake up at 3am, and after we've said whichever prayers we do, to think about a hurting cause in this world towards which we feel really passionate about. "It brings life into perspective", he said. "It is to realize that you have lived but not in vain."

What remained with me, along with his words, was his gentle, compassionate gaze. When the man looks into your eyes it's as if you feel him peering into your soul. Quite an impactful experience last night!

That's the link to his webpage - Andrew Harvey.