“Train wholeheartedly” is the 53rd lojong slogan. And this one’s as simple as it sounds- no sub-teachings or lists underneath it. If you want to live like a bodhisattva, it means waking up every day and choosing to train in compassion with your whole heart. It means choosing compassion with intention as often as you possibly can.

Traleg Kyabgon writes, “A wholehearted commitment is about seeing something through to the end.” Now, normally I get squeamish about broad declarations of finishing things. Sometimes, the wisest path is to quit. But when it comes to compassion, we can absolutely trust this commitment is worth striving toward until our very last breath.

Of course, it’s not lost on me that the word compassion means to “suffer with,” and there’s really no way to do that at a distance. When we open our whole hearts, empathy arises. And with it, we have this feeling that we want to help others. We want the suffering to lessen, in whatever way that’s possible.

Dacher Keltner has written a number of books talking about the science of compassion, and how we’re wired for goodness. He notes in his research that compassion lowers our heart rate, releases oxytocin, and activates the part of us that wants to nurture others. And when we act with compassion, it’s contagious. Not just consciously, but physically. Compassion moves us to be compassionate.

So, when we train wholeheartedly, we truly create a nurturing, calmer world.

Of course, these days we can’t say the word “wholehearted” and not think of Brene Brown’s research. She says that when we live wholeheartedly, we receive the gifts of courage, compassion, and connection. And of course, when we hold those gifts as our own, we can also offer them in service to others.

The soil we all work with carries everything we need to cultivate compassion. But it does require us to practice it, and train in it.

How can you train wholeheartedly this week?