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Oct 23, 2012
"Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don't want it. What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone." --Miller Williams
The Science of Compassion
"As human beings, we will inevitably encounter suffering at some point in our lives. However, we also have evolved very specific social mechanisms to relieve that pain: altruism and compassion. It is not just receiving compassion that relieves our pain...The act of experiencing compassion and helping others actually leads to tremendous mental and physical well-being for us as well. It is our ability to stand together as a group, to support each other, to help each other, to communicate for mutual understanding, and to cooperate, that has taken our species this far." Dr. James R. Doty, the Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, describes the scientific underpinnings of compassion in this piece.
BE THE CHANGE
As Dr. Doty writes, "Compassion is the recognition of another's suffering and a desire to alleviate that suffering." Recognize somebody's sadness, isolation, or suffering and try to connect with them. More ...
