Compassion

Compassion provides us with a concrete way to make the world a better place, and this alone is entirely worth its development. Everyone recognizes the innate value of kindness. This is not news. After death, a compassionate person is lauded: "Her kindness touched all who met her". Very seldom do we read on a tombstone how clever someone was, or how rich or successful. Kindness evidently touches a universal truth in us all.

Compassionate acts are generally considered those that take into account the suffering of others and attempt to alleviate that suffering. It is a skill to be learned and practiced. It doesn’t come all at once.

Start by imagining the suffering of someone you know or love. Understand their pain, the emotions they go through, and why they might act the way they do. By doing this a number of times, you will begin to develop a skill that can be applied to others - for every person you see, try to understand what they are going through. Try to learn and understand more about their background, and why they choose to do what they do. Once you've developed this invaluable skill, learn the other half of compassion - acting on your understandings, and helping others, alleviating their suffering, acting with kindness…..just holding a door open for another can bring a smile, right!

The more we practice compassion, the more we become mindful of the needs of the others in our world. And our own lives become graced with simple happiness.