Compassion

com·pas·sion

• Sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress with a desire to alleviate it

My son, Dallas, is in first grade.  He has an assignment to read 15 minutes every night and each night a new book comes home with him in a little bag.  They are familiar with the book, because they read it in class before they bring it home.  Last night he read a book about a lion and a rabbit.  In a nutshell, the lion had a rabbit that he was going to eat, but then he saw a deer and left the rabbit since the deer was bigger, the deer out ran the lion and when the lion returned to the rabbit it was gone.  As the lion ran after the deer I said “I hope that lion can’t catch that deer.”  Dallas responded, “Are you sure?  You might want the lion to catch the deer”.  I thought, oh no son, I’ve seen animal planet, I most definitely want that deer to win this race.  Well, Dallas turned to the last page which read, “And he had to stay hungry”.  Dallas looked at me with red rimmed eyes and said, “See, that almost makes me cry.”  My six year old son and his six year old emotions were able to feel compassion; the sight of it in those little eyes at that moment was incredible.

Compassion is a trait that promotes understanding, acceptance, harmony and altruism.  These are all characteristics I want to instill in my children.  What an impact it would have on the world if we all cared about others a little more.  If my son felt sympathy towards that lion in his story, think about the life lesson there, imagine in his day to day life the people he will come across that will be affected positively by his ability to feel compassion.

I’ve thought a lot about being a purposeful parent as opposed to just a parent.  Compassion is one of the sections in my “Purposeful Parent Handbook”.  (BTW – This doesn’t exist – but maybe I should create one for myself?!?)

Reading the list below inspired me to focus on compassion.  I hope that you can find a way to be compassionate today, and make note of how it makes the other person feel and in turn how that makes you feel.

From:  "Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong"

The Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

1. Learn About Compassion
2. Look at Your Own World
3. Compassion for Yourself 
4. Empathy
5. Mindfulness
6. Action
7. How Little We Know
8. How Should We Speak to One Another?
9. Concern for Everybody
10. Knowledge
11. Recognition
12. Love Your Enemies

XOXO,

Megan