This week I had the opportunity to interview one of my favorite role models, Sara Schairer. Sara is a Stanford trained compassion teacher and an inspiring leader doing awesome work in the world. She is the founder of Compassion It, a non-profit organization and global social movement that inspires compassionate actions and attitudes.

In this interview, Sara and I discuss:

• Why it’s important to develop awareness before we can practice compassion
• How a meditation practice helps us even notice suffering, both other people’s and our own
• Why only once we are able to notice, can we then act to relieve the suffering of ourselves and others
• How noticing our own self-talk is a GAME CHANGER

As I share in my interview with Sara, one of my favorite things about my meditation practice is how it leads me to notice so much more in my life, including my own suffering and negative self-talk. This started happening almost immediately when I began a consistent meditation practice.

Living a life of extraordinary service is my highest personal value and what guides everything I do. Before I had a yoga and meditation practice I was technically of service in my job as a nurse but I was suffering miserably. I did not know how to take care of myself and as a result I was horribly depleted, burned out and compassion fatigued — which wasn’t good for me, or the humans in my care. Noticing this through the awareness I gained through my yoga and meditation practice saved my career and renewed my ability to care for others.

I consider my ability to notice when I am not well the most valuable skill I have in my career and in my life. When I am able to act on what I notice and return myself to balance, my level of service in the world elevates exponentially.

This is why I am fiercely dedicated to my daily meditation practice. I want to be an immune cell in the body of humanity. I want to actively practice compassion and do whatever I can to relieve suffering in this world — and I know that it starts with me and it starts with noticing.

Do you have a meditation practice? Are you ready to learn?

My new eCourse, Inner Peace Bootcamp, includes an expanded interview with Sara and other inspiring experts.