In yesterday’s Coping and Healing group, the members chose to focus on the topic of “Compassion.”
What is your personal experience of compassion? What gets in the way of you experiencing compassion? How could you bring more compassion into your life?
In my responses to those questions about compassion, I mentioned self-compassion and also this song:
I had the compassion, just now, to choose a version of “Shower the People” by James Taylor that includes lyrics and which (I think!) is accessible to all my readers.
Here are some quotes about compassion:
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.”
― Andrew Boyd, Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe““Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
― Plato
“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
― Leo Buscaglia
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
― Aesop“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou“It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“Compassion is the basis of morality.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer
In the group yesterday, we also discussed the opposite of compassion, which some people thought was indifference and others thought was cruelty. Do you see compassion or the opposite of compassion in any of my other photos from yesterday?
I have compassion for any thoughts or feelings you choose to express in a comment, below.
Thanks to all the compassionate people out there, including YOU.
