Compassion

Compassion: Investing in the healing of others with the willingness to bear their pain.

Awareness of others’ situations and struggles + using your time and resources to help those in need = compassion

If we are compassionate, we notice the suffering and difficulties of others, and we are moved by tenderness and sympathy to help alleviate their suffering.

Compassion requires:

• Other-awareness – Being compassionate requires moving your focus away from yourself by deciding to value others and shift the attention from your own preferences and desires to the suffering of those around you.
• Self-awareness – You must acknowledge your own situation, experiences, needs, and downfalls. You can only move toward others in pain when you accept that we are all in this together.
• Making room – Our lives are busy.  Compassion requires making time in our schedules to listen to people and offer help.

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion.  When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large.  But when we focus on others, our world expands.” – Daniel Goleman