What role does compassion play in your daily life and why is it important?
The practice of compassion increases our capacity to care. It reinforces charity, empathy, and sympathy. It is very good exercise for your heart muscle.
But when you move toward others with compassion, you are likely to bump into some common attitudes, just waiting to close your heart again. The usual suspects are judgment and all its associated "isms": racism, sexism, ageism, classism, and nationalism.
On a personal level, your compassion is sabotaged by feelings of ill will toward others: spite and malice. These feelings, and others arising out of emotional wounds and personal pain, are actually symptoms indicating that you need to have compassion for yourself. What do YOU think?
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3 comments:
Gosh, Molly!
Is it just *me*, or are your questions just torrentially multi-faceted?
I only *hope* that I can know myself thru compassion and I do sometimes forget that compassion for self has to be at the top of my priorities. Otherwise, it's easy to get into a co-dependant mode.
We consider ourselves selfish if we do not constantly put the needs of others ahead of our own, yet, if we don't, there is eventually no US, because we have worn that body out while tending to others.
So, yes madam.
I truly hope to know myself better by the compassion that I show to myself and to others.
I might call it forgiveness of oneself is the first step in having compassion. I like your blog entry.
I'm often told to "take it easy on myself". Interestingly enough I have a tremendous amount of empathy toward others yet am hard on myself.
I do have trouble feeling compassion when someone has (repeatedly) shown me ill will. It's a constant struggle to put myself in their place and try to find understanding. It's especially true when I don't know what triggers them. When someone is ill, in pain, depressed etc. empathy is easy. When I don't know what spurns "bad" behaviour, it's diffcult.
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