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Many will beg to differ, but I believe humans come to the earth with innate compassion.
As a mother, I have watched my young son naturally display compassion for beings on many occasions.
He cried after seeing a homeless man asking for money. He begged me to pay for a woman’s groceries in the supermarket when it appeared she was struggling to find the funds for all her items, and the list goes on. In all honesty, I don’t recall teaching him to feel for the homeless man’s woe, nor for the woman’s unfortunate predicament. The compassion exuded from my child all on its own.
My son is just one example that makes me ponder how humans can tap into that deep and natural compassion. How humans can be a conduit to spread compassion.
What is compassion exactly? It really has one straightforward definition, but tends to vary in terminology. In a nutshell, it is the desire for others to be liberated from suffering.
In yoga, one of the cornerstones of practice are yamas. These moral vows guide us toward practicing with awareness of the world around us. They remind us to do no harm to ourselves and others, to be truthful, not steal, use our energy in the right way, and to release greed. It all goes back to compassion, entailing us to be understanding toward ourselves and therefore honoring and accepting others through their distress.
In Mahayana Buddhism, compassion is at the core—the heart. The 14th Dalai Lama said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
The message of compassion is universal, and its need is crucial.
These days, compassion appears to be moving mainstream. It’s flooding social media outlets, mental health practitioners are talking up a storm about it, and it’s even in the corporate space. Is the popularity of compassion actually accomplishing anything? What’s a sure-fire way for compassion to make a true difference?
The answer is: compassionate listening. Compassionate listening involves giving an ear with empathy and attentiveness. This grants the listener the capacity to understand another person’s thoughts, emotions, and perspective without judgment. It aids in helping people feel safe to express themselves. When one feels heard, secure, seen, this can support their emotional well-being and promote healing. In the end, and most importantly, it can also help people feel connected and grow together.
Suffering throughout the human journey is not novel information. For all of eternity, living entities have and will continue to suffer. It’s not curative, but there is good news: there are ways to ease and overcome the suffering.
A lot of the work is self-work, and the course of action varies. What is essential is fostering self-compassion and anchoring in your own heart to connect with greater humankind. With this practice, you can let compassion flow outwards.
Another side of the work is seeking out those who have the skill to listen compassionately. Find your person or people. Find the ones who will be fair witnesses to your suffering, respect your period of pain, listen from their core, and speak back to you (if needed) from the heart.
Compassionate listening is the foundation for diminishing separateness, conflict and suffering, and cultivating peace and restoration for humanity.
May the light and love within each of us honor the light and love within all.
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