Compassion is feeling concerned with acting to help, acknowledging suffering.

Although compassion is a word often used, cultivating self compassion is often undervalued or under appreciated. You have to have it, to give it!

Self compassion, is our capacity to be attentive to our own wellbeing and take steps to enable joy and alleviate suffering in our own lives. Before creating lasting change in our own life, we have to patiently hold our symptoms in awareness. Compassion is more than an emotion and more than empathy, as it requires collaborative solutions.

The Importance of Compassion

Compassion allows us to connect with others and feel a sense of community, which is important for our emotional and physical health. Studies have shown that people  who are more compassionate are happier, have lower stress/anxiety levels and are more resilient in the face of adversity. Showing compassion to others, can help to reduce their suffering and improve their well-being.

Compassion can inspire others to be more compassionate, creating a ripple effect of kindness and empathy. One example of how compassion can impact people’s lives; overly harsh expectations of ourselves, make it hard to be self-compassionate. Such reflections’ can help us discover ways to remove such unnecessary blocks.

Key qualities, delivering Compassion:

• Recognising that someone is experiencing misfortune, including one’s self.
• The desire to do something about the suffering.
• A drive to take action to ease that distress.
• As it stands in contrast to keeping a distance, compassion is communal.

Best wishes, David