Compassion is co-related to empathy and altruism, despite a few fundamental differences. Empathy is all about your general ability to take another person’s perspective, while compassion happens when those feelings of empathy are accompanied by the desire to help.
What is compassion and how to practice it
Compassion is all about cultivating a mindset of kindness, empathy, and concern for the well-being of others. It is also essential that the compassion you have for others should also be a part of your well-being.
Here are ways to practice compassion:
- Be kind – When you practice small acts of kindness, like smiling at a stranger or even holding the door open for someone, it can significantly impact others.
- Do volunteer – Volunteering is a great place to start with building compassion and positively impacting the community. Reach out to local NGOs who may have volunteering opportunities that can help you reach out and make that change.
- Listen actively – When someone is sharing their thoughts, be mindful and give your full attention to them. When you listen actively, you can better understand the experiences and feelings of others.
- Be ready to let go – It’s easy to beat yourself up over mistakes that you may have made in the past. But it isn’t easy to let go and start afresh. Be mindful of the choices you make. Be understanding, aware, and accepting of yourself and your imperfections.
- Practice forgiveness – Just like you would choose to forgive yourself, make it a habit to forgive others too. Forgiveness is about letting go of resentment and anger and responding with understanding and compassion.
- Treat everyone with respect – Everyone should be treated with love and consideration regardless of their background. It helps you to be compassionate and inclusive.
- Choose to follow self-compassion – Research indicates that self-compassion is strongly associated with psychological well-being. Higher levels of self-compassion are linked to increased feelings of happiness, optimism, curiosity, and connectedness, as well as decreased anxiety, depression, rumination, and fear of failure. This involves treating yourself with the same compassion and kindness you would show others.
Compassion fatigue
The pandemic saw an increase in compassion fatigue which is similar to burnout. It comes from helping others—you want to keep helping, but you’re overwhelmed by being exposed to the trauma of others. Like burnout, compassion fatigue is a process. It takes time to develop. It keeps building slowly until you start not caring about yourself or others. In such cases, choose self-compassion.
When you choose to care for others, listen and not hear, you will be thanked for it. By practicing kindness and compassion towards others, you can cultivate a greater sense of connection and empathy and contribute to a more peaceful and harmonious world.
How very true Pratibha…I feel compassion fatigue sometimes when I cannot help all the people I want to. But you are right, in those time we need to practice self-compassion
Absolutely. that is why I always give emphasis on self-care.
The term Compassion fatigue hit hard! I go through it often as self-love does not come easy to me.