As the Dalai Lama says “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
I remember, I was 8 months pregnant and taking a flight. I hobbled onto the bus to board the flight. The bus was full so I looked around – not one person got up and offered me a seat. I am short and can’t reach the top bar too easily So I held onto the door bar and made it to the Aircraft. It really made me think… where are we? What are we so engrossed in that we cannot notice someone pregnant? And I was a Big Pregnant girl ( hahaha! )
I guess that was when Compassion got activated in me. Today I always give up my seat when I see an older person or someone with little children or a pregnant lady. It just comes so naturally .. something I do not need to think about. And honestly, it makes me happy to do this.
When someone is kind, caring, and willing to help others, that is when they are showing compassion.
Compassion is when we are thinking of another. When we are ready to give without expectations.
It has been said the Compassion exists within each one of us. But each one of us has a different condition that will activate, wake up the compassion within us.
A person’s compassion could be activated with things relating to Mothers and children, while other ones could be related to dogs and another with helping students or .. You get my point?
Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.
So, what’s the difference between kindness and compassion? With kindness, You may feel sorry for the person But you may not feel what the person is feeling. Whereas when you have compassion, you feel what the other person is feeling and therefore want to do for them. When you are compassionate you feel the emotions that the other person is feeling – happiness or sadness.
There is a lovely Morning practice You can do to incorporate Compassion into your life.
A practice shared by the Dalai Lama:
Every morning say “Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
You are Compassion – Share it with people who need it now