Compassion: What Is It All About?
What is compassion?
The word compassion comes from Latin and refers to the act of “suffering together”.
According to Berkley University (Seppala), compassion is the feeling that arises when one is confronted with another's suffering and feels motivated to relieve that suffering. Compassion can be often thought to be the same as empathy or altruism, and although they are related, they are not the same.
Acts of compassion are the actionable steps that one takes after one experiences emotions of empathy and recognises pain and suffering in others.
By reading this article, we hope that you learn more about compassion and learn the importance of compassion. Specifically, the lesser-known version of compassion: self-compassion. We also hope that as a community we can turn to mindfulness practices to help us work and build upon the compassion we have toward ourselves and others.
What are examples of compassion?
If the above introduction to compassion does not give you a clear picture of what compassion is, fret not for we have some examples here that can allow you to better recognise what compassion can look like in our everyday lives.
Within your capabilities, helping out a friend with a small errand when you have noticed they have had much on their plate and have been very stressed recently.
Feeling grateful when your significant other understands that you are going through a hard time and does something to soothe, ease things or cheer you up. In other words, the feeling of gratitude that the people around you have expressed compassion for hardships that you are facing.
Being able to relate to someone from a different demographic regarding shared human experiences like the sadness that comes from failure, or heartbreak. In other words, the feeling that we are similar in many ways to others despite having differences at the same time.
Then, what is self-compassion and why is it important?
Another form of compassion is known as self-compassion.
Self-compassion refers to acting in the same way as you would to others with compassion and kindness.
Self-compassion can look like being understanding toward yourself when you take a little longer to learn something compared to others by recognising your strengths in other areas and extending that kindness and patience towards yourself instead of beating yourself up with negative self-talk.
It can also look like facing your inner critic and speaking to yourself in a kinder and softer manner.
Compassion for oneself is a journey towards accepting, understanding, and slowly being able to celebrate our imperfections and flaws. It is important to practise self-compassion and work on it if it is lacking. Here’s why!
Studies have shown (Harvard Medical School) that with self-compassion one may experience lower levels of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, having self-compassion strengthens your relationship with the people around you. When you speak to yourself in a kinder manner and love yourself, this can lead to an infectious loving environment around you. You will tend to have greater capability to speak and extend that kindness to others as well and just like the butterfly effect, this loving energy will be felt all around you and the people in your life (Mates).
“Love, as you are, love, as all is.”
How to work on having greater compassion for ourselves?
Partaking in mindfulness exercises is one way you can work on your self-compassion. One form of mindfulness practice known as loving kindness is especially beneficial to developing kindness and compassion in general.
Loving-kindness meditation involves you sending messages of goodwill and kindness towards yourself and others silently.
Here are some resources created by trained teachers that we feel can be beneficial to you as you start your journey in loving-kindness meditation:
SOURCES
Harvard Medical School. “The power of self-compassion.” Harvard Health, https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-power-of-self-compassion. Accessed 9 October 2022.
Mates, Kathleen. “Self-Compassion Will Drastically Improve Your Life and Your Relationship (Here's How).” YogiApproved, https://www.yogiapproved.com/self-compassion-and-relationships/. Accessed 9 October 2022.
Seppala, Emma. “Compassion Definition | What Is Compassion.” Greater Good Science Center, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/compassion/definition. Accessed 9 October 2022.
