All spiritual practice involves compassion. Compassion involves reaching out to others with warmth and no desire other than for good things for them. The Dalai Lama describes compassion as-
'A mental attitude based on the wish for others to be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility and respect towards others’
Compassion is not sympathy; it holds a force in our hearts that calls us to action. Sympathy and empathy are important ingredients but compassion has an open heart to another’s plight. To be truly compassionate means being able to
imagine how someone else is feeling and then to act from there.
Compassion starts when you focus on someone else.
- What suffering in others moves you?
- What do you feel compelled to help and support
- To whom do you feel most compassion?
- How much compassion to you feel for yourself?
- TIP Do not pity people or yourself; pity is poison. Sympathy and compassion, however, are great soul food.
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