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The Case for Compassion

Posted By: Randy GageMarch 19, 2018

A lot of people fear compassion.  They look at all the suffering, injustice, and hardship in the world, and are afraid that if they allow themselves to experience compassion, it will overwhelm them.

I get that. It’s easy to start thinking you have enough issues of your own to deal with, and think you don’t have any energy leftover for this additional suffering. Even if you don’t watch the news, your Facebook and Twitter feed will send you such a steady diet of tragedies, calamities and heartbreak, it can seem that the world is falling apart.

But I would argue that closing yourself off in defense, is an immense mistake...

It’s true that when you empathize with someone experiencing hardship, you do feel some mental discomfort.  You “share” their pain with them in a sense.  But consciously doing this takes courage, and exercising that courage sends a very positive message to your self-esteem.  And here’s the real bonus…

The first beneficiary of showing compassion is always yourself.

-RG

3 comments on “The Case for Compassion”

  1. Okay, Randy, spin this one - often times, people equate passion and kindness with weakness. For example, there have often been times I have been kind to telemarketers when declining whatever they're whatever product they are pushing. All of them seem to think that kindness is an open door for them to continue pushing whatever they are selling. Also, I have read a study In which company hierarchy that display sociopathic traits (lying, irresponsibility, manipulation of others for profit and amusement, lack of emotion, inability to trust others, no empathy for others, narcissistic) move up faster on the corporate ladder and are compensated greater. Look at our current President. He shows 0 compassion and kindness and a lot of sociopathic traits, and is able to do things virtually unscathed and with impunity. Any other President or politician would have been torn to shreds if he or she had done one 10th of the bullshit this one is pulling.

    1. I don't think it's an either/or situation. Many people take kindness for weakness, and the current president shows almost no compassion. But that doesn't mean you should live without compassion. -RG

  2. I think you have to protect yourself first so you can help others to end their suffering. Put your oxygen mask on first. Keep you oxygen mask on while helping others. The sooner we all wake up, is best for all. Waking up is a choice. People are attached to suffering with others. It does take courage to leave that suffering.

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  • 3 comments on “The Case for Compassion”

    1. Okay, Randy, spin this one - often times, people equate passion and kindness with weakness. For example, there have often been times I have been kind to telemarketers when declining whatever they're whatever product they are pushing. All of them seem to think that kindness is an open door for them to continue pushing whatever they are selling. Also, I have read a study In which company hierarchy that display sociopathic traits (lying, irresponsibility, manipulation of others for profit and amusement, lack of emotion, inability to trust others, no empathy for others, narcissistic) move up faster on the corporate ladder and are compensated greater. Look at our current President. He shows 0 compassion and kindness and a lot of sociopathic traits, and is able to do things virtually unscathed and with impunity. Any other President or politician would have been torn to shreds if he or she had done one 10th of the bullshit this one is pulling.

      1. I don't think it's an either/or situation. Many people take kindness for weakness, and the current president shows almost no compassion. But that doesn't mean you should live without compassion. -RG

    2. I think you have to protect yourself first so you can help others to end their suffering. Put your oxygen mask on first. Keep you oxygen mask on while helping others. The sooner we all wake up, is best for all. Waking up is a choice. People are attached to suffering with others. It does take courage to leave that suffering.

    Leave a Reply to Paul R Erickson Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


    Warning: Undefined variable $key in /nas/content/live/randygagedev/wp-content/plugins/honeypot-comments/honeypot-comments.php on line 63

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