Practice Conscientious Compassion

Each of us has some task, some way to practice conscientious compassion. The question is: How do we find that task? To find it, a specific method can be prescribed. 

At the outset, practice the usual meditation on compassion, perhaps for 20 or 30 minutes.

Then focus your attention on several of the formidable problems that loom before humanity today:

• futile and self-destructive wars,
• rampant military spending,
•  global warming,
•  violations of human rights,
•  poverty and global hunger,
•  the exploitation of women,
•  our treatment of animals,
•  the abuse of the environment, or
•  any other concern that comes to mind. 

Reflect briefly on these problems, one by one, aware of how you respond to them. 

At some point, you will start to recognize that one of these problems, more than the others, tugs at the strings of your heart. These inner pangs suggest that this is the particular issue to which you should dedicate your time and energy.

- Bhikkhu Bodhi, "The Need of the Hour"