They say that compassion is the most powerful tool of the human being because it can change a whole community of people completely. Compassion is accompanied by kindness and when it abounds in a society, everything will be better for the people who form it. If you are a compassionate person You will be able to realize how things in your life will improve almost by magic.
Compassion
When we speak of compassion we are talking about the ability to understand the emotional state of another person or of oneself. On many occasions it can be confused with empathy. Compassion has a characteristic element that consists of the desire to want to alleviate or reduce the suffering of the other.
Empathy, as you probably know, is the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Although compassion and empathy are different things, Having compassion for someone can lead to empathy for the other person.
It means not assuming the worst
What we have talked about in the previous point is the accepted definition of compassion, a definition that will help you understand what it is and what it really means. Also, having compassion for another person involves more than putting yourself in their shoes, really want to understand or even help them. It involves having a different perspective on how you treat others.
For example, imagine that your child has a health problem and that you had to take him to the hospital for tests. Obviously your state of concern is quite high and you even feel anxiety about what the tests can say. You have to go home to pick up some things and quickly return to the hospital to be with your child and on the way you meet an acquaintance or friend. What you are so engrossed in your thoughts and concerns you don't stop to have a conversation with that person and you just say hello (or not even that).
That person you have not greeted has felt offended and later you find out that he felt tremendously insulted when he saw that you did not pay attention to him. That person directly assumed the worst in you, without thinking that perhaps you had a good reason for not having a conversation. Obviously you had no intention of making him feel bad, you were simply in an emotional state that was too agitated due to your worries and you needed to get to the hospital quickly to be by your child's side as soon as possible. He didn't take your expression of concern into account and hasn't even bothered to ask you what's wrong ... He has simply preferred to feel the worst. Unfortunately this happens very often in society and it is that instead of having compassion and thinking that you would have a good reason for not stopping to chat, they prefer to think negatively.
On the other hand, if there was more compassion in the person in the story that we have put for example, instead of getting angry or feeling insulted, he would think that something would happen to his friend or acquaintance and that if he did not stop, he would have a good reason not to. do it. He would probably call you later to ask if he is okay or if something is wrong, and of course, he would help if necessary (if the person had been compassionate). In these circumstances, his friend would bond more with him and their relationship would probably improve. Otherwise, the relationship breaks down due to lack of consideration.
Compassion as therapy
Compassion can be for oneself or for others. When it is for oneself it is known as 'self-pity'. Many people believe that when a person feels compassion for himself it is because he is anchored in a victim role in his life, and nothing is further from the truth. In fact, there is a therapy that can improve people's lives and that has to do with compassion.
It is a type of therapy where compassion is used to improve the situation of people and thus alleviate their internal suffering. People who have low self-esteem or who are excessively critical of themselves or like the rest may be suitable people for this type of therapy.
Compassion can be learned and trained, and when it is achieved, the brain changes and improves. When a person is compassionate, they will become calmer, more serene, happier and more motivated to improve in their day-to-day life.
In therapy pride is worked (which prevents feeling life from a more relaxed and positive perspective) and focuses on compassion as a skill to be trained. An ability that makes the suffering of others feel to wish for their reparation. This, in addition, must be focused above all, on oneself. Having self-compassion does not mean feeling sorry for oneself or being a victim of life's circumstances ... it is about learning not to blame others for one's mistakes, for example.
In our society there are many people who focus on competition and success and forget what really makes us human: compassion. With compassion therapy, goodness is recovered as an essential part of the human being.
Compassion and well-being of oneself
Feeling compassion for another person has nothing to do with feeling sorry. When you feel sorry for another, you feel that you are at a higher level than another person, so there would be a social or psychological inequality between them.
Compassion consists of wanting the well-being of another person who feels horizontally to your own person. There is no imaginary staircase where you feel above the other. People have an egalitarian relationship regardless of the social status to which they are believed to belong.
The person feels that he wants to help another altruistically because his compassion has led him to empathy. Understand the emotions or the situation that the other person is experiencing, without judgment. You want to alleviate the pain of others.
Be generous to others by practicing compassion! Help others and yourself!