COMPASSION is never out of fashion, and Dr Lynne Reeder is working to remind Ballarat, and the world, the importance of peace and kindness.<\/p>\n
As a teenager, she lost her eight-year-old brother to asthma and made the decision to see life as a gift that could be taken away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking that it\u2019s important to examine your life and what\u2019s important,\u201d she said. \u201cI was always interested in learning things and living a meaningful life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training as a teacher in Melbourne Dr Reeder\u2019s career of meaning began.<\/p>\n
She moved to Canberra where she gained a PhD in interdependence theory and worked in policy, her passion.<\/p>\n
As an executive officer, Dr Reeder was part of national bodies including the Council of Professions, she worked for the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on an economic future project, and as a university tutor, her focus was knowledge sharing.<\/p>\n
But in 2014, when she saw a Stanford University tweet advertising the Science of Compassion Conference, the first pavers of her next pathway were laid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conference spoke to me,\u201d she said. \u201cMy PhD had been about international relations theory in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was saying that external factors, like trading with and living in other countries, financial markets being linked 24-seven, and the fact we\u2019re seeing atrocities happening in real time, would impress us enough to change and make sure we all got on, and we connected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Reeder said compassion proved to be a common interest of neurosurgeons, psychologist, evolutionary biologists, and management theorists at the conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompassion is the willingness to see suffering with the resource capacity to be able to take action to alleviate that suffering,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was interested that it was a new area of research because it\u2019s been of value for centuries, through religions and contemplative traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conference also included presentations from the Charter for Compassion.<\/p>\n
Dr Reeder was inspired to join the charter when she returned home, she became the national lead of the Australian Compassion Council, joined the international board, and is on the Global Compassion Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is to deep dream Australia a continent for compassion, honouring our Indigenous heritage,\u201d she said. \u201cThe City of Ballarat signed the charter in 2019… and we formed Compassionate Ballarat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the first things we did was identify where the suffering was in Ballarat; there\u2019s inequality, homelessness is growing, a lot of children are not able to read, suicide levels are high, there\u2019s the generational trauma from child sexual abuse, and in the Indigenous community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City has established the popular compassion and care category in the Youth Awards, two editions of the Compassion Heroes book of student stories have been published, a CEO group is working to embed compassion in their organisations, and a Concert for Compassion has been staged.<\/p>\n
Dr Reeder is an adjunct research fellow in Federation University\u2019s Institute of Health and Wellbeing and set up the Australian Compassion Council Scholars Network, looking at the impacts of stress, and the health benefits of kindness.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompassion isn\u2019t weak, it\u2019s very much about setting personal boundaries, supporting yourself to be able to see and support others. Compassion takes courage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of attention on the woes and worries of the world, but our aim is to draw people to see that the world is okay, and that there\u2019s lots to be inspired by.<\/p>\n
\u201cCreating a compassionate world is also important for my grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n
For this work and more, Dr Reeder has been named one of the Zonta Club of Ballarat\u2019s Great Women for 2023. She was born in Ballarat and studied at Loreto College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COMPASSION is never out of fashion, and Dr Lynne Reeder is working to remind Ballarat, and the world, the importance of peace and kindness. As a teenager, she lost her eight-year-old brother to asthma and made the decision to see life as a gift that could be taken away. \u201cI remember thinking that it\u2019s important […]<\/p>\n