Creativity and compassion
Kathe Kollwitz“We begin our conference by establishing the central place that compassion has in this revolution. Not some lofty idea but the full muscular force of radical compassion at work to change the future of work.” – Compassion Revolution Conference webpage
Compassion is often described as a feeling, but I think it is more than that – I tend to think of it as a state, a way of being, a stance we take in response to the world in which we live. So you can imagine how happy I am to be going along to the Compassion Revolution Conference, 24-25 October 2023, here in Melbourne.
The conference sets out to position “radical compassion at work” as central to changing the future of work to make it more beautiful*.
Of course, another thing that makes work – and life – more beautiful is creativity, which is the area I work in. To my mind, the two can be linked. In order to be creative in a way that is joyful and nurturing, you need to have a robust relationship with yourself, and that requires compassion for the self. Creativity demands that we be vulnerable, that we take risks and experience failure or mess or uncertainty. The ability to be tender with yourself alongside any necessary personal discipline is half the trick to maintaining a creative life.
It's no surprise to me that the Compassion Revolution conference features creative people and content in its lineup. Clowning, acting, writing, photography, storytelling, dance, facilitation, music, and intimacy coaching are just some of the fields of creative work that some of the conference presenters will be drawing on.
Other fields of expertise present in the speaker lineup include medicine and health, academic research, leadership coaching, psychology, patient advocacy, food growing, grief support, entrepreneurship, and neuroscience. This variety just underlines the myriad places in the world where compassion is needed but also can be found.
Compassion is like creativity: we all have the capacity to manifest it and develop it, but each of us will do so in ways that are unique to us. The lineup of speakers at the Compassion Revolution conference gives us an idea as to how diverse our collective relationship to the “muscular force” of compassion can be. And about how many ways into exploring this most beautiful and yet most essential of human qualities we can have.
Why not join me for the Compassion Revolution? Information and tickets can be found here.
*And if you are excited by the idea of work being beautiful in spirit and intent then check out the work of The House of Beautiful Business.
