Compassion Requires Action
While we are all born with the ability to be compassionate, it requires a consistent practice to make it second nature. In times of tragedy and great suffering like we are living through now, we are in service to those around us when we show up compassionately. It creates space for healing.
Compassion is not simply empathy for another, but also action to alleviate suffering. As I learned in my training with Center for Compassionate Leadership, the elements of compassion are:
Nonjudgmental awareness whereby you notice and pay attention to your internal and external environments. Are the people around you okay? Are you okay?
Cultivate connection to let people know that they are worthy of your care and concern. They have your attention and you listen with curiosity and open-mindedness.
Empathize with the experience and emotions of those around you. Feel their feelings, seek to understand how they are experiencing the world.
Take action to alleviate suffering. It's not enough to empathize - you must take the next step to move into action. Propose ways or ask how you can support their well-being. Don't assume what they may want or need, ask. Then act.
Do not underestimate the power of vulnerability to create and foster a compassionate environment. When you are vulnerable, you give permission to those around you to be vulnerable, too. People need to feel it's safe to share with you, and being vulnerable builds that trust. That, of course, requires you are in touch with how you are feeling and practicing self-compassion as well.
In these times, it can feel easier, and safer, to bottle up emotions and set them aside to finish the project or hold the meeting. In some cases, that's exactly what people need - a distraction. But that doesn't fit for everyone. We can't know what our people need unless we engage compassionately.
Now is the time to strengthen our community connections. To focus on each other and do what each of us can to alleviate suffering. We really do need each other.
This is our work as human beings.
Yours in solidarity,
Jill
